PREDICTION: Once again, this game will decide the Ivy title. It will come down to McDermott’s development, because if Penn’s offense is clicking, you should just hand it the title.

YALE

2003 record: 6-4 (4-3 Ivy)

ANALYSIS: For Alvin and the Bulldog chipmunks this is the year to claim the Ivy crown. Quarterback Alvin Cowan is a potential All-American and was placed on the Payton Award watch list (along with Harvard quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick).

With running back Robert Carr and wideout Ralph Plumb putting the “skill” in skill position players, Yale could quite possibly score 400 points this season. So, however, could its opponents. And that’s the key to the season for the Bulldogs. Twice last season Yale reached the 40-point plateau only to lose by double-digits. With Colgate and Lehigh on the slate early in the season, the Bulldogs will need to improve quickly on that side of the ball.

The defense does not need to undergo a cataclysmic change. It does not need to be spectacular. Rather, it just needs to generate enough stops to get the ball to its offense, something which it struggled with at (most) times last season.

PREDICTION: I’m holding off on quoting a final score until our Harvard-Yale supplement, but let me just say that the quarterback play will undoubtedly make this game a classic.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.