As we head into the final weekend of the 2023 Ivy League season, three New England Ivies were once again well represented with weekly awards on Monday morning.
With another edition of ‘The Game’ looming, Harvard QB Jaden Craig was named the Offensive Player of the Week while Yale linebacker Joseph Vaugh took home Defensive Player of the Week. Brown’s star wideout Wes Rockett took home a rare Special Teams Player of the Week award.
Craig helped the Crimson clinch at least a share of the league title for the first time since 2015 with a wild triple OT win over Penn. Craig was 23-36 for 253 yards and a touchdown. More impressively, Craig carried the ball 18 times despite gaining just 35 yards, but two of those runs were touchdowns. In the third OT, Craig also caught what turned into the game-winning two point conversion from receiver Cooper Barkate.
Yale kept its hope for at least a share of the title alive by beating Princeton in another crazy affair, this one a double OT finish 36-28. Vaughn led the team with 12 tackles (nine solo) including five TFL’s. The TFL’s matched the fifth-most in a game in. all of FCS this season and he added one pass break up too.
Rockett had 64 yards for the Bears in an OT win over Columbia on four returns. Each of his run backs went for double digit yardage and he also had a big Johnny-on-the-spot moment, grabbing a fumble after it hit a teammate during a punt deep in Bears territory, narrowly avoiding a disastrous sequence for Brown.