Ivy Notebook | Manic Big Green, depressed Lions

Emotions were all over the place in Hanover, N.H., after Dartmouth’s 28-6 win over Columbia Saturday .

On the one hand, the Big Green won for the first time in 18 games, but on the other, the Lions experienced yet another setback in their sad history as Ivy League bottom dwellers.

So naturally Dartmouth celebrated like there was no tomorrow.

After making the score 21-0 on a fumble return in the fourth quarter, the hosts were flagged for excessive celebration in the endzone. But that didn’t faze them at all.

“Honestly, at that point, I really didn’t care,” sophomore Charles Bay, who scored the defensive TD, told reporters. “If they’re going to call it, let’s just celebrate more. They can’t call it twice.”

Meanwhile, the Lions were once again forced to deal with the agony of defeat.

“You can’t let a team like that who’s looking for some life, who’s looking for a reason to win, who’s looking for some belief that they can win, continue to believe they can win the football game,” Columbia coach Norries Wilson said after the game.

“You can’t just come out and come onto a field thinking you’re going to beat somebody. Period,” senior Austin Knowlin added. “I think we might’ve done a little bit of that today.”

Columbia (2-4, 1-2 Ivy) started its conference schedule off with a bang, shutting out Princeton 38-0. But as the Tigers continue to struggle themselves (see below), that win is losing more significance every week. The Lions have struggled, scoring just 19 points combined in their two Ivy losses.

“There are going to be some changes, there have to be,” Wilson said. “Guys need to be accountable to themselves. It’s not okay to lose. They keep score in these football games. This ain’t four-year-old tee ball.”

Eyeing the Tigers’ first win. At least the Lions have company in the sadness department of the Ivy League.

Outside of a 17-14 win over 2-5 Lehigh in Week 2 and taking Colgate to double overtime, Princeton hasn’t shown much of anything this year.

The Tigers (1-5, 0-3) have lost their other four games by an average of 30 points, and face a distinct possibility of being 0-6 in the Ivy League heading into the season finale at Dartmouth.

The last time the Tigers started 0-3 in the Ivies was 1999 when they went 1-6 with just a win over Columbia (the two faced off in the fourth Ivy game that year). They last went 0-7 in the League in 1973.

Princeton’s most recent loss was a 37-3 smacking at Harvard, its worst ever to the Crimson since the two started playing each other in 1877.

“Honestly, I don’t really know [what went wrong],” quarterback Tommy Wornham told The Daily Princetonian. “It seemed like they scouted our offense pretty well and made the plays on their offense.”

Around the League. Brown DB A.J. Cruz won Ivy Rookie of the Week after leading the Bears with seven tackles in their 34-14 win over Cornell, as the Big Red offense didn’t get past Brown’s 30-yard line.

… Cornell punter Drew Alston averaged 38.4 yards per kick against Brown. The team now ranks first in the Ivies in net punt average.

… With a big lead in the fourth quarter, Harvard put in freshman Colton Chapple and junior Matt Simpson at quarterback, though neither attempted a pass.

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