Week 8 of the Ivy League football season is here and the race for the Ivy title is heating up.
The weekend’s action kicks off in front of a national television audience on Friday with Princeton hosting Dartmouth at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. Saturday’s slate includes a matchup between two of the three teams tied at the top of the Ivy League standings as Columbia and No. 24 Harvard are set to clash at noon.
Dartmouth joins the Lions and Crimson atop the league standings at 3-1. Just one game separates the top five teams as Brown and Cornell are 2-2.
WEEK 8 SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8
6 p.m. Dartmouth at Princeton ESPNU
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9
12 p.m. Columbia at #24 Harvard ESPN+
12 p.m. Brown at Yale ESPN+
12 p.m. Penn at Cornell ESPN+
CONFERENCE NOTES
QUICK HITS
- Harvard knocked off Dartmouth 31-27 last weekend, with two Charles DePrima touchdown runs in the final six minutes of action. That wasn’t the only late game drama, as Columbia topped Yale 13-10 with Cole Freeman finding Bryson Canty on a 44-yard connection for the game-winning score with 4:39 left. There have been five fourth quarter comebacks in Ivy games this season. In four of those games, the game winning score came in the final five minutes. Penn got in the win column in league play with a 38-28 win over Brown and Jameson Wang had a four-touchdown performance in Cornell’s 49-35 win over Princeton.
- Following its win over No. 22 Dartmouth, Harvard entered both major FCS polls this week. The Crimson earned the No. 24 ranking in the Stats Perform media poll and the No. 25 spot in the AFCA coaches poll. Dartmouth is receiving votes in both polls.
- This year eight of the 16 league games have been decided by one possession with one going to overtime. Each of the previous two seasons, 16 of the 28 league games were decided by one possession. Last year five contests were decided in overtime, which was the most of any FCS conference.
- Ivies finished non-league play with a record of 16-8, marking the 12th time in the last 14 seasons that the league has posted a winning percentage of .500 or better. Since 2017, the Ivies are 119-49 (.708).
- Four current Ivies were named to the East-West Shrine Bowl 1000: Brown CB Isaiah Reed, Columbia WR Bryson Canty, Penn S Shiloh Means and Princeton WR Connor Hulstein. The league’s four representatives were tied for the fourth most of any FCS conference.
- Reed was also one of 64 FCS prospects named to the Reese’s Senior Bowl Watch List.
- A pair of Ivies were named to the Jerry Rice Award watch list this: Brown RB Matt Childs and Princeton LB AJ Pigford. The Rice Award honors the FCS freshman player of the year in college football’s Division I subdivision.
- The league welcomed three “new” head coaches this offseason: Columbia’s Jon Poppe, Cornell’s Dan Swanstrom and Harvard’s Andrew Aurich. All have extensive experience as assistant coaches within the league.
- Three of the league’s head coaches were Ivy League football players: Brown HC James Perry (Brown, 1996-99), Harvard HC Andrew Aurich (Princeton, 2002-05) and Princeton HC Bob Surace (Princeton, 1987-89).
- The 2024 Bushnell Cup presentation is set for Dec. 16 at the iconic Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center in New York City. The event will once again be co-hosted with the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame (NFF) and sponsored by Bruin Capital. This year’s presentation will be emceed by ESPN’s Rece Davis and will include three finalists (up from two) for both offensive and defensive players of the year.
- The Ivy League was the only conference across all divisions to have a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy from each institution. Named after former Columbia football team captain and later head coach Bill Campbell, the award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership.
