Ivy League November 20th

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TIME	GAME	ODDS
12 p.m.	Harvard at Yale	Harvard -8.5 / 48
12 p.m.	#21 Dartmouth at Brown	Dartmouth -25.5 / 64.5
1 p.m.	#20 Princeton at Penn	Princeton -15.5 / 40.5
1 p.m.	Columbia at Cornell	Columbia -8.5 / 41.5

School	Conf	Conf ATS	Overall	Pct.	Overall ATS
Dartmouth	5-1	4-2	8-1	0.889	6-3
Princeton	5-1	1-5	8-1	0.889	3-5-1
Harvard	4-2	3-3	7-2	0.778	6-3
Yale	4-2	2-4	5-4	0.556	3-6
Columbia	3-3	4-2	6-3	0.667	5-4
Penn	1-5	3-3	3-6	0.333	4-5
Brown	1-5	3-3	2-7	0.222	4-5
Cornell	1-5	4-2	2-7	0.222	5-4

 

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The Game, 137th Harvard-Yale game will be on ESPNU. Harvard needs Dartmouth and Princeton to lose to share Ivy Title. Yale was eliminated last week.

Yale has won 3 of the last 4 vs Harvard. Last game in 2019 was also at Yale. Harvard led 36-19, but it went to OT tied 36-36! Yale won in double OT 50-43.

Every Ivy game is a road favorite this week! If Dartmouth and Princeton both win they will share Ivy League Championship. Ivy League doesn't do tie-breakers. Even though Dartmouth beat Princeton head-to-head, they will be co-champions. If Dartmouth wins they will be Ivy League champs back-to-back for first time since 1992. Princeton's last championship was 2018. If both Dartmouth and Princeton somehow lose, and Harvard wins, Harvard would then share a three-way tie for the championship. Harvard was last champions in 2015's 3-way tie.

 

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The Game, 137th Harvard-Yale game will be on ESPNU. Harvard needs Dartmouth and Princeton to lose to share Ivy Title. Yale was eliminated last week.

Yale has won 3 of the last 4 vs Harvard. Last game in 2019 was also at Yale. Harvard led 36-19, but it went to OT tied 36-36! Yale won in double OT 50-43.

Every Ivy game is a road favorite this week! If Dartmouth and Princeton both win they will share Ivy League Championship. Ivy League doesn't do tie-breakers. Even though Dartmouth beat Princeton head-to-head, they will be co-champions. If Dartmouth wins they will be Ivy League champs back-to-back for first time since 1992. Princeton's last championship was 2018. If both Dartmouth and Princeton somehow lose, and Harvard wins, Harvard would then share a three-way tie for the championship. Harvard was last champions in 2015's 3-way tie.

 

[bull]

Dartmouth and Princeton are very unlikely losers.
Columbia is an unlikely loser
Harvard should win.

I do not see a bet ATS here but if forced to pick, it woul be Princeton.
Brown can score, probably will score, but they have no defense.
The issue here from a betting angle will Dartmouth coach Teevens let up in 4th Q and pull his regulars.

 

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@bull Just how good do you think Columbia is? They were dogged 17.5 the night they beat Dartmouth. The more this season has gone on the more their 19-0 win there looks like a total anomaly doesn't it? Columbia entered that game 4-1 with their three prior games being a 9pt win over Penn, 2pt win over Central Conn State (no idea if that is good or not), lost 7-24 at Princeton. Since Columbia beat Dartmouth, they lost to Yale, did lead Yale at HT, then lost the 2nd H 23-10 to lose by 7, got blown out vs Harvard and then only beat Brown by 6. Brown shut them out 7-0 1st H! Brown!

To me, it looks like the Dartmouth win was just a total lightning in the bottle game. Columbia only had 310 TY on Brown of all teams last week. Harvard limited them to 265 TY, which Harvard D is awesome so that is fine. 344 (4.4) vs Yale is fine although Yale outgained them by 80y and at 5.8 ypp for Yale in that one. Dartmouth outgained Columbia that night they beat them. Columbia only had 239 (3.6) TY in their upset at Dartmouth.

