Football

Yale Clinches Share of 2017 #IvyFootball Title; Columbia, Dartmouth One Game Back

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PRINCETON, N.J. -- Yale has clinched at least a share of the #IvyFootball title, with one win standing in between the Bulldogs and the outright championship.

LEAGUE NOTES
  • Yale has clinched at least a share of the Ivy League title and can claim the championship outright with a win over Harvard on Saturday. If the Bulldogs fall to the Crimson, Columbia and Dartmouth can also lay claim to the title if they defeat their respective opponents, Brown and Princeton.
  • Yale’s title is its first since 2006, and if the Bulldogs win the outright championship it would be their first since 1980. Columbia has only one the Ivy League title once in its history, in 1961, and Dartmouth is looking for its League-leading 19th title and first since 2015.
  • Three teams appear in the national rankings. Yale is receiving votes in both the coaches and STATS FCS polls, the latter of which the Bulldogs are joined by Dartmouth and Columbia.
  • Penn senior wide receiver Justin Watson continues to climb the Ivy League record books, as he now stands alone in second-place all time with 3,585 receiving yards. He also ranks third in receptions (273) and fourth in receiving touchdowns (32).
  • Watson has caught a touchdown pass in every game this season, breaking the all-time Ivy League record for consecutive games with a TD reception of eight previously set by former Yale and San Francisco 49ers tight end (and husband to Jessica Simpson) Eric Johnson.
  • Princeton quarterback Chad Kanoff moved past former Dartmouth and Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler to eighth all-time in passing yards (7,075), while also surpassing former Harvard and current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick to 15th in passing touchdowns (40).
  • Three games this week will be broadcast on a television network. The week begins with The Game, Harvard at Yale, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. on CNBC, followed by Brown at Columbia on SNY and Cornell at Penn on Eleven Sports and Twitter.
  • Three of Saturday’s games will also be broadcast live on the Ivy League Network (ILN), now available on Apple TV, Roku and the ILN app on Apple and Android devices.
  • #IvyFootball finished 18-6 in non-conference play in 2017, its best overall out-of-conference record since 1994, when it went 19-3-1. The Ivy League’s .750 non-conference winning percentage leads the FCS and ranks fourth overall in Division I, trailing the SEC (.825), Pac 12 (.771) and Big Ten (.762).
  • Of the League’s 18 non-conference wins, three have come against the 2016 Pioneer and Patriot League champions, including two wins by the Ivy League over Lehigh (Penn, Yale) and one victory over a San Diego team that reached the second round of the 2016 NCAA FCS Championship last season and already clinched the 2017 Pioneer League title (Princeton). The Ivy League also has a win over a ranked team thanks to Dartmouth’s 27-26 overtime victory over then-No. 25 Holy Cross on Sept. 23.
 
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Yale sophomore quarterback Kurt Rawlings (Bel Air, Md.) led the Bulldogs back from a 24-7 deficit to a 35-31 win at Princeton to clinch a share of the Ivy League title, Yale’s first since 2006. After Princeton scored to take a 24-7 lead late in the second quarter, Rawlings went 15-of-16 for 195 yards and two touchdowns the rest of the way to lead his team to victory.
 
Rawlings earns his second Offensive Player of the Week award of the season (Sept. 18) and fourth career Ivy League weekly honor, as he was twice named Rookie of the Week last season.
 
Rawlings’ Statistics for the Week
26-34-0, .765 comp. %, 304 yds., 2 TDs; 6 rushes, 7 yds. at Princeton



DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Penn junior linebacker Jay Cammon (Landover, Md.) finished with seven tackles, two tackles for loss, two forced fumbles and one pass breakup in the Quakers’ 23-6 win at Harvard. His pass breakup came in the endzone, helping to hold the Crimson to a field goal, and his second forced fumble came after Harvard had turned the Quakers over and was driving with a chance to pull within 10.
 
Cammon, the valedictorian and a three-sport athlete at Friendship Collegiate Academy, is the Penn locker room DJ. He earns his first career Ivy League weekly award.
 
Cammon’s Statistics for the Week
4 tckls., 3 asst., 7 total, 2.0 TFL, 12 yds., 1 PBR, 2 FF, 1 PD at Harvard


 
SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Penn kicker Jack Soslow (Bryn Mawr, Pa.) was 3-for-3 on field goals and 2-for-2 on extra point attempts in Penn's 23-6 win at Harvard on Saturday, connecting on a long of 40 while adding 22- and 36-yard field goals. Soslow also had six kickoffs in the game, averaging 48.7 yards as the Quakers limited Harvard's Justice Shelton-Mosely to zero kickoff returns as the Crimson started five of its six drives off kickoffs no further than its own 27.
 
