Wild Weekend in Review

Phil Estes has rarely been in this position

This was really a wild opening weekend for the Ivies with some very surprising results.

Here are my quick takes on all the games played by CU’s upcoming opponents:

Georgetown 17 Brown 3

Of all the shockers of the weekend, this was the biggest one for me. Brown was dominated by the team everyone agrees is the weakest in the Patriot League. This does not look like a team that’s ready to host Harvard in five days.

San Diego 39 Princeton 29

Shocker #2: Just one of the high-scoring, dramatic surprises of the weekend. I thought USD would play it close, but never imagined they could beat the Tigers. My prediction that Princeton will win the Ivies is looking shaky right now. If the Princeton defense is this weak without Caraun Reid, this could be a really rough year.

Jacksonville 34 Penn 31

Shocker #3: This was a surprise, but not as big a surprise as the Princeton and Brown losses. Penn has been suffering with slow starts for a few years now. But it’s very rare to see the Quakers lose a two-score lead in the second half. One thing I did get right: Penn RB Lyle Marsh went out with an injury early in the game, just as I predicted in my Ivy League preview.   

Yale 54 Lehigh 43

I thought Yale would win, but no one could have expected the Elis and Mountain Hawks to play a crazy game like this. One caution is that Yale often plays better very early in the season compared to the rest of the year, but the expected offensive weapons RB Tyler Varga and WR Deon Randall were outstanding. The surprise was QB Morgan Roberts had a monster game too.

Dartmouth 35 CCSU 25

Two of the big three questions about the Big Green were answered. RB Kyle Bramble had a solid game and looks healthy. And QB Dalyn Williams is in midseason form. But whether Dartmouth’s defense can step it up for 2014 is still an open question. No sacks, no INT’s and no forced turnovers will do that to a defense.  

Colgate 27 Cornell 12

The Big Red couldn’t stop the Raider running game and the offense just couldn’t get the job done. Cornell kept its promise to emphasize the running game in the post-Jeff Mathews era, but the results were mixed.

Harvard 41 Holy Cross 18

I keep talking about how Harvard has the deepest bench in the Ivies every year. The Crimson proved it with a monster game from their THIRD STRING RB! Andrew Casten had 153 yards on 17 carries and three TD’s! This game was actually close until the second half.

Duquesne 30 Monmouth 21

The Hawks fell behind 27-7 in the 3^rd quarter and had to abandon their usually potent running game. But QB Brandon Hill stepped things up and brought Monmouth to within 27-21 in the 4^th quarter.  The Hawks allowed four costly sacks.

Albany 30 Rhode Island 17

The Great Danes still don’t have much of a passing game, but RB Omar Osbourne had 153 yards on 27 carries. The Albany defense didn’t look sharp off the top, but then started to dominate from the 2^nd quarter on. URI had just 79 total yards rushing.