Prediction: Columbia 13, Cornell 10

BROWN AT DARTMOUTH

As I’ve noted before, Rhode Island and New Hampshire are pretty much inconsequential. The southern half of the Granite State is basically just a suburb of Boston, and the northern part is an extension of Canada. Not much to see there.

Rhode Island is, likewise, just a suburb of Boston. Now that I think about it, Boston is pretty much synonymous with New England.

Just as these two states bordering Massachusetts do not immediately come to mind when you hear the phrase “New England,” their Ivy League football teams are also of little importance this year.

The Bears are who we thought they were, as they sit at a mediocre 2-3 record in league play. The Ivy League expert analysts (wait, that’s us) predicted Dartmouth to finish near the top of the standings in 2016, but the Big Green has instead come up little in conference games, going 1-4 so far.

Dartmouth picked up its first Ivy win last week against Cornell, and I predict the Big Green to keep up that momentum against Brown. Quarterback Jack Heneghan has impressed after being benched at the start of the Harvard game.

One bright spot for Bears fans is that they are better than at least one of their Ancient Eight rivals. Adding to the general list of Yale’s failures was a 27-22 defeat against Brown last week.

Prediction: Dartmouth 26, Brown 17

PRINCETON AT YALE

Yale will use this contest as a tuneup for the premier Ivy League showdown of the season, Harvard-Yale. The Bulldogs have a prime opportunity in the penultimate week to figure out how best to lose to the Crimson, and Princeton will gladly provide that chance.

Princeton, aside from its nail-biting loss to the Crimson, has dominated the Ivy League this year. The Tigers have scored 183 points in five league games and have only allowed 50. That’s a point differential of plus-133. To put that in perspective, Penn is in a distant second at plus-52.

Yale, on the other hand, has struggled yet again. I think I’ve already disparaged the Bulldogs enough, so I’ll just present some unbiased statistics.

In eight contests, the defense has allowed 294 points. For comparison, Princeton has allowed 140 in as many games.

The offense has been adequate with 179 total points, but it has not been enough to bail out the defense.