Green Alert Take: It's a shame Dartmouth years ago let its tradition of Tuesday Quarterback Luncheons lapse. Back when I was a cub reporter at The Valley News I used to look forward to the weekly luncheons at Landers Restaurant ... and not just for the free food. The luncheons attracted a good number of alums and friends of the program and brought out the media each week. In addition to the food (did I mention it was free?) there would be offensive and defensive films, with an assistant on each side of the ball describing the action and answering questions.
A Sports Network column suggests the Ivy League might be softening its position on going to the FCS playoffs.
Should the Ivies go? That's a no-brainer. Of course they should. It's flat-out wrong that every Ivy sport can go to the postseason except football. The ban is completely indefensible, which is why every time I've asked someone in authority to explain the reason for the ban they would shrug their shoulders, stammer, toss out a few platitudes and before finally admitting -- usually off the record -- that they couldn't explain it.
If I'm made king for a day, here's my resolution: Either every Ivy sport is allowed to go or no Ivy sport is allowed to go. Period.
But will the Ivies go? I've been around long enough and asked enough questions to say I'll believe the Ivy League will participate in the playoffs after the coin flip at midfield for a first-round game. And even then I might not believe it until the ball is kicked and returned.
The Sports Network column, by the way, includes this quote: "If the Ivies feel like they won't be embarrassed in postseason play, they might be more willing to lift the ban."
Repeat after me: The ban has absolutely nothing to do with a fear of being embarrassed in postseason play. Got that? Fear of embarrassment is about the only banality that hasn't been trotted out in all my talks -- on the record and off -- with people in and around the league. And as an aside, I've interviewed coach after coach after coach in the Ivy League and that's an explanation that has never come up. In fact, it's a fear that has never come up.
A Daily Dartmouth columnist is rightfully excited about progress by the Big Green football team. I hate to break it to everyone, but it's probably a stretch right now to refer to Dartmouth's victory last Saturday as coming against the "mighty" Quakers of the University of Pennsylvania. Penn has lost seven of its last eight games. The "once-and-perhaps-future" mighty Quakers might be more accurate.
For what it's worth, that concept is taking a while to hit home in Philly, according to none other than Penn coach Al Bagnoli. He is quoted on the Daily Pennsylvanian sports blog: "To a limited extent, some of our kids kind of looked past them, and kind of take things for granted and obviously you can’t do that. We’re just not that level team where we can look past anybody.”
Spiking the ball with 52 seconds remaining and then still having 22 seconds left on the clock at the end of the Dartmouth game has led to some second-guessing of Penn's clock management. Bagnoli addresses the question at the end of this story.
Dartmouth saw a very good Ivy League back last week in Penn's Joe Sandberg. It will see the best Ivy League back this week in Yale's Mike McLeod, who ran for a school-record 256 yards at Holy Cross last week. The New Haven Register takes a look at what makes the latest in a line of great Connecticut high school backs to stay in state and play at Yale so special in this story. The story and accompanying graphic credit his talent and skill to a combination of: intelligence, vision, heart, hands, strength and footwork. ... In the story, Yale defensive lineman Stephen Schmalhofer says of his teammate, "To be able to see a guy, and be an arm’s length away from him, and not be able to get him down is the most frustrating thing for a defender."
McLeod broke the Yale single-game rushing record of John Pagliaro '78 against Holy Cross. John Pagliaro '11, is a Yale jayvee player. "“I didn’t really think too much about my dad’s record during the game,” Pagliaro told the Yale Daily.
Having spent a little time in Pennsylvania ;-), I'm a big fan of Western P-A football. Saturday's game against Yale will offer the chance to watch a couple of WPIAL players anchoring the Bulldog line as this Pittsburgh Tribune story notes.
Item One: The Ivy League won't let an Olympic speedskater play sprint football at Princeton.
Item Two: Princeton sprint football is forfeiting this week's game against Army because it doesn't have enough players according to the Princetonian, which writes, "Already playing with an undermanned roster, which required many to play both offense and defense, the team decided that it would be best to skip its game against Army."
A new front is opening in the Trustees wars. Today's Daily Dartmouth reports:
The executive committee of Dartmouth’s Association of Alumni voted in a late-night conference call Tuesday to file for an injunction that would stop the College from filling its eight new seats on the Board of Trustees.
No comments:
Post a Comment