COLUMBIA AT DARTMOUTH
Prior to the start of this season, Dartmouth introduced into its football practices a new MVP. Stay calm, Dalyn Williams. The Most Valuable Player award still belongs to you. I am here referring to a Mobile Virtual Player, a 5’11”, 200-pound robotic dummy for human players to tackle during practice. Not only are the robots indestructible, but they apparently can run a 4.8-second 40-yard-dash. Great idea, Dartmouth. Let’s build something big, strong, and fast that can’t be subdued by human force. Speaking of my movie theme, anyone remember iRobot? I’m not the only one raising an eyebrow at this, right? (Well, Stephen Colbert successfully tackled one robot, so maybe it’s not all that tough.)
Oddly enough, Dartmouth itself has morphed into a machine over the course of the 2015 campaign, rolling over each of its five opponents thus far. Lowly Columbia merely represents a tune-up for the Big Green before the high stakes showdown with Harvard next Saturday in Cambridge.
Prediction: Dartmouth 42, Columbia 7
YALE AT PENN
This will likely be the most competitive conference game of the weekend. The one-loss Elis, who may still be reeling from the departure of running back Tyler Varga ’15, are at risk of falling out of contention in the Ivy League title race. Penn, meanwhile, has scored 40-plus points in consecutive weeks for the first time since 2007. Look for the Bulldogs to come together in this must-win situation and pull out a gutsy W in Philadelphia.
Prediction: Yale 28, Penn 24
PRINCETON AT HARVARD
I remember where I was when I learned Princeton scored 29 unanswered fourth quarter points to shock Harvard in 2012. I remember where I was the next year (in the press box; that one’s easy) when the Tigers outlasted the Crimson in triple-overtime. Harvard finally had its revenge last year, though, dominating Princeton by 42 points in New Jersey. For once, our game stories weren’t frantically revised at the last minute. It won’t be as much of a Harvard rout this year, but the contest will likely be out of reach by the middle of the fourth quarter.
Prediction: Harvard 38, Princeton 17
–Staff writer David Steinbach can be reached at dsteinbach@college.harvard.edu.