Another Dour Prediction

Piling on doesn't just take place on the field. The Dartmouth football team is learning that.

The lastest to pile on is the Boston Globe, which predicts a last-place finish in the Ivy League for the Big Green. (link) The Globe "outlook" for Dartmouth says:

The good news is the Big Green return 25 starters. The bad news is those starters finished last in the league in rush defense (172.5 yards per game), scoring defense (25.4 points per game), and scoring offense (14.7).

Not that polls and predictions are worth the paper and bandwith that deliver them to you. As a story in the Yale Daily reports (link):

In the past seven years, only one team, the 2003 Pennsylvania Quakers, has been voted atop the Ancient Eight in the preseason poll and gone on to fulfill the media’s prediction by winning an Ivy crown three months later. So when the media resoundingly selected Yale to finish ahead of the pack in 2007, whispers of the “Poll Curse” could be heard within the Eli nation.

Here's the tease for a story in the Daily Pennsylvanian (link):

24 seniors are in danger of graduating without an Ivy title. They would be Bagnoli's first class to miss out

Bagnoli is Al Bagnoli, the dean of Ivy League coaches now in his 16th year at Penn. The Quakers have finished second, sixth and tied for fourth the past three years. (The story notes they've won 12 titles in the past 25 years.) For a position-by-position look at Bagnoli's team, click on this link.

Yale tailback Mike McLeod is finally getting some much-deserved attention. He's one of 16 players -- and the rare junior -- on the Sports Network's first Payton watch list for the best offensive player in the FCS. (link) New Hampshire quarterback Ricky Santos, who won the award last year, is on the list again.

The Sports Network's new FCS editor picks UMass over Dartmouth opponent Holy Cross (link) but does not offer a pick on Colgate-Albany.

Former Dartmouth tight end Casey Cramer sprained his ankle last night against the Green Bay Packers. (link) Cuts are coming for the Tennessee Titans, so that's not a good thing. He's mentioned in a cut story. (link)

In case you are wondering, Dartmouth's preseason camp has reached the halfway point. This afternoon's practice will be the 12th of 23 sessions. (The final week before Colgate is normal game prep, not camp.) Check in tonight for a report on practice No. 12 and information on the upcoming "situational" scrimmage.

And finally, a certain Hanover High sophomore will be starting in the midfield today as the Marauders' field hockey team opens the season on its new turf field. I hope to catch a few minutes of the action before crossing the road to report on what's happening on Memorial Field.