Ivy League Previews
HANOVER (Sept. 15) – Today we take a look at the Ivy League teams Dartmouth will face this year, in alphabetical order. Coaching records are at current school.
BROWN
Coach: James Perry 8-27 Ivy, 15-35 Overall
Last Year: 2-5 Ivy, 3-7 Overall
Last Five Years: 8-27 Ivy, 15-35 Overall
If it’s the same-old, same-old, then it’s going to be what a lot of people around the Ivy League expect this fall: the same-old thing in Providence.
From Mark Whipple in the mid-‘90s to Phil Estes to James Perry, it’s always been the same for Brown's coaches. Lots of footballs in the air, not much defense, and – with a few exceptions – not enough wins.
Offensively, the fast-paced Brown attack will be turned over this year to 6-foot-5, 230-pound quarterback James Murphy, who flashed when he hit on 26-of-37 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns coming off the bench in a 56-28 loss at Dartmouth last fall. Tyler Pezza, who caught 29 passes a year ago, is a reliable target.
Running back Matt Childs had a solid freshman season with 361 rushing yards and 376 receiving, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Year honors. Classmate Qwentin Martin showed a nose for the end zone as a short-yardage specialist, tying for the Ivy League lead with nine rushing touchdowns on just 33 carries.
Defensively, senior corner Nick Hudson led the Ivies with 13 breakups last year. Junior DB Elias Archie and linebacker John Perdue, who had 48 tackles are solid pieces on that side of the ball but the Bears desperately need defensive improvement in Perry's sixth season at the helm.
Best Case Scenario: The Bears get solid QB play, the defense improves and they make it out of the Ivy League basement. Barely.
Worst Case Scenario: Same old, same old.
COLUMBIA
Coach: Jon Poppe 5-2 Ivy, 7-3 Overall
Last Year: 5-2 Ivy, 7-3 Overall
Last Five Years: 15-20 Ivy, 26-24 Overall
The Lions snuck up on the Ivy League a year ago. They won’t have that opportunity this fall because even the usual doubters have to recognize that this is not your father’s Columbia. Not after the Lions won a share of the 2024 Ivy League title.
Keying Columbia’s improvement last year was a defense that finished second second in the nation in points per game allowed (16.1) and led the Ivies both with 11 interceptions and 213.1 yards allowed passing per game. Graduation took a hit on the defense, but there’s returning talent at each level with sophomore corner Carter McCray (eight pass breakups) anchoring the secondary, Jack Smiechowski (62 tackles) a force at linebacker, and edge rusher Justin Townsend a solid fifth-year senior.
Offensively, Chase Goodwin completed 66.1 percent of his throws and took care of the ball before being lost for the season with a knee injury near halftime of a loss to Harvard. First Cole Freeman and then Caleb Sanchez filled in the rest of the way. Goodwin will be at the helm this year with Sanchez backing him up. Freeman will be catching passes as a converted wide receiver where he could take up some of the slack left by the graduation of standout Bryson Canty, who caught 43 passes with nine touchdowns and is now a Kansas Jayhawk.
Best Case Scenario: The Lions, who had won just a single Ivy League title before last year, claim their second in as many seasons behind terrific QB play and solid defense.
Worst Case Scenario: With Canty, rushing leader Joey Giorgi and key defenders graduated, Columbia finishes in the middle of the league.
CORNELL
Coach: Dan Swanstrom 3-4 Ivy, 4-6 Overall
Last Year: 3-4 Ivy, 4-6 Overall
Last Five Years: 11-24 Ivy, 18-32 Overall
Replacing the top passer in the Ivy League was going to be tough anyway, but getting the kind of production the graduated Jameson Wang delivered is going to be even tougher without Samuel Musungu, arguably as dangerous a receiver as there is in the league, lost to a season-ending knee injury.
With Wang taking more than the lion’s share of snaps the last four years, there has been a battle to replace him among four QBs who did not attempt a pass last year. The good news for whomever gets the job is that tight end Ryder Kurtz, like Dartmouth’s Chris Corbo a preseason All-America, returns after catching 36 balls for 441 yards in nine games last year.
