Ivy Round-Up: Dartmouth Shocks Yale

With Dartmouth upsetting Yale 32-27 in the weekend’s only interleague contest, three teams remain perched atop the Ivy League standings.

Harvard, Penn and Princeton—all of whom played non-league foes this weekend—are each 1-0 in the conference. With its victory, the Big Green pulled even with the Bulldogs to tie for second place with a 1-1 record in conference play.

Meanwhile, the conference’s top teams continued to look strong. Penn steamrolled Lafayette 43-7 to remain the only undefeated Ivy squad besides Harvard, and Cornell led No. 8 Lehigh late in the third quarter before falling 38-35.

DARTMOUTH 32, YALE 27

Led by superb play from senior quarterback Greg Smith, the Big Green (1-2, 1-1 Ivy) spoiled Yale’s Tercentennial Celebration by upsetting the Bulldogs (2-1, 1-1) 32-27 on Sunday.

The game, which was the first Sunday game at the Yale Bowl in 129 years, was pushed back due to the weekend’s anniversary festivities.

Smith completed 38-of-54 passes for 407 yards and five touchdowns to become just the ninth quarterback in Ivy history to throw for five scores in a game. Smith was named the Offensive Ivy League Player of the Week for his performance.

Senior wideout Mat DeLellis was Smith’s favorite target, tallying nine catches for 186 yards and three touchdowns.

Pacing the Yale offense was freshman running back Robert Carr, who grinded out 185 yards on 29 carries.

Dartmouth will next travel to Holy Cross, and Yale will host Fordham on Saturday.

PENN 43, HOLY CROSS 7

The Quaker defense held Holy Cross to just 151 total yards as Penn (3-0, 1-0) picked up its seventh consecutive win in a 43-7 blowout at Franklin Field on Saturday.

The defense forced three turnovers and tallied five sacks on Crusader quarterback Brian Hall, including one in the endzone for a safety in a dominating defensive performance. Junior cornerback Fred Plaza picked up Defensive Ivy League Player of the Week honors by posting 11 tackles and a sack.

Senior tailback Kris Ryan led the offense, rushing for 169 yards on 27 carries to move into fourth place all-time on Penn’s career rushing list with 2,331 yards. Ryan is only one of four players nationally to average more than 150 rushing yards per game.

Penn senior quarterback Gavin Hoffman led the passing attack, completing 20-of-28 passes for 222 yards.

The Quakers will attempt to remain undefeated when they travel to Columbia on Saturday.

No. 8 LEHIGH 38, CORNELL 35

Lehigh recovered from a third quarter deficit to squeak past Cornell 38-35 at the Big Red’s Schoelkopf Field on Saturday.

Senior quarterback Brant Hall completed 16-of-31 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns to avoid a huge upset and lead the No. 8 Mountain Hawks (4-0) past Cornell (0-3, 0-1) to their 17th consecutive victory.

Down 38-21 late in the fourth quarter, the Big Red scored twice in the final 5:06 of the ball game. With three seconds remaining on the clock, Lehigh recovered Cornell’s onsides kick to clinch the victory.

Cornell quarterback Ricky Rahne completed 25-of-40 passes for 221 yards and two touchdowns. Rahne also ran for a score.

Cornell will try to pick up its first win of the season when it hosts Harvard on Saturday.

BROWN 40, FORDHAM 23

Led by senior tailback Michael Malan’s record-setting performance, the Bears (1-2, 0-1) picked up their first win of the season, 40-23, over Fordham (2-2).

On 32 carries, Malan rushed for a single-game school record 267 yards and five touchdowns, including one of 84 yards. Malan, who was named Co-Offensive Ivy League Player of the Week, also tied a 96-year old record for points scored in a game with 30.

With the ground game working efficiently, All-Ivy junior wideout Chas Gessner was held to a season-low five catches for 94 yards. Gessner, though, was still critical in the victory.

With Brown leading 28-23 late in the fourth quarter, a 44-yard completion to Gessner from senior quarterback Kyle Rowley set up a Malan one-yard plunge with 1:47 remaining to ice the game for the Bears.

Brown will next host Princeton on Saturday.

LAFAYETTE 31, COLUMBIA 14

Leopard quarterback Marco Glavic completed 30-of-50 passe for 302 yards to lead the Lafayette (1-3) to its first victory of the season 31-14 over Columbia (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) at Fisher Field on Saturday.

The Lions have now lost 12 consecutive road contests.

One of the few bright spots for the Lions was a 127-yard rushing performance by senior tailback Jonathan Reese. Reese picked up the yardage on only 18 carries to average 7.1 yards per carry in his first 100-yard game of the season.

The passing attack was not nearly as efficient. Starting quarterback Jeff McCall was replaced late in the second quarter by sophomore Roy Altman. Altman, whose first collegiate attempt was a 12-yard completion to Reese, finished the afternoon 5-for-9 for 74 yards, and engineered Columbia’s only scoring drives.

Columbia will next host Penn on Saturday.

COLGATE 35, PRINCETON 10

Battling injuries to key players, the Tigers weren’t able to keep up with Colgate (3-2), dropping a 35-10 decision in front of 12,304 fans at Princeton Stadium on Saturday. Princeton (1-2, 1-0 Ivy) remains tied for the Ivy League lead with Harvard and Penn despite the loss.

Two Tiger starters—defensive end Joe Weiss, who suffered a broken fibula, and leading receiver Chisom Opara—were forced to leave the game early Saturday. Two other starters didn’t play due to injuries from the week before.

Tiger quarterback David Splithoff was also knocked out of the game following two big hits in the fourth quarter. Splithoff had completed just 9-of-22 passes for 107 yards before leaving the game.

The undermanned defensive unit struggled against Colgate quarterback Tom McCune, who completed 19-of-26 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns.

Princeton will next travel to Brown on Saturday.