He was a perfect 3-for-3 on the day.

He had made eight of his last attempts dating back to the second week of the season.

But as Princeton kicker Derek Javarone stood 41 yards out with a chance to end Penn’s almost three-year-long hold on the Ivy League, everyone from Philadelphia to Cambridge knew what would happen next.

Wide right. The Quakers win, 16-15.

Somehow, despite outrushing Penn by 105 yards, holding a nearly eight-minute advantage in time of possession and only giving the Quakers four full second-half possessions—two of which ended in turnovers—Princeton still managed to lose the football game.

If you want a quick overview of the Tigers recent history, just take the brief recap above, fill in a different Ivy team and then fill in a different heartbreaking way to lose. Makes a great game for dinner parties and bar mitzvahs.

Speaking of folding like a cheap card table, Yale watched a 17-7 second quarter lead turn into a 24-17 defeat at the hands of Brown in Providence. Bulldog quarterback Alvin Cowan’s 419-yard performance—36 more yards than the Bears gained total—was wasted as barefoot kicker Andrew Sullivan missed three field goals after connecting on his first attempt of the day. Since Ivy League kickers seem to be having enough trouble with their shoes on, I don’t think there’s any reason to be adding a degree of difficulty.

As the dust cleared on Saturday, Penn and Harvard still reigned supreme with 5-0 league marks and sat two games ahead of Cornell—the only other team with a winning record in league play.

One more time. Cornell is alone in third place in the Ivy League.

Can the Big Red stay there? Let’s take a look at this weekend’s action and find out:

YALE (4-4, 2-3) vs. PRINCETON (4-4, 2-3)

No matter how hard they may try, both of these teams cannot lose this game. They became aware of this last year when Princeton gave up a 22-yard touchdown as time expired, allowing Yale to force overtime.

After trading touchdowns in the first extra session, the Bulldogs settled for a field goal in its half of the second. Tiger wide receiver B.J. Symanski—now an overpaid member of the Cincinnati Reds organization—caught the first pass for Princeton during its half of the second overtime period, but seeing the endzone just 12 yards in front of him he alertly fumbled the football to clinch the loss for his side.

Crisis averted.

From here, I feel it’s instructive to take a quick glance at the introduction to the weekly release for the Yale-Princeton game, reproduced here (with my editorial comments in brackets.)