Columbia is 0-3 straight up and 1-2 ATS since they beat Dartmouth.

I did try Cornell last week vs Dartmouth and that was just wrong. Dartmouth is the best team in the Ivy having beaten every other top half team. Other than thinking Dartmouth might be flat, one reason I took Cornell is due to their competitive games vs everybody, Cornell was 4-0 ATS as a dog vs Ivy teams entering last week. I know you had 17.5 vs Princeton which sucks. I am counting that game as 18.5. Either way it was close win/loss in that one. Princeton just basically shut it down in the weather.

I know Cornell is not a good team 2-7 straight up, 1-5 vs Ivy. But their games have been played closer to the spreads telling me that for some reason they are overachieving what the betting market thinks they will do.

If there was an upset this week, I was thinking that might be it. Brown always seems to have a puncher's chance, but they have glass chin and usually get knocked out early. Penn, I don't respect much. Yale vs Harvard, I don't know. But Cornell vs Columbia, Cornell was one I thought maybe.

 

[bull]

I saw that Columbia game v Dartmouth. A real puzzle . Columbia were dominant and Dartmouth were outplayed. Then Dartmouth turns around and beats Harvard. The score was close but the game was not. Dartmouth was in control for most of the game. Then Harvard thrashes Columbia, it was 35-0 at the half. These 3 games are good examples of what this business we are in is so tough.

You make a good point re the Cornell- Columbia game. 8.5 is a decent number, so don’t let me discourage you. My comment on this game was based on my belief that Brown, Cornell, and Penn are in a class by themselves as the bottom 3 in the Ivy League. Cornell lost to Bucknell earlier in the season. Nobody loses to Bucknell. Probably that soured me on the Big Red. When they lost to Harvard, that game was 13-7 until the last 2 minutes of 4th Q when Harvard broke a long run for a TD. Re Central Connecticut, that was ANYTHING BUT an impressive win by Columbia. Final word. I base my opinion largely on coaches. Columbia has the edge over Cornell in this game.

On a different subject, I read in another thread about your sad experience in losing bets on Georgia and Alabama. I shed a tear for you. Honestly. FWIW, I learned some years back that I do very poorly on high profile games. Give me the games nobody cares about. That’s part of the reason FCS has been my bread and butter over time. I’m also B1G fan. So this week I am on Rutgers, Minny, and Northwestern. No play on the higher profile teams even tho I will watch State vs State. Also playing W. KY., and Old Dominion.
.Best of luck to you. Your contributions to this forum are tremendous.

 

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Thanks bull. I have always appreciated your opinions especially on the lower tier games. I used to love the bullsheet and seeing the Ivy games and I was like 'someday I'm going to know Ivy football too!' You know what you are talking about. The head coaching edge for Columbia vs Cornell can't be overstated. I don't know their names off hand, but the older coach Columbia HC I know is an Ivy legend from watching games. The Cornell coach fans want fired.

I love upsets and underdogs and trying to uncover the unexpected results, that makes it very tough vs the top teams because they don't lose straight up and they often cover spreads so for me, it's like what is the point when I'm trying to find ways these underdogs could surprise. I'm better to leave alone the teams with the huge talent gaps.

But you have that everywhere. The top teams in the Ivy have big talent gaps vs the teams at the bottom. So it can't be avoided completely.

I'll be watching my first every Harvard - Yale game tomorrow. I actually think someday I could leave all FBS football behind and just become an Ivy League junkie. Next season I expect to focus on it a lot.

As somebody with experience in FCS games, do you think that teams in FCS are more unpredictable than the ones at the FBS level? I was thinking on some of these Ivy results that with each lower level of football it gets harder and harder to get consistent results. NFL, FBS, FCS, Dll, etc. There is always going to be inconsistencies, but does it become more frequent the further down the ladder you go?

 

[bull]

I haven’t considered whether FCS games are less predictable. I find MAC games very unpredictable which would support the lower teams being less predictable. But I find the same issue with SEC. I havent bet one sec game this year.
Mike Archer coaches Cornell. Al Bagnoli, former HC at Penn coaches Columbia.

