Tigers, Indians Favored To Keep Perfect Marks

Today's Ivy League schedule should provide an exciting prologue to the big game of the year next Saturday: Princeton vs. Dartmouth. The Tigers host Yale, while Cornell plays at Dartmouth.

Neither Cornell nor Yale is a pushover, and both the Indians and Tigers are obviously pointing for next week's game. Since oddsmakers have made the two Ivy powerhouses strong favorites, today's schedule offers a very promising three-team parlay: Cornell, Yale, and Harvard.

Here are today's predictions:

Harvard 21 Brown 7

Despite the Crimson's sorry performance to date, no one would dispute the fact that Harvard has a better team than Brown in almost every respect. The Crimson's defense and rushing offense is vastly superior to that of the Bruins, who have won just one game all season.

The only reason to doubt that Harvard will win big, and the only reason. Harvard is a mere six-point favorite, is Brown quarterback Bob Hall. Hall is the best passer in the League; two weeks age he threw four touchdown passes against Princeton. And to make matters worse, the Crimson's pass defense looked wretched against Princeton last Saturday.

Brown won't score more than one touchdown today. Hall will complete a lot of passes, but the Bruins will have trouble scoring once they get close to the Crimson goal. And Harvard's pass defense isn't as bad as it looked last week; Ron Landeck was effective because he had so much time to throw, and because he had an excellent receiver in Lawson Cashdollar. The Bruins have no great end, and the Crimson's line should put plenty of heat on Hall all afternoon.

Dartmouth 21 Cornell 17

The Indians have been installed as 12-point favorites to beat Cornell, and that point spread does not do justice to the Big Red's capabilities. Cornell has beaten Columbia and Brown in its last two games, and, with a healthy Marty Sponaugle, they are always a threat. Unbeaten Dartmouth has had trouble with a couple of weak teams already this season; they edged Penn by five points and Yale by three. It is doubtful that they will be "up" for this one, and Cornell should make it close.

Princeton 23 Yale 14

If you believe in comparative scores, Princeton should win this game by 49 points; the oddsmakers, impressed by Princeton's great offense, have made the Tiger a 19-point favorite. It is true that Princeton has had only one close call all year--against Harvard last week--and even that wasn't too close.

But Princeton will have its hands full today. Yale's defense has been tough all year long. Quarterback Watts Humphrey is a very good passer, and could pick holes in the Tiger's shaky pass defense, as Sponaugle and Hall have done. With Charley Gogolak, Princeton should win, but it won't be a rout.