Crunching the Numbers: Ivy League Football

A couple of interesting tidbits from the just-released Ivy weekly football release and stats:

-Alex Gross was the sole Columbian on the Ivy honor roll this week. Does that answer my question about who was the Yale game MVP?

-Columbia is now giving up just 118 yards rushing per game. LESS THAN HALF the 237 yards rushing per game they allowed last year! Kudos to Coach Kelton and the entire defense for that amazing achievement.

-Gross and Drew Quinn remain at No. 1 and No. 2 in the Ivies for tackles, but now it's Gross who's No. 1 and Quinn who is No. 2 just one tackle behind. Dartmouth's Ian Wilson is lurking at just one tackle behind Quinn. This will be a great horserace to the finish for the No. 1 spot there.

-Lou Miller still leads the league with tackles for a loss with 11.

-Only one Ivy rusher, Princeton's Jordan Culbreath, is even close to being on track for a 1,000-yard rushing season. Finding quality runners in the Ivies has become harder and harder.

I know most Ivy coaches say recruiting tp defensive linemen is the toughest thing to do nowadays in this league, but I can't remember when the Ivies were devoid of even two rushers with a shot at the 1,000 mark by year's end. Columbia saw Culbreath in week three and held him under 70 yards on the ground.

-Brown certainly seems to be sitting pretty with an undefeated 4-0 league record and only Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia left to play. And two of those games will be at home for the Bears, (Yale and Columbia).

I kind of like the idea of the Lions going up to Brown on the last week of the season with a shot to ruin the Bears perfect season hopes. It would add to the drama, add to the crowd totals, and really put Columbia in a national spotlight win or lose. After last year's near-win against Brown, an our overall defensive strength, I'm not so sure we couldn't pull it off!