Weather Changes, Ivy Openers

The forecast for this weekend is for sunshine and temps around 70, at least where TigerBlog will be. 

That should be the first hint that he won't be in Princeton, where this weekend's forecast isn't nearly as good. In fact, this weekend's rains have forced rescheduling of pretty much every home event. 

The football game, for instance, has been moved from a 3 pm start to a noon start. In the past, there haven't been too many issues with people who didn't get the start time messages, and hopefully that won't be the case this time either. 

Again, say it with TigerBlog — the football game is at noon tomorrow, not at 3. 

In other schedule changes, the women's soccer team — make that the 14th-ranked women's soccer team — hosts Cornell in its Ivy opener tonight at 6 on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium, as opposed to its originally scheduled tomorrow start. As for the men, they will also open their Ivy schedule, except they'll do so against Dartmouth and five hours earlier than planned. 

Instead of a 4 pm start on Myslik Field, it'll be an 11 am start for the Tigers and Big Green. Stay tuned to Princeton social media in case there are any further weather changes. 

As for TB, he'll be with the field hockey team, first this evening at 5 for yet another Ivy opener, against Columbia, on Bedford Field, and then in the Midwestern sunshine this weekend, when the Tigers play at No. 3 Northwestern (Sunday, noon Eastern time). For what it's worth, TigerBlog has never been to Northwestern before, or even the city of Chicago, so he's looking forward to the trip.

The other team opening its Ivy League schedule this weekend is the women's volleyball team, who will play a home-and-home with its travel partner, Penn, first tonight at the Palestra and then tomorrow at 5 at Dillon Gym.

That's four teams who start their Ivy seasons. 

The women's soccer team vaulted into the United Soccer Coaches national rankings after its impressive win over then-No. 10 Georgetown. The Tigers have only one loss, to No. 4 Penn State, but having a good record in Ivy women's soccer is not unique, since all eight teams are over .500 (Cornell is unbeaten, at 2-0-4). 

Five of the eight schools are ranked in the top 64 in Division I in RPI, led by Princeton at 24th.

As for the men's soccer side, no Ivy team is ranked in the top 25 or receiving votes in the weekly United Soccer Coaches' poll, and the RPI hasn't yet been announced for this year. The No. 1 team in the weekly poll? Unless you follow college men's soccer closely, you'll never get it: Marshall.

Princeton is 2-2-0 on the year, which puts the Tigers in the half of the league that has a .500 overall record. No team is more than a game over .500, and only one (Brown) is more than a game under .500. Every Ivy League men's soccer game is up for grabs. Getting hot early will certainly help.

The field hockey team is ranked 17th in RPI this week, while Northwestern is No. 2. Princeton is 2-4, with losses to No. 1 Louisville, No. 5 North Carolina and No. 5  Rutgers all by a goal (the last in OT) and with a win over No. 12 Maryland. The trip to Northwestern might be a first for TigerBlog, but it's a homecoming for Princeton players Gracie McGowan and Clare Brennan, both of whom grew up in Lake Forest. 

Keep in mind, this is Year 1 of the Ivy League tournaments for men's and women's soccer and field hockey. The top four teams in the regular season standings will play at the field of the top seed for the Ivy automatic bid to the NCAA tournament; the team (or teams) that win the regular season will claim the official championship still.

And of course, there is the football home opener. Like all Ivy games this weekend, it'll begin with a moment of silence in memory of the late Buddy Teevens, the Dartmouth head coach who passed away earlier this week.

At the newly announced noon kickoff, Princeton will take on Bryant in the first meeting ever between the teams. The Bulldogs lost to another Ivy team, Brown, by a 29-25 score a week ago in Smithfield. In fact, Bryant is 1-2 on the year, with a 21-10 win over LIU and an opening 44-14 loss at UNLV. 

The Bulldogs are in the Northeast Conference in most sports but compete in the Big South in football. 

Princeton is 1-0, having defeated San Diego last weekend in California 23-12. The Tigers open their Ivy schedule next Friday night at home against Columbia.

The men's tennis team is hosting its Farnsworth Invitational, almost certainly in Jadwin Gym. The women's tennis team is at Penn. The fourth-ranked men's water polo team is in California.

HERE is the complete schedule.