Ean Pope, a 5-7 speedster who ran for a team-high 513 yards last year, and 5-8 Robert Tucker III (305 yards) will try to fill the void left by Wang, who collected 500 rushing yards a year ago. It helps that all five linemen listed as starters in the Big Red’s 39-22 win over Dartmouth return.
Defensively, Cornell lost linebacker Luke Bandbury, who led the team with 87 tackles a year ago. Joey Cheshire, who had 63 stops at linebacker, will be solid. Jeremiah Lewis and Johnny Williamson are productive returnees in the back end.
Best Case Scenario: Without Wang, the Big Red has more offensive balance and gets over the hump with a 4-3 Ivy League record.
Worst Case Scenario: No quarterback steps up, the defense takes a step back and Cornell slips behind Brown in the standings.
HARVARD
Coach: Andrew Aurich 5-2 Ivy, 8-2 Overall
Last Year: 5-2 Ivy, 8-2 Overall
Last Five Years: 21-14 Ivy, 33-17 Overall
Let’s face it. Even with some serious graduation losses, Harvard is loaded, and it all starters with quarterback Jaden Craig. A legitimate NFL prospect who threw for 2,430 yards with 23 touchdowns and just three interceptions, Craig was never better than he was rallying the Crimson to a huge comeback win at fellow tri-champion Dartmouth last year.
Craig will absolutely miss pass catchers Cooper Barkate (now at Duke) and Scott Woods II, and their more than 1,600 receiving yards last year. Barkate's 11 receiving touchdowns will have to be replaced. Waiting in the wings is Seamus Gilmartin, the latest in the production line of outstanding Harvard tight ends after averaging a terrific 21.1 yards on his 18 catches a year ago. The Crimson lost three starters up front but Aidan Kilstrom, Derek Osman and Spencer Doan are all seasoned veterans.
Rushing leader Xaviah Bascon is back after piling up 538 yards last year, but speedy wildcat QB Charles DePrima and hard-running Shane McLaughlin have both graduated and will be missed.
The secondary may well be the strength of the defense with safety and team captain Ty Bartrum, who had 83 tackles a year ago, leading the way. If there’s a concern, it would be up front rushing the passer where Ivy League sack leader Jacob Psyk has graduated along with the next three most effective pass rushers. That said, Harvard always seems to have big bodies waiting in the wings.
Best Case Scenario: Quarterback Craig lives up to his bona fides and the Crimson proves it was rightfully chosen as the preseason Ivy League favorite.
Worst Case Scenario: The defensive line leaves the secondary on an island, no No. 1 receiver steps up, and the Crimson finish in the middle of the Ivy pack.
PENN
Coach: Ray Priore 32-30 Ivy, 51-38 Overall
Last Year: 2-5 Ivy, 4-6 Overall
Last Five Years: 14-21 Ivy, 26-24 Overall
It's probably not a good thing when one of your top wide receivers gets a battlefield promotion to starting running back before his senior year. But that’s the case in Philly, where Ivy League offensive player of the year Malachi Hosley departed for George Tech after his sophomore season.
The good news offensively, at least, is that Penn returns quarterback Liam O’Brien, who proved a revelation last year after taking the job from highly regarded Aidan Sayin. O’Brien had 13 touchdown throws to two interceptions while completing 66.1 percent of his attempts last year.
NFL prospect Jared Richardson, who has had 113 receptions and 15 touchdowns over the last two years, and Bisi Owens (72 catches over the timespan) combine to give O’Brien a couple of potent and dependable targets. Expect Stokes, who caught 37 balls last year, to get his share of passes thrown his way this fall.
The strength of the defense figures to be up the middle thanks to returning linebackers Kadari Machen and John Lista, who were first and third on the team in tackles last year. Carter Janki, who had 40 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 4.4 quarterback hurries at tackle will anchor the D-line.
Corner Devin Malloy, who had 40 tackles and seven pass breakups, headlines a secondary that will miss graduated Shiloh Means, who had 11 breakups and three interceptions last year.
