Harvard the Pick; Dartmouth 7th

The results are in from the media poll for the 2006 Ivy League football season.

1. Harvard (9) 116
2. Penn (2) 99
3. Brown (3) 94
4. Cornell 79
5. Yale (2) 77
6. Princeton 62
7. Dartmouth 31
8. Columbia 18

Green Alert Take: There are probably no great surprises in how the voting went. It's unusual for a defending champion to be picked third, but on the outside looking in, at least, the loss of Nick Hartigan would appear hard for Brown to overcome. With the league's top running back and a veteran quarterback returning, Harvard is a logical choice to win and it's hard to vote Penn much lower than second given the Quakers' recent history.

Dartmouth being picked seventh is probably not a surprise either, particularly given the loss of starting quarterback Josh Cohen to academics.

After talking to the coaches:

• Harvard might have slid down a bit given its off-the-field problems including the suspension of starting QB Liam O'Hagan for the first half of the season
• Brown may be better than people think
• Cornell and Yale may both be undervalued

Within a couple of hours I hope to have a story up on the main site that features each coach's comments about what he perceives to be his team's strong point(s) and its biggest challenges. I'll also include their comments on the poll.

Check Big Green Alert for that this afternoon and be sure to come back over the next 10 days for previews of Dartmouth opponents.

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