With just one week left in the Ivy League football season, Harvard, Princeton and Penn are locked in a three-way tie for first place.
Going into this weekend, Harvard sat atop the standings with a perfect 5-0 Ivy record. The Crimson traveled down to Philadelphia to take on Penn — who was 4-1 at the time — on Friday night, with a share of the league lead on the line. The game started off rather slowly. Penn’s defense had given up just three points going into the fourth quarter, and the Quakers led 14-3. But a Harvard field goal and a 26-yard TD pass from quarterback Joe Viviano tied the score at 14 with just over three minutes to play.
Penn quarterback Alek Torgerson then led his team down the field, capping off an 80-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown pass, with just 15 seconds left on the clock. The game-winning score makes Torgerson Penn’s all-time leader in passing touchdown’s accumulating 51 in his career. Penn added another touchdown on a Harvard fumble as time expired to make it a 27-14 final. The win moved Penn into a tie with Harvard for first place.
Looking to capitalize on Harvard’s loss, Princeton took on a Yale team, which had been struggling all season long. The Tigers and their league-leading offense had no problem with the Bulldogs, cruising to a 31-3 victory.
Princeton’s John Lovett — who combined for seven touchdowns against Cornell — scored three more in this one, and the Tigers defense gave up just 200 yards of total offense. Yale drops to 2-7 on the season, and Princeton improves to 7-2, and 5-1 in the Ivy League. The Tigers have already beaten Penn this year, but lost to Harvard in overtime. As a result, we now have a three way tie for first in the league with just one week left to go.
In the weekend’s other Ivy-matchup, Dartmouth hosted Brown in Hanover, looking for just its second league victory. Brown dominated the first half. The Bears led 24-7 at the break thanks to stellar play from quarterback Thomas Linta and a 52-yard field goal from Ben Rosenblatt kicking in just his third game. Dartmouth would make it close in the second half, rallying from 17 down all the way back to 24-21 with just over two minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. But Brown’s defense came up with the stop it needed, and the Bears closed it out, 24-21.
Next weekend, Cornell, Yale and Dartmouth will all look to play spoiler against the league’s top-three. Assuming Harvard, Penn and Princeton all find a way to win, we will be looking at a three-way share of the championship for the second consecutive season.