Now it Can Be Told

The Ivy League on the Versus Network is now completely official. Here is the news release:


IVY LEAGUE FOOTBALL GRABS NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
VERSUS to Debut ‘Ivy League Game of the Week, Presented by TIAA-CREF’ This Fall


PRINCETON, N.J., August 14, 2008 – The Ivy League Office announced today an agreement with VERSUS for unprecedented national television coverage for its 2008 football season. VERSUS will televise five Ivy League football games under the title “The Ivy League Game of the Week, Presented by TIAA-CREF,” beginning on October 11, at Noon (ET) as Cornell visits Harvard.


This agreement marks the first time since the early 1990s that Ivy League football games have been packaged together nationally. “The Ivy League Game of the Week, Presented by TIAA-CREF,” will reach more homes than any other games in Ivy League football history, as VERSUS is currently in more than 73 million U.S. homes.


“The entire Ivy League community is thrilled to have the heart of our football season broadcast nationally this year by VERSUS, and we appreciate TIAA-CREF’s strong support to make it possible. Our students and home communities, and our alumni around the country, as well as college football fans everywhere, will be able to watch top-notch football and celebrate great rivalries,” said Jeff Orleans, Executive Director, Council of Ivy Group Presidents.


The Ivy League includes Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton and Yale universities, Dartmouth College and the University of Pennsylvania. With the nation’s longest history of football competition, the Ivy League also sponsors championship competition in more sports, for more athletes, than any other conference in the country. Ivy League student-athletes have outstanding competitive and academic records and Ivy League football alumni of every era are among the most distinguished in the country.


“Ivy League football has an incredible legacy supported by a passionate fan base and we are thrilled to now have the opportunity to present these historic rivalries to a national audience,” said Jeff Goldberg, Vice President of Programming for VERSUS. “The addition of five Ivy League games to the network’s 2008 schedule will undoubtedly help solidify VERSUS’ position as a top television destination for college football.”


VERSUS’ Ivy League Game of the Week, Presented by TIAA-CREF 2008 schedule follows:
Schedule subject to change



October 11 Noon Cornell at Harvard
October 25 4 p.m. Dartmouth at Columbia
November 1 Noon Brown at Penn
November 15 Noon Princeton at Yale
November 22 Noon Yale at Harvard

ABOUT VERSUS
VERSUS celebrates real competition across all platforms (VERSUS.com, VERSUS on Demand and VERSUS HD). Now in more than 73 million homes, the network is the national cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well as best-in-class events such as The Tour de France, Davis Cup Tennis, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR), World Extreme Cage fighting (WEC) and Professional Boxing. The network also offers collegiate sports featuring nationally ranked teams from top conferences such as the Pac-10, Big 12 and Mountain West. VERSUS features the best field sports programming on television and is a destination for sports fans, athletes and sportsmen to find exclusive, competitive events that audiences can't find elsewhere. VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.


Jake's Take: This is all good. More coverage is always a good thing, so is America's growing population, (sorry Europeans), but maybe I'm eccentric in believing both of those things.

And kudos to TIAA-CREF for sponsoring this event. (I think TIAA-CREF's HQ is actually not far from the Princeton campus). What makes this a good fit for the Ivies is that it is the pension fund for thousands of college professors, on-staff doctors at university hospitals, and many other people connected to education. I think it's a great statement that this organization is sponsoring the one major sports conference in the NCAA that truly values academics more than athletics. I hope their spots on the air reflect that sentiment.


I have a call in to the VERSUS people in hopes of finding out who will be the broadcast team for these games. Of course, they may go with different people for different games, but networks usually like to have a consistent voice.


***UPDATE***

I just heard from the nice people at VERSUS who tell me that Rich Ackerman will be doing play-by-play, Dale Hellestrae, will be the color analyst. Bob Harwood will be the sideline reporter.

Ackerman is a 20/20 reporter on WFAN just like Jerry Recco.

Hellestrae has been doing football analysis for awhile, and he played in the NFL for several years.


Game of the Day (Day 37)

October 28, 2001

Columbia 28 Yale 14


2001 was a strange year in Columbia football history. There was a huge amount of anticipation going into the season as Johnathan Reese was coming off his record-breaking junior year in 2000 and looking for more.

But the wind came out of our sails just four days before the season was scheduled to start when the September 11th attacks occurred.

Four straight losses marked the start of the season as Reese got off to a slow start. But the Lions broke through in week 5 with a squeaker win at Dartmouth and there was hope.

The following week the Lions returned home to take on Yale. The game was error-filled at first but neither team could score until the Elis blockec a punt and recovered it for a touchdown about midway through the second quarter.

That woke up the Lions, the tied it on a two-yard jump into the end zone by Reese with about two minutes in the half and then didn't sleep when Yale tried to push the clock. Philip Murray, one of Columbia's greatest defensive backs of the last 20 years, picked off an Eli pass at the Columbia 15 and ran it all the way back for a TD and the 14-7 halftime lead.

The second half truly belonged to Lion wide receiver Doug Peck. In the third quarter he caught back to back passes from QB Jeff McCall for a total of 54 yards and a TD to make it 21-7.

After Yale scored a TD midway through the fourth to make it 21-14, Peck and McCall struck again. This time is was a 76-yard pass on 3rd and 10 to ice the game. Peck finished with 9 catches for 186 yards.