When you’re surfing through the channels this Saturday afternoon searching for the Missouri-Nebraska or the Michigan St.-Iowa football games, don’t be too surprised if you come across a pair of matchups that might seem better suited for a quiz bowl than a football game.
This weekend, two Ivy League contests will be coming to a living room near you. The matchup between Columbia and Yale will be broadcast on the YES Network, and Harvard will face Dartmouth on NESN.
While these games are sure to keep record numbers of viewers glued to their television sets, the networks may have slipped up in choosing which Ancient Eight games to air.
As these two contests are taking place in the limelight, the Ivy’s other four teams will be toiling in obscurity. America has no idea what it’s going to be missing.
In the other matchups, a pair of undefeated Ivy League teams—Penn and Brown—will battle for the top spot in the conference standings while two winless teams—Princeton and Cornell—will fight for the bottom spot. This is drama you can’t find on “Jersey Shore” or “Basketball Wives.”
Unfortunately, nobody will be able to see it.
But, luckily, I am here to tell you what’s going to happen this weekend so you don’t have to worry about missing a beat. On to the predictions…
COLUMBIA (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) at YALE (4-2, 2-1 Ivy)
Both Columbia and Yale will be looking to right the ship after suffering close losses last weekend. The Lions fell to Dartmouth by three, while the Bulldogs had a decent showing against Penn, losing just 27-20 after the team managed to make it close with a pair of late scores.
In order for Yale to stay in contention for the Ivy League title, the squad will have to prevail against Columbia, which boasts the best pass defense in the conference. The team will look to quarterback Patrick Witt, who enters Week 7 as the top passer in the Ancient Eight, averaging over 275 yards per game.
Yale’s defense will have its hands full dealing with Columbia quarterback Sean Bracket, a threat to run and pass. But given the Lions struggles on the offensive and defensive lines and the fact that the game will be played in New Haven, the edge goes to the Bulldogs.
Prediction: Yale 21, Columbia 17
PRINCETON (1-5, 0-3 Ivy) at CORNELL (1-5, 0-3 Ivy)
This matchup poses lots of interesting questions. For instance, what happens when you pit the league’s lowest scoring offense against the league’s worst scoring defense? Or, to put it more simply, which is the Ancient Eight’s worst team?
These questions should all be answered when Princeton and Cornell—the only two winless teams in Ivy play—square off against each other this weekend. If it weren’t for the elimination of the tie from college football in 1996, I might be tempted to have both teams go another week without a win, but alas, one team will have to emerge victorious.
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