Sunday, October 21, 2012

Just Plain Wacky

Ivy League football doesn't get any wackier than it was yesterday. Remember that bit on BGA Premium last week about how there's tremendous parity in the league with the exception of Harvard? Well, scratch the exception. Here's your weekly look at Saturday's results:

Princeton 39, Harvard 34
Harvard led 20-0 at the half and 34-10 with less than 12 minutes remaining. . . and lost. The Tigers scored 29 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of two-point conversions and a 36-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds remaining. Harvard piled up more than 400 yards of total offense in the first half, and 634 yards in the game . . . and lost. The Crimson limited Princeton to 51 yards of offense in the opening half . . . and lost. Quarterback Colton Chapple completed 31-of-45 passes for a school-record 448 yards and five touchdowns . . . and Harvard lost, to see its 14-game winning streak snapped. Princeton, which had four touchdown passes on the season coming in, had four TD throws in the fourth quarter against Harvard. Princeton, which began the year 0-2, has won four in a row and sits atop the Ivy League with a 3-0 record.

Yale 27, Penn 13
With their starting quarterback lost because of injury on the second drive of the day and wide receiver Derek Russell completing 13 passes for 94 yards with one touchdown, the Bulldogs regrouped to hand the Quakers their first Ivy League loss of the season. Russell also ran for 61 yards to bolster a run game led by Tyler Varga's 96 yards. Yale also got good work from backup quarterback Logan Scott, who completed 8-of-11 throws for 67 yards with a touchdown.

Brown 21, Cornell 14
The ground game continues to be the bugaboo for the Big Red, which struggles both to run the ball and to stop the run. Jordan Reisner, fifth on the Brown depth chart just two weeks ago and elevated because of injuries to three players in front of him, exploded for 193 yards and two touchdowns. Reisner's only previous action this fall was three snaps last week. Cornell finished with zero yards rushing and while Jeff Mathews threw for 357 yards he was picked off three times.

Lafayette 30, Holy Cross 13
The Crusaders got 22-of-34 passing for 197 yards from Steven Elder but managed just 47 yards on the ground while slipping to 1-6.

Duquesne 35, Sacred Heart 3
The Dukes' quarterback ran for three scores and passed for two more in the rout. Dartmouth nemesis Keshaudas Spence carried for just 69 yards on 17 carries.

Butler 39, Morehead State 35
The Bulldogs got 101 yards rushing from quarterback Matt Lancaster and 100 from Trae Heeter. Lancaster threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the last with 1:22 left for the win.

Ivy League Standings
               Ivy  Overall
Princeton      3-0    4-2
Harvard        2-1    5-1
Dartmouth      2-1    4-2
Penn           2-1    2-4
Brown          1-2    4-2
Cornell        1-2    3-3
Yale           1-2    2-4
Columbia       0-3    1-5

Patriot League Standings

               PL  Overall
Lehigh         3-0   8-0
Lafayette      2-0   5-2
Colgate        2-0   4-3
Fordham        1-1   4-3
Holy Cross     1-2   1-6
Georgetown     0-3   3-5
Bucknell       0-3   1-6

Northeast Conference Standings

               NEC  Overall
Albany         4-0   6-1
Wagner         4-1   4-3
Duquesne       3-1   5-2
Monmouth       2-2   3-4
St. Francis    2-3   3-5
Bryant         2-4   2-6
Sacred Heart   1-3   2-5
Robert Morris  1-3   2-5
Central Conn.  1-3   1-6


Pioneer Football Conference Standings

               PFL  Overall
Butler         5-0   6-2
Drake          5-0   6-2
Jacksonville   4-1   6-2
San Diego      3-1   4-3
Dayton         3-2   4-4
Marist         1-3   2-5
Davidson       1-3   1-6
Morehead St.   0-4   1-6
Campbell       0-4   1-7
Valparaiso     0-4   0-7