A Wild Day To Say The Least

Dartmouth's official release on Saturday's 20-17 double-overtime victory against Cornell can be found here. Cornell's official release is here.

The number is a little off, but Dartmouth freshman Greg Patton (bio) gets a mention in a Denver Post By the Numbers blurb from Saturday's college football. Patton actually had 243 yards rushing, not 245.

Elsewhere ...

Harvard (5-0 Ivy League) and Penn (5-0 Ivy) held serve Saturday, setting up this week's huge showdown at Harvard Stadium. The winner of that game is guaranteed at least a share of the Ivy League title. Everyone else has been eliminated from the championship hunt.

Penn 42, Princeton 7
Kyle Olsen tossed three touchdown passes and Lyle Marsh ran for 99 yards for the Quakers (6-2, 5-0). Princeton (2-6, 1-4) was held to 10 first downs. As this story notes, Penn gone 21 games since allowing a 100-yard rusher, 23 games since allowing a 300-yard passer and 21 quarters – since the last play of the third quarter in the Ivy League opener against Dartmouth – since allowing a rushing touchdown.

Harvard 34, Columbia 14
The Crimson (6-2, 5-0) ran out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and was up 34-0 before Columbia (2-6, 1-4) scored a couple of cosmetic touchdowns in the final 6:49. The Lions again played without starting quarterback Milli Olawale and rushing leader Ray Rangel.

Brown 35, Yale 21
Kyle Newhall-Caballero completed 23-of-30 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns as Brown (5-3, 3-2) put up 494 yards on the vaunted Yale (4-4, 2-3) defense. Sophomore Spiro Theodhisi of Londonderry, N.H., pierced the Bulldogs for 167 yards and the Bear defense intercepted Yale quarterback Patrick Witt three times.

Holy Cross 24, Lehigh 20
Crusaders quarterback Dominic Randolph hit Freddie Santana with a four-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 left to give the Crusaders (8-1, 4-0 Patriot League) a come-from-behind victory over the Mountain Hawks (2-7, 2-2). The winning drive covered 81 yards.

Lafayette 56, Colgate 49
Defense was a dirty word in Easton as Colgate (8-2, 3-2 Patriot League) surrendered seven touchdown passes to Rob Curley of Lafayette (8-1, 4-0 Patriot). Nate Eachus had 216 yards and five touchdowns on 45 carries for the Raiders.

New Hampshire 55, Rhode Island 42
Chad Kackert ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns for UNH (8-1, 5-1 Colonial) who gave up 424 yards passing to Rhode Island's (1-8, 0-6 Colonial) Chris Paul-Etienne.

Check Big Green Alert premium this evening for a look at Dartmouth's junior varsity game againt Bridgton.

Scenes From Saturday

In order, President Jim Yong Kim (front row, green jacket, white hat) joins in the singing of the Alma Mater after the dramatic two-overtime win against Cornell. Next photo, Greg Patton (left) talks about his big day, breaking the Dartmouth single-game rushing record while Peter Pidermann, who saved the game with a field goal block, looks on. Next, Foley Schmidt, whose 40-yard field goal provided the winning points. And the final scoreboard. (click photos to supersize)

Wow

Freshman Greg Patton ran for 243 yards, breaking the two-week-old Dartmouth single-game record to help the Big Green to a 20-17 double-overtime victory over Cornell.

Lots to come on Green Alert tonight. Patton was recruited as a defensive back/athlete and had not taken a snap all year.

Game Day

Maybe it's because Dartmouth beat Columbia, but in his Roar Lions Roar blog Jake Novak gives the Big Green a nod in his weekly predictions. He writes:

Dartmouth's offense is questionable now without (injured tailback Nick) Schwieger, but Cornell on the road is usually just a disaster. The Big Green in a squeaker.

Harvard's WHRB radio has blogged its Ivy League roundup for Week Eight.

This made it to the Green Alert premium site but deserves an added mention here: Sophomore tight end John Gallagher (bio) has been selected to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District I football team for his work on the field and in the classroom. Gallagher has a 3.67 grade point average and is tied for second on Dartmouth team with 20 receptions. From Green Alert:

"He's what you look for," (coach Buddy) Teevens said of the 6-foot-3, 245-pound sophomore from West Salem, Ore. "He's starting at a tough position as a young guy, two years in a row. He's demanding of himself. Works his butt off in the weight room. He's just solid. You need something, he's going to deliver.

