Friday, September 28, 2007

Picking Dartmouth-Penn

I'm not sure whether this says more about Dartmouth or about Penn, but for the first time in some time there are prognosticators picking the Big Green to knock off the Quakers. Among them is the Harvard Crimson, which hasn't been particularly kind to Dartmouth in recent weeks, but has the Big Green coming out ahead, 21-17.

Jake Novak over at the well-informed Roar Lions Roar blog doesn't name a score but is going Green.

My prediction for Saturday? Sixty-eight degrees and sunny. ;-) (I've long thought it impossible to make predictions about a team you see every day. It's a little like your own car. It starts pulling to one side but you don't notice because you drive it every day and adjust to the change each day without realizing anything is different. Then someone else gets behind the wheel and their immediate reaction is WHOA, how did you not die?)

From a Manchester Union Leader capsule: "The folks at Dartmouth hope that Penn's troubles holding onto the ball last for one more week."

The Daily Pennsylvanian finds the same parallels between Dartmouth and Penn that I asked Coach Buddy Teevens about the other day: both had an opening loss in the final seconds at home against one of the better Patriot League teams. Both followed with a tough loss to a neighboring (as it were, in Dartmouth's case) CAA school last week. The DP writer added this editorial comment:
Drawing comparisons to Dartmouth isn't exactly what Penn had in mind for this season, but the chips have fallen that way for a team that could be about one loss away from crisis mode.
The DP also has a story about Teevens' bike ride across the country.

The Daily Dartmouth doesn't so much preview the Penn game as give an overview of where Dartmouth stands today. The story includes this:
Dartmouth football might be winless, but the team has given us plenty of reason to believe it will have a successful Ivy League campaign, and that this season will not be as frustrating as years past.
The Dartmouth Sports Information office preview for Penn can be found here.

The Providence Journal writes about the Brown-Rhode Island game and gives a nod to Dartmouth for continuing to play New Hampshire. (If you haven't signed up to access the Pro-Jo, it's free and well worth it. Of the big papers it is one of the absolute best for Ivy coverage.) The story says:
Brown and Dartmouth are the only Ivy League schools that have maintained football relations with their state colleges, and URI and UNH the only state schools that have kept it up with their Ivy League institutions. Cheers to all four!
and ...
These games are special. Brown coach Phil Estes recalled his years as a UNH lineman and the games against Dartmouth, "guys on a scholarship team playing the smart guys."
For another story about the helmet impact study that includes Dartmouth, click here.

Next week's Dartmouth-Yale game will be televised on NESN (New England Sports Network) as part of a just-announced TV package for regional football games. The good news is that if you live in New England and get NESN (we don't) you are set. I believe (but am not sure) that there's a tradeout with other regional sports networks and that there's a chance you might get the game elsewhere in the country, but at this point I don't know any more. I'll check for you in days ahead, or you can check with your cable/satellite provider. Princeton-Brown and Princeton-Harvard are also on the docket late in the season.

Alex Thomas, a small-school running back at Ansonia High not far from Yale, ran for a state-record 518 yards in a game last night and has his eyes on playing for the Elis. His coach told the New Haven Register: " I’ll tell you what, I hope Yale gets him because what a steal they’ll get."

An earlier Register story said Thomas's intention is "to continue his education at an Ivy League school. He lists Yale as his top choice with Harvard, Columbia and Cornell also in the running."

To find a recruiting profile of Alex Thomas, click here. He's just 5-9, 180, but he's put up some outstanding numbers, including running for 2,400 yards and 36 TDs last year.

This isn't about football, but the New York Times has an interesting story about why certain body types are best for certain sports like distance running and rowing. Find the story here.

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