Best Case Scenario: The Quakers get offensive production and solid defense to turn around those five one-score losses a year ago, and are still alive in the race in the final week or two.
Worst Case Scenario: If the run game founders without Hosley, QB O’Brien doesn’t pick up where he left off, and the defense is again middle of the road, the Quakers will struggle to escape the second division.
PRINCETON
Coach: Bob Surace 54-44 Ivy, 81-59 Overall
Last Year: 2-5 Ivy, 3-7 Overall
Last Five Years: 22-13 Ivy, 33-17 Overall
It’s hardly a secret what Princeton needs in order to improve on last year’s 21.6 points per game production: improved quarterback play. First-year starter Blaine Hipa completed a league-low 55.1 percent of his throws with 10 touchdowns and a league-high 15 interceptions. It didn’t help that he was sacked 43 times.
What would help is if the ground game improves after finishing last in the Ivies by a wide margin with just 102 yards per game and 3.0. yards per carry in 2024. While Hipa – or someone else – tries to get the pass game going without last year’s three leading receivers, Ethan Clark will look to replace speedster John Volker’s production in the run game. Clark ran for 346 yards and three touchdowns last year, with an eye-opening 117 yards and a touchdown against No. 7 Mercer.
Cooper Koers, who started all last season, figures to be one of the leaders on an offensive line that must develop for the Tigers to show significant improvement this fall.
On the plus side, Princeton brings back three of its top four tacklers, led by leading tackler Chase Christopher and fellow linebacker Marco Scarano, who had 11.5 tackles for loss among his 68 stops. In the back end, Tahj Owens had 65 tackles, three forced fumbles and three pass breakups a year ago but has been lost for the season due to injury. Without him, the Tigers will lean even more heavily on Nasir Hill, who chipped in 121 tackles over the last two years.
Best Case Scenario: Princeton’s Bob Surace is too good a coach for his team to continue to struggle the way it did last year. They can make it into the upper half of the league with improved QB play.
Worst Case Scenario: It’s Princeton, so the Tigers can’t tie for last in the league for a second consecutive year. Or can they?
YALE
Coach: Tony Reno 49-35 Ivy, 74-46 Overall
Last Year: 4-3 Ivy, 7-3 Overall
Last Five Years: 25-10 Ivy, 36-14 Overall
Quarterback Grant Jordan, who burst on the scene a year ago, was something of a revelation for the Bulldogs. But he graduated and is at UMass now, leaving the quarterback job in New Haven wide open. Or is it?
Dante Reno, son of the Yale head coach, has transferred into his father’s program after seeing action in one game last fall as a highly regarded freshman QB for the South Carolina Gamecocks. He’s battling for the starting role with senior Brogan McCaughey, who passed for 390 yards and two touchdowns in two appearances last year, completing 60 percent of his attempts. A third QB, who might have been a factor, transferred to Ball State.
Yale has been known the past few years for a deep and talented crew of receivers but whether that’s the case this year remains to be seen after three of the top four pass catchers graduated. The good news for Yale is that Mason Shipp, who had 39 catches for 431 yards a year ago, is back as a fifth-year senior. There’s also a transfer from Air Force who is reputed to be a speedster.
The picture is clearer in the running back room where Joshua Pitsenberger, the Ivy League rookie of the year in 2022, is back for his senior season. He ran for 796 yards and seven touchdowns in nine games a year ago.
Abu Kamara, a preseason All-America safety, headlines the defense, not always a Yale strength under Reno. The loss of corner Breylan Thompson, who transferred to Stanford after one year, hurts. The return of Ezekiel Larry, who spent one season at San Diego State, will bolster the defensive front.
Best Case Scenario: QB Reno is everything Coach Reno hopes and combines with Pitsenberger and Shipp to give Yale the kind of explosive offense that makes The Game a championship matchup.
Worst Case Scenario: Quarterback controversy and more defensive struggles drop the Bulldogs around the middle of the pack.
Up Next: Dartmouth's nonconference opponents
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