New twist on old New York rivalry

When Central New York rivals Cornell and No. 25 Colgate collide tomorrow in Hamilton, the stakes will be the highest they’ve been since 1966 in this 103-year-old rivalry.

That’s because both the visiting Big Red (2-0, 1-0 Ivy) and the host Raiders (4-0, 1-0 Patriot) are undefeated entering their matchup for the first time in 43 years.

Starting in 1896, these two schools — separated by just 80 miles — have matched up 92 times, which is the 17th-most games in the country. Though Cornell owns a 48-40-3 overall series lead, the Raiders have won 24 of the last 31 games.

Columbia at Princeton

If history repeats itself tomorrow when Columbia travels to Princeton, look for the Lions to start their Ivy season off with a loss.

Columbia hasn’t won an Ivy opener since 2003 when it topped Princeton, 33-27. In fact, the team is just 12-39-1 all-time in League openers, including an 0-3 record under coach Norries Wilson.

Both teams enter the game with 1-1 records, though they’re trending in opposite directions. The Lions started strong last week against Central Connecticut State, but a blocked extra point led to 22 unanswered Blue Devils points, and they prevailed 22-13.

Princeton, meanwhile, rebounded nicely from its opening-day loss to Citadel by winning a defensive struggle against Lehigh, 17-14, last week.

Lafayette at Yale

Last week, both Lafayette’s and Yale’s games were determined on the final play of the day.

But while the Leopards beat Penn on a field goal in overtime, 20-17, the Bulldogs couldn’t convert a game-tying two-point conversion with 0:00 showing on the clock as they fell, 14-12, to Cornell.

So when the teams face off tomorrow at the Yale Bowl, both the Leopards (2-1) and Bulldogs (1-1, 0-1 Ivy) will be coming off emotional contests.

These teams haven’t played each other very often — just seven times overall— and not in New Haven, Conn., since 1990. The Bulldogs are perfect in the series, including four shutouts in the first four games (the series started in 1912).

Perhaps the critical matchup of the game will be between the Yale rush defense and Lafayette’s multi-faceted ground game. The Bulldogs have given up only 34.5 yards on the ground, which is second in the Football Championship Subdivision. While the Leopards don’t rank that high in the FCS in rushing offense, they do have two backs (Maurice White and DeAndre’ Morrow) who can tear up a defense (just ask Penn).

Rhode Island at Brown

It might not exactly be Auburn versus Alabama or Florida State-Miami, but the Governor’s Cup Trophy will be up for grabs tomorrow when Rhode Island and Brown battle for Ocean State supremacy. The game will be the first at Brown Stadium this year.

The two non-conference rivals are just 25 miles apart and will be facing each other for the 94th time. Brown has dominated the series (66-25-2), but the Rams have won 15 out of 27 since the Governor’s Cup Trophy was first awarded in 1981.

The Bears (0-2, 0-1 Ivy) better hold onto the ball if they want state bragging rights as well as their first win of the year. The Rams (1-2) have the third-highest turnover margin in the FCS, and have forced 17 fumbles (though they recovered just nine of them).

Harvard at Lehigh

Tomorrow’s Harvard-Lehigh matchup has all the makings of a trap game.

The Crimson (1-1, 1-0 Ivy) are coming off a solid comeback win over Brown that put them in the driver’s seat of the Ivy race. With a trip to Cornell, the only undefeated Ivy team, on tap for next week, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Crimson looked past the 0-3 Mountain Hawks.

“Lehigh might be the best 0-3 team in the country,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said in the Ivy League weekly teleconference.

Outside of a blowout to current No. 2 Villanova , Lehigh has lost two games by a combined 10 points. Last year, it almost upset the Crimson, losing 27-24 when quarterback J.B. Clark fumbled with 46 seconds left to prevent a Mountain Hawks come-from-behind victory.

These teams haven’t met often, and the all-time record sits at 7-7 after Harvard tied it up last year. Lehigh is one of the few teams Murphy has a losing record against (3-5).

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