"He's the same way in the classroom. When you think of an Ivy League football player, that's the guy you think of. A guy who takes care of it in the classroom, who is doing it on the field and who has a great reputation in the community, among his peers, alums and mentors. He's the complete package."

The official release on Gallagher's selection is here.

If you are up early head on over to the rugby fields opposite Hanover Country Club (just go north on the right side of the Dartmouth Green and through one light) to catch a little of the powerhouse Big Green taking on Boston College at 11 a.m. in the opening round of the Northeast playoffs. With a win Dartmouth would advance to the final round for a shot at the national Sweet 16. (The women's team is at Syracuse today playing with the same title implications.)

Finally, Dartmouth men's golf coach Rich Parker advanced to the finals of Qualifying School for the Champions Tour (formerly the Senior Tour) in Montgomery, Texas. When I was at the newspaper I covered Rich in professional tournaments all over New England, traveled to Chicago to write about his U.S. Open appearance at Medinah and chronicled his near-misses at Q-School for the regular PGA Tour. Even when the numbers weren't what he wanted, Rich was always helpful with a quote or a quip. If he makes it through Q-School the national media is in for a treat.

Weekend Previews Up

The general sense around Hanover has been that the Big Green is improved this year, the 1-6 record notwithstanding. It appears that not everyone agrees. From the Daily Pennsylvanian:

Cornell might be on a five-game losing streak — the longest current skid in the Ivies — but it just might get the best possible medicine this weekend: a game with lowly Dartmouth.

The Harvard Crimson, which seems to enjoy taking shots at the Big Green in its weekly previews, gives the nod to Cornell, 35-28. The Crimson prognosticator writes:

...(B)oth offenses occasionally mask their general ineptitude with outstanding individual performances while both defenses could charitably be described as terrible.

and

Could the Big Green’s Nick Schweiger run for 300 yards?

Given that Schwieger was lost for the season last week when he shattered a finger at Harvard it's doubtful. Rob Mitchelson will head up a trio of running backs who will try to replace him.

Schwieger is quoted in the Daily Dartmouth preview of the Cornell game:

“(Mitchelson) is a good player and should do a great job against Cornell. As for me, I need to act as an inspirational leader for the rest of the season.”

The Ithaca Journal begins its preview this way:

Losing will shake you to your core, and perhaps nobody knows that better than the coaches on either sideline of Saturday's Cornell-Dartmouth matchup.

Cornell coach Jim Knowles is wary of the Big Green attack, telling the Journal:

"Dartmouth has as many tools as anybody does in this league, they're just young and going through some growing pains."

Knowles and the Big Red got a good look at Dartmouth's Conner Kempe when the 6-4 quarterback made his first career start at Schoellkopf Field last November. Knowles told the Cornell Sun Kempe isn't the same player he was a year ago:

"He’s really been much improved. He’s really a tall kid standing in the pocket and has made a bunch of improvements. I’m predicting that they’ll throw the ball a lot more. We have to do some things to mix him up. This year he’s better. We have to keep (the ball) in front of us. He’s got a strong arm and will throw it over the top if we don’t get some pressure on him. He’s a good player and some of their receivers have improved as well.”

Get Your Kicks - Blocked

Dartmouth's notes for Saturday's game against Cornell have been posted here. A nod to sports pub director Rick Bender for following a hunch and doing the legwork that the NCAA doesn't do to and digging up exactly where the Big Green stands nationally in blocked kicks/punts. Here's a list of the teams that lead the country:

• Eastern Kentucky 9
• Central Conn. State 8
• Bryant 7
• Mississippi Valley State 7
• Old Dominion 7
• Wagner 7
• Dartmouth 6

The official Dartmouth release on Saturday's game can be found here. And if all you are looking for is the depth chart, click here.

