Brown vs. Princeton Odds, Picks & Predictions: How to Bet This Friday Ivy League College Football Game
G Fiume/Getty Images. Pictured: Princeton’s Andrei Iosivas.
- Brown and Princeton go head-to-head in a college football Ivy League battle on Friday evening.
- The Tigers have won their first four games by an average margin of 20 points.
- Can the Bears bounce back this week? Let's find out below.
Brown vs. Princeton Odds
| Brown Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
+21 -110 | 53.5 -110o / -110u | +950 |
| Princeton Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spread | Total | Moneyline |
-21 -110 | 53.5 -110o / -110u | -1650 |
Princeton is looking to repeat as Ivy League champions for the first time in over 60 years. The Tigers are off to a good start, winning their first four games by an average margin of 20 points, and will take on Brown on Friday night.
Brown has split its first four games of the year while dropping its first Ivy League matchup to Harvard. The Bears trailed, 35-7, entering the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to seven with 5:30 to play but were unable to complete the comeback.
Princeton lost a ton of production in the offseason, including seven All-Ivy League players. The Tigers have retooled and haven’t missed a beat in replacing the lost talent.
Brown will have its hands full against a Princeton defense that's the cream of the crop in the Ivy League. The Bears offense has been prone to turnovers, so this Princeton defense could feast.
Brown Bears
The Bears had high expectations in the third season with James Perry at the helm. The group returned 16 starters from last year’s squad — nine on offense and seven on defense.
Brown split its first two games of the season with its biggest test approaching Friday night.
Despite all the returning production from last season, no one can replace EJ Perry, who set multiple school records at quarterback last season. Perry is now on the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad, and the program turned to junior Jake Willcox.
The Everett, Massachusetts, native has completed 61% of his passes while averaging 6.8 yards per attempt. He’s been a slinger, tossing nearly 40 pass attempts per game but has been careless with the football. Willcox has thrown eight interceptions in four games, including three to both Bryant and Rhode Island.
The offense has been reliant on the passing game, as the rushing attack has been nonexistent. The Bears average only 2.6 yards per carry despite running the ball on 50% of their plays. This group will have little success running the ball against a dominant Princeton front seven.
The Brown defense hasn’t been great the first month of the season, allowing 32 points and 465 yards of total offense. The Bears give up six yards per carry and 7.7 yards per pass attempt.
It’s hard to imagine this defense stopping the hyper-efficient Tigers offense.
Princeton Tigers
Princeton has emerged as the powerhouse in the Ivy League after finishing 10-0 in 2018. The Tigers have started four different quarterbacks in all four seasons since, and none of those players have been a freshman.
This year, the tradition was continued by Blake Stenstrom, who led the offense to 29 points per game.
Stenstrom has completed 70% of his passes while averaging 7.7 yards per pass attempt. The junior quarterback has passed for over 250 yards in all four matchups this season and only turned the ball over against Lehigh.
Much of Stenstrom’s success can be attributed to the wide receiver corps that is the class of the Ivy League. Seniors Andrei Iosivas and Dylan Classi have been a dominant one-two punch on the outside, averaging a combined 12 receptions per game while gaining 15 yards per catch this season.
The strength of this Princeton program has been its dominant defense, holding opponents to 10 points per game. The Tigers held Columbia and Lafayette to a combined eight points over the last two weeks.
There's no running the ball against this defensive front that's holding opponents to 1.9 yards per carry. Of the 95 rushing attempts the defense has faced, the group has come up with an astonishing 22 tackles for loss (23%).
Finding success through the air isn’t any easier, as the secondary is allowing 5.6 yards per pass attempt. The Tigers have nine sacks on the season and seven interceptions while giving up just three touchdowns in the passing game.
Brown vs. Princeton Betting Pick
This matchup has all of the fixings to turn into a rout early.
Offensively, Brown is not going to be able to run the ball. The Bears average only 2.6 yards per carry and will be matching up against a defense that allows less than two yards per rush. Princeton’s defensive front has amassed a tackle for loss on 23% of the rushes it faced this season.
That’s going to lead Brown to play from behind the sticks and lean on quarterback Willcox. Willcox is averaging two interceptions per game and now faces a Princeton defense that has seven interceptions and nine sacks this season.
The Brown defense has been bad, allowing 6.8 yards per play and 465 yards of total offense. Princeton owns an incredibly efficient offense that completes 70% of its passes and has 23 touchdowns on the ground.
Back Princeton to put on a show under the Friday Night Lights.
Pick: Princeton -19.5 or Better
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