Ivy-Patriot Showdown Saturday turned into Disappointment Saturday in a heartbeat.

Last weekend, Cornell and Yale each held second-half leads over ranked Patriot League foes Colgate and Lehigh, respectively.

The Big Red held the Raiders scoreless in the first half, to a field goal after three quarters and kept then-No. 20 Colgate running back Jamaal Branch from reaching the 100-yard mark for just the third time in the last 17 games.

But the Raiders finally broke into the endzone on a three-yard Branch plunge to take a 10-6 lead late in the fourth. Cornell, which moved backwards on four of its six second-half drives, failed to respond. And a response wouldn’t have even been necessary, if it had just nailed the 25-yard field goal and PAT that it missed in the first half.

Yale found itself in a similar boat, as it cruised to a 21-10 halftime lead over then-No. 19 Lehigh. But the Bulldogs offense took the rest of the afternoon off, as it posted three three-and-outs, a fumble and a turnover on downs as part of its seven second-half possessions. The Mountain Hawks scored three second-half touchdowns—the last of which coming with 2:07 remaining—to rally for a 30-24 win.

Then, there was the contest between the Crusaders and Big Green. Holy Cross traveled to Hanover with the longest losing streak (15 games) in Division I. This was Dartmouth’s chance to get its first ‘W’ of the year. And the Big Green proceeded to lay an egg—in the form of a 24-0 defeat—the size of which would draw a crowd at a county fair. I will remain convinced that the Big Green trotted its junior varsity team onto the field last Saturday until someone provides evidence to the contrary. Shutout at home by Holy Cross. Dartmouth Director of Athletics Josie Harper should have just disbanded the football program on the spot.

And with that, let’s get to the first full week of Ivy play:

YALE (3-2, 1-1) vs. NO. 22 PENN (4-1, 2-0)

Last year, Yale quarterback Alvin Cowan engineered a ridiculous Frank Reich-esque rally from a 31-10 deficit midway through the fourth quarter to knot the game at 31 and force overtime. Penn would take the game in the first extra session, but the close call sent shock waves through the early season race.

The setting has shifted this season, as Cowan has yet to prove that he’s the same quarterback he was a year ago and the Quakers have yet to fill the void left by quarterback Mike Mitchell, whose career ended a year ago.

Penn’s Ivy winning streak currently sits at 17 games. It won’t make it to 18. The Quakers offense just hasn’t recovered from the loss of Mitchell, most recently evident in Penn’s 14-3 win over a weak Columbia squad last week. The Quaker defense is ranked third in the nation in terms of points allowed, but the unit has yet to see an offense with Yale’s firepower.

Cowan will continue his steady improvement this week against the vaunted Quaker defense, throwing for 300 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-17 win for the Bulldogs.

BROWN (3-2, 0-2) vs. CORNELL (1-4, 1-1)

Brown is in a really tough spot. Not only have the Bears started 0-2 in Ivy play, but their opponent this weekend is poised to shut down the most potent part of their offensive attack.

Cornell hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher this season, and the players they’ve shut down—including Harvard’s Clifton Dawson and Colgate’s Jamaal Branch—are quite impressive. And now the Big Red will attempt to add Brown running back Nick Hartigan to that list.

Hartigan is averaging 124.0 yards per contest, but he only manages to pick up 3.8 yards per attempt. Cornell should be able to load up the box and hold Hartigan under his averages in both yards per game and yards per carry. This means the Bears will be forced to take to the air, relying on quarterback Joe DiGiacomo, who has thrown seven picks and zero touchdowns in his last three games.

The question of the week is how many points will Cornell score. The Big Red averages 13.8 points per game and has cracked the 20-point barrier just once this season (against Harvard).

Cornell does have an emerging offensive threat in junior running back Andre Hardaway, who has registered his two highest career rushing totals in the past two weeks. Look for him to rush for about 100 yards and pick up a touchdown, as the Big Red eliminates Brown from the title hunt with a 17-14 win.

COLUMBIA (0-5, 0-2) vs. DARTMOUTH (0-5, 0-2)

If anyone’s looking for a catchy slogan to draw fans in to watch this one, I’ve got a promotional headline right here.

Somebody has to win.

That’s right. After weeks of losing (or decades in the case of the Lions), one team is guaranteed to put a crooked number in its win column.

Though winless and Columbia have formed a macaroni-and-cheese-like word association in my head, I’m going to take the Lions over the Big Green at home. One reason is that Columbia is better than its 0-5 record would indicate. (I guess they couldn’t be worse). And the other reason is that Dartmouth suffered the ultimate indignity of getting blown out by Holy Cross at home.

In all honesty, if this were a boxing match, the Columbia-Dartmouth contest would be the undercard to a main event involving two New York-area junior varsity high school teams.

The Lions win 24-10, because, well, somebody has to.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu. His column "Around the Ivy League" appears every Friday.