The Los Angeles Japanese Daily News, not a publication often linked to here, has a story about a strong safety from Harvard-Westlake School who is collecting Ivy League "offers." From the story:

I got my first offer from Columbia in the summer. Air Force offered a little bit later. That was just based on my junior film. Then I went to a bunch of camps this summer. That’s when Princeton offered. Then I visited the Yale campus. They heard about my other three offers and I think that made them want to offer too. And I just got offers from Cornell and Dartmouth last week.

The Wall Street Journal Online has an amusing bit on onetime Dartmouth quarterback that goes this way:

Former Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler got one perk in his post-NFL stint as a beach volleyball player: a taste from a $2,250-a-bottle Jose Cuervo 250 Aniversario, which contains tequila that is over 100 years old. Jose Cuervo, a sponsor of the AVP Tour when Mr. Fiedler competed, offered VIP samples before the liquor's release to the general public. "I never tasted any tequila like this," says Mr. Fiedler. "I thought a $6 pint of Guinness was the good stuff!"

From the Shutdown Corner sports blog (video follows):

"In a semi-pro football game last week, Mauriece McIver of the Las Vegas Cobras made a clean, open-field tackle on a punt returner. The only problem? The guy he tackled was on his own team."

@ Yahoo! Video

Extra Point

If you are driving up to Hanover this weekend for the game, beware of moose on I-89. They have been known to wander onto the highway this time of year and they do get hit. (We hit one with our VW bus – actually it hit us – a few years ago up north, but I digress ...) So be on the lookout for moose but that's not all. A motorist (how anachronistic is that term?) hit a wild boar just north of Exit 11 Sunday night. True story you can find here.

Looking Ahead to Saturday

Cornell coach Jim Knowles' comments in the weekly Ivy League teleconference leading up to Saturday's game at Dartmouth:

On last week:

The Princeton game was a very closely contested. Two pretty evenly matched teams. We started slow the first half. The second half we really picked it up offensively and I thought we did a lot of nice things on offense in terms of making progress. We rushed for over 200 yards and I think we had over 400 yards of offense. And our defense was solid all game until we gave up a 78-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. That's the bottom line. There's not much mystery to that game. It's that we gave up a huge play in the fourth quarter and we missed two field goals (and) couldn't convert in the red zone. Princeton made the plays when they had to. They stopped us on a third-and-one and a fourth-and-one. So at the critical times in the critical points of the game Princeton made more plays. I thought we made some progress as a team but still working on getting better.

On this week:

Looking forward to heading to Dartmouth. You know, it's going to be again a highly competitive game (between) two teams that I think are pretty evenly matched. I'm sure it will come down to a few plays and our players are giving good effort. We just have to continue to emphasize execution.

On the keys to stopping Dartmouth:

I think Dartmouth offensively has gotten better every year. Obviously I have great respect for Coach Teevens and their staff. You can tell on film that their offense is much, much improved. I think their quarterback throws a great ball and they've been protecting the quarterback. They've become very balanced with the running game. To me it's going to be about not giving up the big play, having great pursuit. There's not really one thing you can focus on. I know they had an injury to the running back but they have other good running backs. I just think offensively I've been very impressed by where they are at with the development of their players and what they are doing.

On wide receiver Horatio Blackman, his nominee as Cornell's unsung hero:

Horatio had an injury and he was able to come back for a fifth year. He does everything for us on special teams. He works extremely hard as a blocker. As a wide receiver he doesn't get the balls. He's made some plays for us this season so he's got a few, but he's probably the most respected guy on the team just for his work ethic and the kind of leadership he brings.

On allowing big plays and how to stop them:

It seems to be a different thing each week. It's not a recurring guy or a recurring particular defense. It's just we've found ways at inopportune times. I think sometimes you get into a bad streak with that and you've just got to keep preaching and working on communication to get better. It's almost like a momentum thing. We've just got to get out of it. Work on it. Talk about it. Simplify and continue to stress the fundamentals. Big plays – the only good time for a blown coverage is when the other team doesn't find it, right? We seem to have been caught in a couple of things. It's hurt us and our players know it and they feel bad about it. We're working on it (but there is) no magic answer. We just have to go about it one day at a time.