Both of Soslow’s parents attended Penn. He was a soccer player in high school and didn’t take up football until his friends made him because he was hitting 55-yarders for fun. He earns his first career Ivy League weekly award and becomes the first Quaker to be named Special Teams Player of the Week since Donald Panciello on Nov. 9, 2015.
 
Soslow’s Statistics for the Week
11 pts.; 3-3 FG, 40 long, 9 pts.; 2-2 PAT, 2 pts.; 6 KO, 292 yds., 48.7 avg. at Harvard


 
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Yale freshman running back Zane Dudek (Kittanning, Pa.) set season-highs in carries (35) and yards (180) while scoring three touchdowns in the Bulldogs’ comeback win over Princeton. Eleven of his runs were for first downs, and he also caught six passes and finished with 212 all-purpose yards.
 
Dudek earns his fifth Rookie of the Week honor of the season, just the third Ivy to accomplish the feat, joining Harvard’s Eion Hu (six, 1994) and Princeton’s Chuck Dibilio (six, 2011).
 
Dudek’s Statistics for the Week
35 rushes, 180 yds., 5.1 avg., 47 long, 3 TDs; 6 rec., 32 yds., 5.3 avg. at Princeton


 
HONOR ROLL
Landon Baty, Columbia (Sr., S – Mountain View, Calif.)
1 tckl., 3 asst., 4 total, 1 PBR, 1 INT, 21 yds., 1 PD at Cornell
 
Tiger Bech, Princeton (So., WR – Lafayette, La.)
6 rec., 175 yds., 29.2 avg., 1 TD vs. Yale
 
Jarius Brown, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Lauderhill, Fla.)
1 tckl., 1 INT, 1 TD, 27 yds., 1 PD vs. Brown
 
Nick Gesualdi, Cornell (Sr., S – Sykesville, Md.)
7 tckls., 2 asst., 9 total, 2 PBR, 2 PD vs. Columbia
 
Hunter Hagdorn, Dartmouth (So., WR – Manvel, Texas)
4 rec., 91 yds., 22.8 avg., 2 TDs vs. Brown
 
Jack Heneghan, Dartmouth (Sr., QB – Atherton, Calif.)
21-31-1, .677 comp. %, 263 yds., 2 TDs vs. Brown
 
Thomas Johnson, Princeton (Jr., LB – Moorestown, N.J.)
9 tckls., 7 asst., 16 total, 1.0 TFL, 6 yds., 1 QBH vs. Yale
 
Chad Kanoff, Princeton (Sr., QB – Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
23-41-1, .561 comp. %, 454 yds., 4 TDs; 2 rushes, 4 yds. vs. Yale
 
Tanner Lee, Harvard (Sr., S – Spanish Fort, Ala.)
5 tckls., 5 asst., 10 total, 1 FF, 1 INT, 1 PD vs. Penn
 
Oren Milstein, Columbia (So., K – Boca Raton, Fla.)
10 pts., 3-4 FG, 33 long, 9 pts.; 1-1 PAT, 1 pt. at Cornell
 
Nickolas Null, Cornell (So., P/K – Bradenton, Fla.)
5 punts, 226 yds., 45.2 avg., 55 long, 1 TB, 2 FC, 1 in20; 2 KO, 117 yds., 58.5 avg., 1 TB vs. Columbia
 
Matthew Oplinger, Yale (Sr., LB – Summit, N.J.)
4 tckls., 6 asst., 10 total, 1 QBH at Princeton
 
Chris Schroer, Columbia (Sr., RB – Cincinnati)
27 rushes, 183 yds., 6.8 avg., 1 TD; 2 rec., 15 yds. at Cornell
 
Tre Solomon, Penn (Sr., RB – Brooklyn, N.Y.)
15 rushes, 181 yds., 12.1 avg., 1 TD at Harvard
 
Josh Wainwright, Columbia (Jr., WR – Austin, Texas)
9 rec., 140 yds., 15.6 avg., 40 long at Cornell
 
Jay Williams, Brown (Sr., DB – Tucson, Ariz.)
7 tckls., 2 asst., 9 total, 1 PBR, 1 QBH, 1 PD vs. Dartmouth