 

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The difference from the early 5Dimes lines during the week til when they post for everyone is huge.

Harvard from 8.5 to 3! No change to the total

Kind of like Harvard and Under. I worry about the Harvard O though. I don't worry about Harvard D however.

Columbia from 8.5 to 5

 

[bull]

Those are big changes. Harvard goes from loss to push. Columbia from loss to win.

Do u use 5Dimes ? it broke my heart when they closed shop many months back. I wasn’t sure they had re-opened.

if they are like the old 5Dimes I used for 15 years, I could go back next year.

I used a local this year for first time.
hope you had a winning day.

 

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Harvard - Yale lived up to the expectations! Was a great game. I like the A-crew Ivy announcers too. Wish they didn't have to plug ESPN's other "stuff".

I went 2-2-1 (Harv 1st H, Harv game, Harv-Yale Und, Cornell, Princeton-Penn 2nd H Und). Felt like Harvard was right side of game, until it wasn't, and then it pushed. If the line would've been over 7 like that original 8.5 I would've had Yale. I felt like Harvard would win, but could be close.

That Yale QB is going to really good in the future.

I really like Ivy League football
A) small conference with every team playing eachother every year
B) winning the conference is the most important part of the season
C) no post season championship game or playoff nonsense
D) all the rivalries are older than dirt with most dating back to the beginning of the sport itself!

I do wonder, why don't they use head-to-head tie breakers? Dartmouth and Princeton are co-Ivy champs this year, but we know who beat who and they have the same record. They should break ties, but who am I to tell them how to run their league.

I want to go to Harvard - Yale game some time soon.

 

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Oh, no I just use 5Dimes for reference as they are the first to post for several days before others do. I also use a local outlet, nothing online or anything like that.

 

[bull]

Harvard - Yale lived up to the expectations! Was a great game. I like the A-crew Ivy announcers too. Wish they didn't have to plug ESPN's other "stuff".

I went 2-2-1 (Harv 1st H, Harv game, Harv-Yale Und, Cornell, Princeton-Penn 2nd H Und). Felt like Harvard was right side of game, until it wasn't, and then it pushed. If the line would've been over 7 like that original 8.5 I would've had Yale. I felt like Harvard would win, but could be close.

That Yale QB is going to really good in the future.

I really like Ivy League football
A) small conference with every team playing eachother every year
B) winning the conference is the most important part of the season
C) no post season championship game or playoff nonsense
D) all the rivalries are older than dirt with most dating back to the beginning of the sport itself!

I do wonder, why don't they use head-to-head tie breakers? Dartmouth and Princeton are co-Ivy champs this year, but we know who beat who and they have the same record. They should break ties, but who am I to tell them how to run their league.

I want to go to Harvard - Yale game some time soon.

Glad you liked the game and enjoy the Ivy League. Agree with your points including having head to head as tie breaker.
Do you live nearer to Cambridge or New Haven ? Yale bowl has bigger capacity. Harvard great viewing experience if you can get up high and preferably not in the end zone.
Unrelated comment, I thorough dislike NCAA rules on OT. Actually, I see nothing wrong with tie games. They can and do occur in NF L. Of course you need O T in playoffs/ elimination games. But for regular in season games ties can serve as tiebreakers in determining league standings. Most memorable game I ever saw was 1968 Yale=Harvard game. Ended 29-29 . Harvard scored 16 points in last 42 seconds. Saturday’s game was a reminder of 1968, as was Yale’s double OT win 2 years ago

 

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I live in Ohio. Franklin Field would be the closest. I've always liked that stadium, I mean the Eagles won a championship in that building! I love old stadiums. The other Ivy games would require more commitment.

I saw Harvard beats Yale 29-29 once. Wanted to watch it again last week.

I would not mind ties, but I like OT closer to what it used to be in college than what the changed it to now with sudden death 2 pt plays. Just end it after 4 or 5, no need to go on into perpetuity