Featuring two overtime games, this past weekend was one of the most exciting weeks of Ivy League football in 2016. At the halfway point in the season, Harvard and Penn — two of last year’s co-champions — both remain undefeated in league games. Behind Princeton at 2-1, Cornell, Brown, Columbia and Yale all have 1-2 records. Only Dartmouth — the third league winner last season — has yet to record an in-conference win.
A week after losing its first out-of-conference game since 2011, Harvard survived an overtime thriller with Princeton. The Crimson took a 14-0 lead into halftime, but the Tigers methodically worked their way back, eventually tying the game at 17 apiece with under a minute to play. In overtime, Harvard locked down Princeton, forcing the Tigers to settle for a field goal. The Crimson won when quarterback Joe Viviano ran the ball in from one yard out. Harvard squares off against Dartmouth next week and Princeton travels to Ithaca to play Cornell.
After a pair of losses to start its season, Penn has won four straight games by an average margin of victory of 21 points. That streak continued Friday night when the Quakers blew out Yale, 42-7. Penn scored 35 points in the first two quarters before easing off in the second half. Quaker quarterback Alex Torgerson had four touchdowns, three of them to his favorite receiver, Justin Watson. Torgerson and Watson have now connected 45 times this year for six touchdowns and 597 yards, all Ivy League highs. Penn continues its quest to repeat as Ivy champion this weekend against Brown. Yale hopes to get back in the win column against Columbia on Friday.
Last year, Dartmouth was one of the most feared teams in the league. The Green defeated fellow league champion Penn and nearly derailed Harvard to earn sole possession of the conference title. Six weeks into this season, Dartmouth is still searching for its first Ivy League win. In a defensive battle, the Green lost to Columbia, last year’s last place team. Trailing by two, Dartmouth put together a 69-yard drive downfield, but the offense stalled out and the Green missed the potential go-ahead field goal.