More Scheduling Thoughts

The Daily Pennsylvanian tackles Ivy League scheduling again. The DP wrote recently about how the order of Ivy games has been the same for years and will be the same for years to come. From the latest story:

Out of the 18 other Division I-A and I-AA conferences in which every team plays every other team in the same year, only two - the MEAC and the NEC - play their 2006 schedules in the same order as their 2005 schedules. Forget the last decade and a half.

Green Alert Take: They don't call it the Ancient Eight for nothing. The Ivy League doesn't like change. Period. End of sentence.

For years I've been writing about how much better Ivy League basketball would be if the weekend "travel partners" were flip-flopped every two years. Instead of forcing the rest of the Ivies to deal with Princeton and Penn on the same weekend year, after year, after year, I'd like to pair off Princeton with Columbia, and Penn with Cornell for two-year cycles. (Dartmouth would then be paired with Yale -- instead of Harvard -- and Harvard with Brown in alternating two-year cycles.) At the very least, it would relieve the boredom of the same old, same old and spread out the excitement that comes when the P's come to town. Ah, but the fine burghers of the Ivy League want nothing to do with such revolutionary change.

The Oliver Stone in me wonders if the schools that wield the hammer in basketball (Princeton and Penn) are behind the status quo. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders, likewise, if two schools -- Harvard and Yale -- are behind maintaining the status quo in football scheduling. To be sure, more than a few knowledgable people have suggested maintaining The Game's posture as, well, The Game, has at least something to do with the Ivy's refusal to go to the I-AA playoffs.

The Columbia Spectator takes a look around the league and offers the following on Dartmouth's woes: "For the Big Green to have any chance at an Ivy victory, the defense must continue its solid play, while the offense must play a game of ball possession." I've used this analogy before, but that analysis reminds me of the bit from the Muppets where Fozzy Bear is bombing out as a standup comedian. Kermit the Frog ambles (do frogs amble?) over to his buddy and whispers some helpful advice: "Be funnier."

The Daily Princetonian tries to figure out what's in the water in Tigertown so far in this surprising 4-0 season. Maybe quarterback Jeff Terrell said it best: "When we are behind, we know that we just have to keep our composure and expect that we're going to do what it takes to win." Hmmm. Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens would like that quote. All year long he's been preaching to his team about expecting to win instead of hoping to win.

The Holy Cross game notes are up for Saturday's game at Dartmouth. I don't want to scare you or anything, but the preliminary research I've been doing makes me think the Crusaders are significantly better than a lot of people (present company included) expected them to be.

The AP writes about UNH receiver David Ball getting his phone call from Jerry Rice. I didn't hear the call (carried on ESPN) but it almost made me grimace reading the awkward quotes from the two. I'm sure they would have had a better conversation without millions of ears eavesdropping.