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Around the Ivy League

Week Four

Yale and Princeton spent last weekend living on the edge in a manner which would have made Aerosmith proud.

The Bulldogs stared a 1-2 start in the face after falling behind by two touchdowns in the fourth to then-No. 11 Colgate, but rebounded to score 17 points in the final five minutes to claim a 31-28 victory. With the win, Yale gave itself a shot of challenging for a top-25 ranking if it can defeat Dartmouth tomorrow as well as No. 17 Lehigh and Penn in the following two weeks.

The Tigers kept their hopes of a miracle season alive by coming from behind to beat winless Columbia in overtime. Princeton converted a fourth-and-six from its own 34 to set up a game-tying field goal at the end of regulation. Then, the Tigers managed to block a Columbia PAT in overtime and pick up a fourth-and-five on their own possession before scoring the game-tying touchdown and the game-winning point after. And maybe that’s the hidden lesson here: For those who think it can’t be done, try it against Columbia.

With that, let’s get to this week’s games:

DARTMOUTH (0-3) vs. YALE (2-1)

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The Big Green has finally arrived at the end of its four-week masochistic tour around the Northeast in which Dartmouth played three straight games against opponents who have spent time in the top 25.

And now the Big Green must defeat a dangerous Yale team in order to avoid starting 0-4 for the first time since last season, when it was blown out by each of the same four clubs.

The good news is that the Bulldogs have played about 10 minutes of good football all season and have failed to show the spark on offense that led many to believe that quarterback Alvin Cowan would be an All-America contender and Payton Award finalist.

But the weak Dartmouth defense—which has given up 80 points in the last two contests—might be just the prescription to jump start the sputtering Bulldog attack. Yale running back Robert Carr should have a field day against a defensive unit that has given up more than 150 yards per game on the ground.

The Big Green offense leaves something to be desired as well, averaging just 13 points per contest and coming off a miserable performance last week against Penn in which it turned the ball over four times.

Playing at home should allow Dartmouth to stay in the game at halftime, but expect the Bulldogs to pull away and win by a few touchdowns.

BUCKNELL (3-1) vs. PENN (2-1)

The storylines here are endless.

The Bison carry a 17-game home non-conference winning streak into this one. The two teams have split the last four meetings, and neither side has won by more than 10 points in a decade. Both teams suffered their only defeat at the hands of Villanova as Penn and Bucknell rallied for two fourth quarter touchdowns before ultimately falling short by three and six, respectively.

The Bison offense has exploded over the past two weeks against I-AA lightweights Columbia and Georgetown. Penn will offer a much tougher test and should hold Bucknell to the type of output it had against Cornell and Villanova to open the season.

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