1) Harvard
The Crimson may have gotten away with one in Providence in
that squeaker win over Brown. But remember what I wrote in my Ivy season
preview: Tim Murphy’s teams have very rarely won big Ivy road games. This may
be a relatively down year for the Bears, but it’s still a big win for Harvard.
This bodes well for the Crimson’s chances at Dartmouth and Princeton.
2) Yale
Why isn’t Yale #1 after that stunning win over Army? Two
reasons. First, the Elis only confirmed what a lot of us have been saying for
many years about how the quality of Ivy football is indeed better than the
past. This is not the worst Army team we’ve seen over the last 20 years, but it’s
still one of the weaker FBS teams out there. I’ve believed for years that a
good Ivy team could play a lower tier FBS team well. The second reason I’m not
ranking Yale first is the Eli defense is still really suspect. Against
Princeton or Harvard they could be in real trouble. We’ll know more about this
team a little further down the road.
3) Princeton
Beating up on Davidson tells us really nothing about
Princeton right now, and it’s hard to believe we’ll learn much more about the
Tigers after this weekend’s game at Columbia. But Princeton still has all the
horses to win it all.
4) Dartmouth
Losing to UNH is no embarrassment, especially in the road. But
there do seem to be some defensive issues for the Big Green. Needless to say,
beating Penn this Saturday is an absolute must.
5) Brown
The Bears seems to have come back to life despite the loss
to Harvard. Brown now has a fighting chance of surprising some people this
season.
6) Penn
Losing to Villanova anywhere this year is nothing to be
embarrassed about. But Penn looks a little lost right now. It will take a very
good showing in Hanover for the Quakers to shake off this bad start. Perhaps Al
Bagnoli should have retired after winning the title in 2012.
7) Cornell
The Big Red gave Bucknell a better fight on defense than I
expected. Now they have a chance to surprise Yale just as the Elis are busy
reading their press clippings.
8) Columbia
It’s the 3rd season after Columbia fired their
previous coach and no one can reasonably say the Lions aren’t clearly worse in
every way than they were in 2011.
1 comment:
Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth are neck and neck right now. All have offenses capable of generating 40+ points per game but all also have questionable defenses. I saw San Diego vs Princeton and Princeton can be exposed. As can Yale and Dartmouth (not just by Army and UNH - by any quality opponent). Their prolific offenses can save them however and all have a chance against Harvard this year. Harvard is good but not all consuming powerful this season.
Brown could find its legs and also join that group.
Penn has had a rough schedule thus far but may get back to form playing Ivy opponents.
Cornell is a possible spoiler. We will see what else they can do.
Very tough to call right now. I think it's anyone's championship (in the top 6) to lose really.
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