On tailback Randy Barbour:

Randy is just a wonderful young man. What a great representative of our program. A very hard worker. He's someone who can go into that same (unsung) category. He does whatever he's asked. A great, great leader. He cares passionately. I'd like to see him have more success but we did rush the ball against Princeton for over 200 yards. I think maybe we are giving him a chance to open up some lanes. So I'm hoping he has a great end of his season/career because he deserves it. He's worked very hard.

Have you wondered whatever became of former Dartmouth and longtime Kansas City Chiefs placekicker Nick Lowery '78? Check out NickLowery.com and learn about the Nick Lowery Youth Foundation, Inc. According to the website, it:

"... has dedicated itself to helping disadvantaged youth, especially Native Americans, by developing, promoting and sponsoring programs and relationships that foster self-esteem, leadership qualities and skills, and encourage youth to be positive assets to their communities."

The Daily Dartmouth early decision applications are up three percent so far this fall.

***

Speaking of which, a few of you have touched base wondering what's up with that certain Hanover High School senior. She received her latest SAT scores a few days back and last night pointed out with some disappointment that the only thing between her and a perfect 800 on the math portion was one wrong answer – ironically from what the SAT folks refer to as the "easy" category. When I asked if she would take the test again, she told me that the College Board website reports 70 percent of people with her score go down the next time, so no she won't. I think I'd sit on that hand as well.

The good news is that her cross country team won yet another New Hampshire state championship. Unfortunately, she battled an issue that severely hampered her during the early part of the season and ultimately forced her to shut it down. She'll try to make up for that disappointment with a big indoor track season.

That certain sophomore who played golf in the fall will probably run indoor track again this winter. Although he competed last winter, he's leaning toward training as a way to get ready for baseball and may not compete.

Gearing Up For a Colorful GAme

Kudos to Cornell (alliteration is good) for getting its game notes for Saturday's contest at Dartmouth posted this early. Find the release here and the full PDF packet here in advance of the game between the Green and the Red.

I stumbled across a page appropriately called Stats Overload that allows you pit one team's statistics against another's. Find the Dartmouth-Cornell comparison here. The final analysis on the page says, "Dartmouth down to Cornell, 18-33." I'm not really sure what that means because there's no explanation but I'll assume (perhaps incorrectly) that it is predicting a 33-18 Cornell win. Whatever it means, the page is kind of fun.

You can also pit one player against another. Dartmouth's Nick Schwieger is hurt, but Stats Overload gives him a 5-0 advantage over Cornell's Randy Barbour. Again, your guess is as good as mine ...

The latest Gridiron Power Index numbers are out and this is the one to pay attention to because it tosses all the various rankings, ratings and polls together to come up with a single ranking. This week's GPI for Ivy League teams looks like this:

30. Penn (28.38)
44. Harvard (36.75)
51. Brown (41.50)
63. Yale (48.88)
74. Columbia (56.50)
87. Dartmouth (63.88)
96. Cornell (70.00)
106. Princeton (73.25)

There are 125 schools rated.

Speaking of ratings and rankings, FCS Richmond is the third school from the subdivision to earn votes in the big-boy poll. The Sports Network shares background on that and a lot more, including Penn becoming the first NCAA school to play 1,300 football games.

Princeton's Tigerblog has a story about Jordan Culbreath being able to attend the Tigers' game last Saturday. From the story:

His presence on the sideline, in the locker room and at midfield for the coin toss clearly helped inspire Princeton, who snapped a four-game losing streak with a 17-13 win.

When Columbia and Yale squared off last week there were black head coaches on both sidelines. There's a story about that here. Columbia's Norries Wilson said:

That's more of something for our kids to talk about when they grow up. They don't put in the paper, 'The black coach won.' They put in the paper, 'Yale won.'

Thanks to a regular reader for a link to a very interesting blog posting on Georgetown football headlined, "Rebuilding a Winning Culture." While Dartmouth gets mentioned in the piece ("Georgetown's woes appear to parallel that of Dartmouth, whose winning days of football seem as remote as its Indian mascot of yore.") there's good stuff under the subheadings, Leadership, Tradition, Facilities, Training, Quarterback, Scheduling, A Star, Leadership Development, Publicity and Win.