Ivy squads kick off season on Saturday

Philadelphia, PA – It's the annual lament among Ivy League football coaches as their teams get set to begin their seasons.

On Saturday, the late-starting Ivy League teams again will play mainly opponents that have played two games this season.

Opening game jitters? There's really no time for them with the Ivy squads, which went 5-3 on opening day last season.

Seven Ivy teams will open the new campaign against Patriot League opponents, while Brown will visit Stony Brook of the Big South Conference.

Cornell not only will host a 2-0 squad in Bucknell, but because of a 6:07 p.m. scheduled kickoff, will be the last Division I football team to begin its season. The Big Red have a 39-11 series lead over Bucknell.

Two-time defending Ivy champion Penn will host Lafayette (0-2) to start head coach Al Bagnoli's 20th season.

Also opening the season at home are Yale against Georgetown (2-0), Dartmouth against Colgate (1-1) and Princeton against Lehigh (1-1), which is ranked 16th in The Sports Network/Fathead.com FCS Top 25.

Starting the season on the road are Columbia, which faces Fordham (0-1) for the Liberty Cup which was dedicated one year after the attacks of Sept. 11; Harvard, at Holy Cross (1-1); and Brown, at Stony Brook (0-2).