As the Ivy League enters Week Five and the mid-point of the season, Dartmouth finds themselves in a familiar position, sitting atop the standings and looking back at most of the league. Unfortunately for Big Green fans though, that pack is nipping at their heels as Harvard has a share of first-place with Dartmouth, as both teams boast a 2-0 record in Ancient Eight play.
In the win column, Dartmouth has nothing to complain about as they claim a 4-0 start along with the nation's longest unbeaten streak. But, neither of Dartmouth's Ivy League wins have been convincing enough to hand them the title just yet. However, last year the Big Green used a Homecoming rout of Yale to propel them throughout the season. Plus, four of the last five games for the Big Green are home at Memorial Field.
Harvard, who was predicted to come in second in the pre-season Ivy League media poll, proved their might by beating up on Cornell, 34-9, on the road in Ithaca. Crimson quarterback Rich Linden connected on 20 of his 27 throws for a career-best 266 yards. Linden was not the only threat on the Harvard side of the football as sophomore running back Chris Menick had 29 carries for 144 yards and three touchdowns on the afternoon. The loss was the second in league play for Cornell, effectively knocking them out of contention.
Big Green fans need only to remember that Dartmouth needed a fourth-quarter rally against Cornell last weekend to defeat the Big Red, 24-20, to know that Harvard stands as the biggest threat to knocking the Big Green off of their Ivy League throne. Harvard has won their two games by a combined 63 points, but Dartmouth has faced two of the top squads in Penn and Cornell.
While Harvard proved their might as a contender on Saturday, Brown fell back to earth, getting clobbered at home by Princeton, 30-13. The Bears had started off a surprising 3-0 after losing most of last year's team that took Dartmouth to the final play of their contest for the Ivy League title. Brown had been scoring at will on offense against the likes of Yale, Lafayette and Fordham but were contained by the first good defense they faced all year in the Tigers.
The Tigers on the other hand proved that they might be a factor in this year's contest. After losing to Cornell 14-10 during the opening week of the season, Princeton has rattled off three straight wins to open the season at 3-1, focusing on defense and special teams, much like the Big Green. However, the Tigers must play all of their games on the road this year as their new stadium is being completed, a factor that will most likely knock them out of the title hunt, but not before they knock off another title hopeful.
The surprise of the season has been the 1-3 start for Penn, the pre-season Ivy League favorite. Quarterback Matt Rader, a transfer from Duke, has not been able to spark the Quaker offense as Penn has only managed six touchdowns to date this season.
Rounding out the bottom of the league are Columbia and Yale, who have struggled mightily on both sides of the ball. Columbia lost too much talent to graduation after last year's breakthrough 8-2 season while Yale lost their top three quarterbacks and one of the league's top tailbacks to injury before the season even began.
