Conference play is already underway in the Ivy League, as Cornell traveled to New Haven to challenge the defending champion Bulldogs and Brown faced off against Harvard in the first ever night game in the 104 year history of Harvard Stadium, the oldest stadium in college football.
While Dartmouth finds itself as the only winless team aside from Penn, it is also the only Ivy team besides Yale with more touchdowns than Yale junior Mike McCleod, who was held to only three scores this weekend after scoring four touchdowns at Georgetown in the opener.
New Hampshire 52, Dartmouth 31
After suffering an overtime loss to Colgate in the season opener, Dartmouth never had a chance against the Wildcats. Junior Mike Boyle opened the game with a 91 yard kickoff return for a touchdown, and scored time only minutes later, capitalizing on an early Dartmouth turnover.
Despite solid play on offense for the remainder of the game, the Green could not slow down the Wildcats, allowing nearly 500 yards while only stopping three-of-13 third-down attempts.
Vilanova 34, Penn 14
Its seems the Ivy League could not match up against Wildcats this weekend, as Penn fell to Villanova. Penn held a 14-10 lead after scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter, but proceeded to give up 24 unanswered points in the second half.
Penn quarterbacks appeared to forget which color jersey their team was wearing, as junior starter Robert Irvin and senior backup Bryan Walker threw a combined seven interceptions on the day, including two to Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Week John Dempsey.
Columbia 31, Marist 7
The Lions evened their record at 1-1 this weekend with a comfortable home victory over Marist. Junior running back Jordan Davis set the pace for Columbia’s offense, running for 177 yards and three touchdowns in his first 100 yard rushing performance in 15 career starts.
Columbia held the Foxes to only one score thanks to strong play from the secondary, led by junior strong safety Clark Koury. The Lions’ defense stymied Marist quarterbacks, who combined to complete four passes on 15 attempts, totaling 30 yards through the air and two interceptions, both to Koury.
Princeton 20, Lafayette 14
The co-defending Ivy champion Tigers visited No. 23 Lafayette and handed the Leopards their first loss of the season a week after Lafayette narrowly beat Penn by a score of 8-7 on the strength of a field goal and a safety in the fourth quarter.
This week, Lafayette was the home team to allow the visitors to come back after the Leopards gave up a 14-13 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Tigers ended the third with a 69-yard drive, culminating in a one-yard touchdown run from junior running back R.C. Lagomarsino. Princeton held Lafayette scoreless in the final stanza to seal the 20-14 victory. Princeton senior quarterback Bill Foran had an efficient day through the air to go along with his 45 rushing yards, completing 18-of-24 pass attempts for 190 yards with no interceptions.
Harvard 24, Brown 17
In a game drenched with historical significance, Brown and Harvard faced off for the 107th time for the first ever night game played in Harvard Stadium. Senior quarterback Liam O’Hagan accounted for all three Crimson touchdowns, throwing for two and running for another. O’Hagan went 19-of-29 for 200 yards to go with another 58 yards on the ground before having to come out of the game midway through the third quarter with a suspected concussion.
With the game tied at 14 late in the second quarter, Brown took a 17-14 lead with a field goal from senior kicker Steve Morgan. With less than two minutes remaining in the first half, O’Hagan led the Crimson on a 46 yard drive that ended when O’Hagan called his own number from the one-yard line and ran the ball past the goal line, giving Harvard a 21-17 lead at the half.
The second half saw only three more points go on the board, as Harvard’s secondary came through in the clutch to seal the 24-17 victory, picking off three fourth quarter passes. College Sporting News National Defensive Player of the Week senior cornerback Steven Williams picked off two.