Week Three of the Ivy League slate is upon us, but before getting to this week’s action, let’s take a look at how last week’s predictions stacked up to the tough test of reality.

The biggest “miss” of the week was the Yale-Cornell matchup, in which the Bulldogs—the preseason choice of some publications to win the Ivy title—got manhandled by the Big Red, a near unanimous selection as warden of the Ivy League’s basement.

Princeton had a bit more trouble with mid-major San Diego than most would have expected. The Tigers ran the football well, amassing 175 yards on the ground, but failed to come close to the 331 yards rushing that Penn accumulated against the Toreros a week before.

Speaking of Penn, the Quakers need to find some offense, quickly. Through three-and-a-half quarters against Villanova last weekend, Penn had recorded just 113 yards of total offense. I don’t care how good the Quaker ‘D’ is, if quarterback Pat McDermott continues to go 10-for-30 with only 140 yards passing, Penn just isn’t going to win football games. It’s that simple.

And now to this week’s action:

PENN (1-1) vs. DARTMOUTH (0-2)

It’s safe to assume that the Big Green administrators in charge of scheduling football games have been fired.

So far this season, Dartmouth has already played the No. 11 and No. 12 teams in the country—Colgate and New Hampshire—and will now face two of the three preseason Ivy League favorites, Penn and Yale, over the course of the next two weekends.

What’s worse is that those two Ivy foes were embarrassed last weekend, possibly making them even more dangerous than they would have originally appeared on paper.

The Quakers’ defense did about all it could against Villanova, and for Penn to be successful against Dartmouth it will have to try to ground the Big Green passing attack, which likes to spread the ball around.

If the Quakers’ defense can force Dartmouth to run the football, Penn should be able to hold the Big Green under 20 points on the afternoon.

Then, it will be up to McDermott to engineer enough offense to make that stingy defensive effort stand up. Even if he can’t, running back Sam Mathews should have a big enough day to push the Quakers past Dartmouth by a couple of touchdowns.

COLUMBIA (0-2) vs. PRINCETON (2-0)

One word can sum up this game—revenge.

Last season, the Lions overcame a 20-0 deficit and beat the Tigers 33-27 on the strength of a heave by quarterback Jeff Otis that was hauled in by tight end Wade Fletcher as time expired.

The good news for Columbia is that Fletcher and his 6’7, 243-lb. frame will be back on the field this weekend after sitting out the first two weeks with a hamstring injury.

The Tigers’ defense, however, comes into this contest off two straight solid campaigns, holding opponents to about 300 yards of total offense per game and forcing six turnovers in that span.

The Lions’ offense has to get going in this one for them to have a chance, because Princeton backs Jon Veach and Branden Bensen should be able to take advantage of a Columbia defense that gave up 408 yards on the ground last week.

Ivy road games are always tough, but give me the Tigers by a touchdown in this one.

YALE (1-1) vs. NO. 11 COLGATE (2-1)

The Bulldogs looked awful against Cornell last weekend and struggled against mid-major Dayton the week before. Quarterback Alvin Cowan has yet to show why he was mentioned as an All-American candidate to start off the year or even why he should be considered among the top half of the signal callers in the Ivy League. And the only thing that has kept Yale from starting 0-2 has been the strong play of its defense.

Something is terribly wrong in New Haven.

With the No. 11 Raiders coming to town, things will only get worse.

It’s tough to imagine the Bulldogs’ defense fending off the same Colgate team that put up 52 points on them last year.

It’s also tough to conceive of a way for Cowan to turn around the disastrous start to his season in just one weekend.

Obviously, Yale has the talent to hang with the Raiders, but the confidence just isn’t there. Colgate takes the rematch of last year’s 52-40 shootout by about the same 12-point margin.

QUICK PICKS

RHODE ISLAND 42, BROWN 31

It wouldn’t be surprising to see the two sides flirt with 1,000 yards of total offense in this one. This one should be a back-and-forth shootout here with the Rams coming on down the stretch to take their fourth straight Governor’s Cup.

CORNELL 17, TOWSON 13

Sure, the Big Red hasn’t won a road game since beating Columbia in November 2002 and has won just two games total in that span, but you can’t pick against momentum. And Cornell has it.

After picking up its first Ivy win since that date with the Lions nearly two years ago, the Big Red—and its staunch defense—will do just enough to beat A-10 cellar dweller Towson.

—MICHAEL R. JAMES