This feels like an expansion year and we're the '62 Mets
Quick Overview
With the exception of Columbia and Cornell, it seems like every team in the Ivies has improved this season. In some cases, especially Yale and Princeton, that improvement is steep.
So what gives?
I have a little theory: 2013 is an expansion year.
You know how in professional leagues, most expansion years produce super championship squads and skewed stats? Most believe the reason is that the talent level of the mostly contending teams gets diluted by the expansion drafts, etc. and that leaves the top teams only looking even better in comparison.
I believe the recruiting results of the past year have produced something of an expansion effect in the league. Cornell and Columbia are the culprits.
You may remember that Head Coach Pete Mangurian made a point earlier this year about how he was not looking to get into recruiting battles with the other Ivies; he was intent on recruiting "his kind" of guys. I think the result there has been many of the Ivy-ready players Columbia would have grabbed this year and last have been spread out to the other teams, mostly Yale and Princeton.
Cornell's new Head Coach David Archer is contributing to this recruiting imbalance simply by being a new guy at the helm and needing more time to establish his recruiting pitch/program.
Okay, now on to the other games:
Penn 37 Dartmouth 31 (4 OT)
So if the Devil gave you two choices on how to lose a football game, which would you chose: the way Columbia was beaten down by Princeton or the way Dartmouth lost in an agonizing four-OT marathon at Franklin Field?
I was following this game on my iPhone and there was a mistake on the feed at one point that said the Big Green had lost the game in regulation on a blocked FG returned for a TD. It turned out the blocked FG was true, but the TD return was not.
Instead, Dartmouth lost in four overtimes thanks to some brutal penalties as usual.
I don't know how I'd be feeling right now if I were a Dartmouth fan.
The stats show that both teams played pretty well, especially Penn RB Kyle Wilcox who scored the winning TD on a 20 yard run and may be the answer to the Quaker rushing problems post-Lyle Marsh.
Dominic Pierre ran for 151 yards for the Big Green.
Yale 21 Cal Poly 10
This is the game that has so many of the other Ivy teams worried. Yale was a 20 point underdog here and they certainly didn't show it.
The Elis have shown offensive power this season, but it wasn't until this game that they showed a strong defense too. They gave up just 104 yards passing and forced three turnovers.
Meanwhile Tyler Varga had his usual good game, going for 114 yards on 26 carries.
Harvard 41 Holy Cross 35 (3 OT)
The other OT game this weekend featured Harvard getting much more of a run for its money from Holy Cross than people expected.
Freshman Crusader QB Peter Pujals did it again, going 33 for 50 for 345 yards, four TD's and no interceptions. But the Crimson stuffed the Holy Cross running game and that gave them enough time to win dramatically.
Colgate 41 Cornell 20
Big Red QB Jeff Mathews broke the Ivy record for career yards passing, but Cornell fell apart in the 2nd half against the wounded Raiders.
The Big Red defense was awful again, allowing 258 yards rushing and nine yards per passing attempt.
Brown 31 Rhode Island 14
This was a coolly efficient win for the Bears. QB Patrick Donnelly was 25 for 39 for 220 yards, and RB John Spooney had a 73 yard TD run that accounted for just about all of his 86 yards on the night.
The Brown defense held the URI starting QB to under 50% passing and picked him off twice.
IVY POWER RANKINGS WEEK 3
1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Princeton
4. Brown
5. Penn
6. Dartmouth
7. Cornell
8. Columbia
15 comments:
Jake your theory has holes because many of the recruits to Columbia were highly recruited by D1 (FBS and FCS) teams as well as other ivy's. Not to mention a Stanford transfer. All we need is to stop throwing the baby out with the bath water and exhibit some patience with the present coaching staff.
Jake, what is the empirical evidence in support of this theory? It seems to be complete conjecture based upon a passing comment by the coach.
Many of the schools where we have recruited in the past were passed over this year. Could be a coincidence, but it's fishy. The super star QB at Holy Cross who beat Dartmouth and darn near beat Harvard this year is from the same school as Paul Delaney and Des Werthman... we declined to even talk to him. I am hearing lots of stories like this. It doesn't mean that recruits like Pace, Hilinski, and Kenyon aren't potential big stars, of course.
Patience?....so what you're saying is an 0-10 team is acceptable?
Classic...
Could it also be that Yale was down to their 5th string qb last year? They were forced to play a running back at full time qb. One of the best wide receivers (Smith) took a year off school. The QB starter is the huge difference. I would think that Alabama does not have the depth to deal with that many injuries. Yale was able to stay in a bunch of games last year but the lack of production of the offense really put the defense in a no win situation. there were signs that this Yale team would rebound nicely.
The HC guy could have been a banding issue. Columbia had some nice incoming QBs on paper (with more scholarship offers than the HC QB), so why not use low bands on positions of more immediate need?
Of course, hindsight is 20/20...
How do you know he didn't try that?
Still pushing not enough sleep theory.
Proven many times over, not enough sleep causes delayed reaction time physically and mentally. Very obvious on field when proven players (not all)
are a half step slow to react. Some people need less sleep than others.
M may be one that can function with less sleep. Although he is not running around and lifting weights with 6 hrs of sleep.
and it affects mental acuity, which certainly M has very little of given his game plans
Is there any more Kool-Aid? I need some after our last three games.
I am impressed with Dartmouth. If they really are that good or if Penn has lost a step as they seemed to indicate last year (they were good but not their usual very good), it is still something for the Big Green to be proud of. A step in the right direction if they can build off of it.
Yale is another surprise. I figured they would be decent (as opposed to last year when they showed many problems to get past) but a win over Cal Poly is truly excellent.
Rhode Island is not very good this year but still a solid win for Brown.
Cornell is... Cornell. They could be the difference between 1-9 or 0-10 for CU.
The division is Harvard's to lose this season.
Every week is crucial this year. Nobody can look past anyone or say "hey this is a win".
Yale ,Princeton, Penn and Harvard are the teams to watch.But I personally feel Yale is the most dangerous.
Jon Harris Cheers
Jake,
Anyone know who recruited these 3?
"When you're my way or the highway, you must win now,'' Sapp said. "Because guys don't believe in your way when you're losing. And you lose the way they lost the first two weeks, you gave away those football games. And whenever you've given away football games, that means your style needs to change."
- Warren Sapp speaking about Schiano (Tampa Bay Head Coach)
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