Soldiers Field wasn't the only scene of excitement this weekend for Ivy League faithful. A pair of heavy favorites--Brown and Princeton--took it on the chin in what were supposed to be tune-up contests for their showdown clash this Saturday in New Jersey.

Holy Cross, winless in six outings, upset the previously unbeaten Bruins in a classic humdinger, 21-20. In Princeton, the Quakers from Penn finally felt their oats, toppling the Tigers, 24-20.

Quarterback Bob Bateman and company converted two costly Holy Cross fumbles into touchdown strikes for an early 14-point bulge. But Crusader QB Bob Martin, who completed 18 of 28 passes for a total 272 yards, narrowed the Brown halftime lead to 14-12. Martin engineered scoring marches of 72 and 86 yards, capped by touchdown tosses to flanker Chuck Mullen and tight end Mark Massa.

Holy Cross grabbed the lead for good in the third quarter on a nifty 34-yard aerial from Martin to ace Dave Quehl. But it was kicker Jerry Kelley's 40-yard field goal that proved to be the decisive blow. For Brown stormed back in the final stanza, only to fall a point shy due to outstanding pass defense play by the Crusaders.

Penn QB Bob Graustein picked apart the highly acclaimed Princeton defense for 239 passing yards enroute to the Quakers' upset win. The rivals entered the fourth quarter in a 14-14 deadlock. Tiger mainstay Bob Reid and Penn counterpart Jack Wixted had accounted for all the scoring at that stage of the pivotal debacle.

Reid and Wixted exchanged short TD runs in the third quarter, after snaring first half scoring passes, to set the stage for some final period fireworks. Wixted, the second leading rusher in Penn history, scored his third TD on a one-yard plunge. A 35-yard field goal by Tim Nanzetti put the game out of the Tigers futile grasp.

Princeton's loss moved them back into a third place tie with Yale in the Ivy standings. The Eli defense and specialty units propelled the Bulldogs to a narrow 20-14 win over Cornell. Yale QB Stone Phillips' 32-yard scamper for six in the last period snapped a 14-14 tie.

The Bulldogs' other TD's came on an electrifying 85-yard opening kickoff return by Gary Fencik and a Peter Bonacum fumble recovery in the endzone. Cornell racked up a pair of third-quarter scores, making matters interesting at the Yale Bowl.

Columbia, once the gem of the ocean, but now the Ivy League doormat, was stabbed by the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers, 41-0.