There was no lack of excitement in the second week of Ivy League football as for the second straight weekend, six of the Ancient Eight came away with victories. Five teams now sit at 2-0 to open the season.
Cornell traveled to Yale to open Ivy League play for both teams in a game that the Bulldogs ran away with in the second half to put the Red away 49-24. Cornell is now the only team in the Ivy League without a victory after two weeks of action.
There was only one other Ivy League matchup on Sunday, when Harvard welcomed Brown to Harvard Stadium. The Crimson got off to a fast start, taking a 14-2 lead in the first quarter after Tanner Lee’s 39 yard pick-six, Harvard’s first interception for a touchdown since 2014. Harvard’s ground game went for 200 yards and four touchdowns, while its run defense was stout, holding Brown to just 23 rushing yards for the game. The Crimson ultimately came away with a 45-28 victory over the Bears. Both teams now sit at 1-1.
Dartmouth took a tough No. 25 Holy Cross into overtime after the Crusaders upset then-No. 9 New Hampshire last weekend, 51-26. After the Green blocked a PAT attempt to send the game into overtime, senior tight end Stephen Johnston brushed off a tackle to get Dartmouth on the board in the first overtime period. When Holy Cross got the ball, the Crusaders converted on a fourth-down to keep its hopes alive, a trend as the team was six-for-six on fourth downs for the day. One play later, the Crusaders found their way into the endzone and played for the win by going for a two-point conversion instead of kicking for a tie. Dartmouth stood firm on the goal line and held on for the 27-26 victory.
Against Georgetown, Columbia dominated the first half, heading into the locker room with a 21-0 lead. It was the team’s largest halftime lead since 2015 and the second straight it held its opponent scoreless in the opening half. Senior quarterback Anders Hills finished the day with a career-high four touchdowns, and sophomore wide receivers Josh Wainwright and Ronald Smith II went for two a piece. Columbia came away with a 35-14 victory, making it the first time the team has started the season 2-0 in seven years.
Penn stayed in state to take on a winless Lehigh team, a team that got blown out by Yale, 56-28, last week. Lehigh’s offense went for 552 yards and 47 points, but that still was not enough to combat Penn’s offense, which went for 615 yards and 65 points. Penn’s 65 points were the most points the team scored since 1946, when the Quakers scored 66 also against Lehigh. The 112 points broke Penn’s record for most combined points in a game, topping a 58-51 loss to Brown back in 1998. Quaker running back Karekin Brooks went for 268 yards, the second most in Penn history, and now has the most running yards in consecutive games in the team’s history with 410.
Princeton also took a trip to Pennsylvania to take on another 0-3 team in Lafayette. There was some back-and-forth, as the teams were tied 10-all for most of the second quarter. But Princeton then went on a tear to blow the game wide open, scoring 28 unanswered points. Senior quarterback Chad Kanoff went 31-of-42 for 256 yards and three touchdowns, and junior tailback Charlie Volker rushed for 111 yards and one touchdown. Princeton’s 38-17 victory marks the program’s 10th straight victory over Lafayette.