Ivy League Week 1

[bonarae]

Starting this season, I will implement a new system: I no longer predict the margin by numbers, but by the outcome. Last season, I got replies that my predictions weren't that accurate anymore, so that's why I implemented this system.

Close:
Holy Cross at Harvard - HC tries to rebound after they were routed by UMass. But can Harvard surprise them?
Georgetown at Yale - can Georgetown bring the same performance they had vs. Lafayette?
Stony Brook at Brown - can SB being scholly have an advantage?
Lafayette at Penn

Blowout:
Dartmouth at Bucknell
Fordham at Columbia
Cornell at Wagner
Princeton at Lehigh

The reason why my predictions are no longer as accurate as they used to be is because the Ivies are already being left out in the dust by the opponents' moving forward to reach the elusive playoffs (e.g. Stony Brook transferring to the Big South, PL and scholarships, etc.)

Scheduling: Can a Dartmouth-Savannah State or a Harvard-Appalachian State be a reality should the Presidents allow the teams to schedule road games to FBS teams, most FCS (playoff-participating) conferences (e.g. SoCon, Big Sky, MVFC), or independents, for $ purposes or more national exposure? I am getting tired of scheduling NEC and PFL teams. I don't want the likes of Butler and Valparaiso scheduling DIII's and NAIA's to fill up their schedule to happen to the Ivies.

[bulldog10jw]

Holy Cross at Harvard - Harvard
Georgetown at Yale - Yale
Stony Brook at Brown - Brown
Lafayette at Penn - Lafayette
Dartmouth at Bucknell - Bucknell
Fordham at Columbia - Fordham
Cornell at Wagner - Cornell
Princeton at Lehigh - Princeton

[danefan]

Starting this season, I will implement a new system: I no longer predict the margin by numbers, but by the outcome. Last season, I got replies that my predictions weren't that accurate anymore, so that's why I implemented this system.

Close:
Holy Cross at Harvard - HC tries to rebound after they were routed by UMass. But can Harvard surprise them?
Georgetown at Yale - can Georgetown bring the same performance they had vs. Lafayette?
Stony Brook at Brown - can SB being scholly have an advantage?
Lafayette at Penn

Blowout:
Dartmouth at Bucknell
Fordham at Columbia
Cornell at Wagner
Princeton at Lehigh

The reason why my predictions are no longer as accurate as they used to be is because the Ivies are already being left out in the dust by the opponents' moving forward to reach the elusive playoffs (e.g. Stony Brook transferring to the Big South, PL and scholarships, etc.)

Scheduling: Can a Dartmouth-Savannah State or a Harvard-Appalachian State be a reality should the Presidents allow the teams to schedule road games to FBS teams, most FCS (playoff-participating) conferences (e.g. SoCon, Big Sky, MVFC), or independents, for $ purposes or more national exposure? I am getting tired of scheduling NEC and PFL teams. I don't want the likes of Butler and Valparaiso scheduling DIII's and NAIA's to fill up their schedule to happen to the Ivies.

Be careful lumping the NEC teams in on your scheduling rant. I understand not wanting the association academically, but from a football standpoint, most of the NEC vs. Ivy matchups will begin as a toss-up or with the Ivy team as the underdog.

Why would anyone want to schedule Savanah State? Also, an honest question here - do the President's limit the OOC games?

[bonarae]

Be careful lumping the NEC teams in on your scheduling rant. I understand not wanting the association academically, but from a football standpoint, most of the NEC vs. Ivy matchups will begin as a toss-up or with the Ivy team as the underdog.

Why would anyone want to schedule Savanah State? Also, an honest question here - do the President's limit the OOC games?

I'm not sure about the NEC/Ivy matchups' outcome. But is the NEC as a conference higher in rank than the Pioneer League? Harvard has games scheduled at USD (San Diego) in a few years.

The Presidents do not limit the OOC games but I think the coaches are afraid to schedule teams such as Montana, James Madison, etc. because they do not want blowouts by the playoff-participating (or playoff-eligible) teams. Savannah State-Dartmouth IMHO will be a good standpoint on which team plays better among two perennial cupcakes.

[danefan]

Be careful lumping the NEC teams in on your scheduling rant. I understand not wanting the association academically, but from a football standpoint, most of the NEC vs. Ivy matchups will begin as a toss-up or with the Ivy team as the underdog.

Why would anyone want to schedule Savanah State? Also, an honest question here - do the President's limit the OOC games?

I'm not sure about the NEC/Ivy matchups' outcome. But is the NEC as a conference higher in rank than the Pioneer League? Harvard has games scheduled at USD (San Diego) in a few years.

The Presidents do not limit the OOC games but I think the coaches are afraid to schedule teams such as Montana, James Madison, etc. because they do not want blowouts by the playoff-participating (or playoff-eligible) teams. Savannah State-Dartmouth IMHO will be a good standpoint on which team plays better among two perennial cupcakes.

Its hard to tell on the NEC vs. PFL matchup. Sometimes I think the NEC has moved way ahead of the PFL (2008) and then sometimes not (2009).

The NEC is now up to 36 scholarships. The PFL is on an Ivy model for aid so there are a good number of players on some kind of academic or need based aid on these teams.

San Diego is way down from the Harbaugh era, IMO. But I'd honestly take Dayont as a toss-up or favorite against every Ivy league team. I'd say the same for a couple of NEC teams. Its not a knock on the Ivy's, its just that the talent gap in FCS has closed dramatically between the NEC/PFL and PL/Ivy/MEAC, etc....

[SumItUp]

Harvard has games scheduled at USD (San Diego) in a few years.

The San Diego team has lost both games (lost to NAIA Azusa Pacific 42-14 and Southern Utah 32-3) so far this season. That is a long trip for an easy W for the Crimson. Of course, the weather is always nice in San Diego.

[GrizFan5]

The Presidents do not limit the OOC games but I think the coaches are afraid to schedule teams such as Montana, James Madison, etc. because they do not want blowouts by the playoff-participating (or playoff-eligible) teams. Savannah State-Dartmouth IMHO will be a good standpoint on which team plays better among two perennial cupcakes.

Dartmouth came close to scheduling Montana about 4 or so years ago. Montana initiated the discussion. Dartmouth would have had to break it's agreement with UNH to do the game. There was considerable support from Dartmouth to break the agreement, but ultimately the Dartmouth president decided the contract should be honored. In the background was the fact that UNH had made noises the previous year about breaking the agreement with Dartmouth, in order to play Syracuse, but the Syracuse didn't get put together and UNH didn't have to break the contract with Dartmouth.