Scenes From Day One

Buddy Teevens does an interview with WMUR, the ABC TV station in Manchester, NH, that will be broadcasting the Dartmouth-UNH game from Hanover on Sept. 27.
Quarterbacks and running backs go their separate ways after a handoff.
Senior guard Elliot Dial (51) and the other offensive linemen better stay low and keep their feet moving.
Senior tailback Nate Servis leads sophomore tailback TJ Cameron up the field.
Junior Alex Jenny, the No. 1 quarterback coming out of the spring, sends a pass down the field.
Dartmouth football really was a hot topic Wednesday. So hot that the Hanover FD showed up at Floren Varsity House shortly after the end of practice to answer an alarm.

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The Roar Lions Roar blog takes a generally favorable look at Dartmouth's prospects for 2008. I believe in an earlier post Jake had the Big Green pegged for a fifth-place finish. Not what folks in and around Hanover hope for, but about as high a finish as anyone has projected.

From a release on the Cornell website:

"On the day before the first classes commence, the Big Red football team closed out preseason camp with an intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday afternoon ..."

For those of you concerned about Cornell (and other Ivy League teams) getting a jump on Dartmouth by beginning practice sooner, this is why. With classes beginning, the opportunity for double sessions is gone in Ithaca. Not so in Hanover, where Dartmouth doesn't begin classes until Sept. 24 if my calendar is correct. So while Cornell players are in class, Dartmouth can start to make up the missing practice sessions.

The Daily Pennsylvanian is back publishing and has a story about a brewing quarterback competition in West Philly. Apparently the junior college transfer from Fullerton College in California has been opening some eyes. Two of them belong to coach Al Bagnoli, who is quoted this way:

"I think for the first time, we have two kids who we think can be varsity quarterbacks at this level and win games," said Bagnoli, who's about to embark on his 17th campaign with Penn.

"We're all encouraged by Kyle Olson's play. He gives us another dimension that we didn't have last year."

The DP also has a story about what can happen when a program used to winning starts to lose. Under the headline, After flops, program is 'fragile,' the story quotes Bagnoli:

"Whereas before we spent an awful lot of time making sure (players) didn't get too confident, now you've got to be really concerned that you build enough confidence ..."

They can relate in Hanover ...

Jordan Scott, the talented tailback at Colgate, has been elected as one of the team's tri-captains for the 2008 season according to the team website. Given Scott's well-documented legal troubles of the past year, this is an intriguing announcement. ... Scott's issues aside, I'm a fan of Colgate coach Dick Biddle, who doesn't say much but generally tells it like it is. Such is the case regarding the Colgate coaching victories record. Biddle begins the season tied with legendary Andy Kerr with 95 career wins at Colgate. Where so many coaches would say the record doesn't matter, Biddle was forthright in a Utica Dispatch story. He said:

“I’m not going to lie; it’s important to me. But it’s also important to the players, former players and all of the coaches I’ve had here because they’re the ones that made it possible.”

With its Blue-White scrimmage out of the way, UNH is turning its attention to its annual FBS (nee I-A) game. But this time there's a twist according to Allen Lessels in the Union Leader. After beating Rutgers, Northwestern and Marshall in its last three FBS games, New Hampshire isn't going to fly under Army's radar next week, especially with the Cadets trying to get their program turned around. UNH coach Sean McDonnell:

That team we'll be playing will be much more focused on playing the University of New Hampshire than teams have been in the past. It's a situation where they're a good football program. It's a tradition-rich program and they're trying to turn things around and get things going.

That game, by the way, could be a shootout. (Not literally, because Army would win that one for sure ;-). The guess here is that the innovative UNH no-huddle offense that dropped bundles of points on Rutgers, Northwestern and Marshall in three wins, will give Army problems no matter how much preparation the Cadets do. But on the other side of the equation, UNH has trouble stopping people and Army's option attack is just different enough from what the Cats usually see that it will probably pretty effective. Someone might have to score 50 points to win this one. ...

The UNH Blue-White scrimmage only confirmed that the Wildcats can still move the ball (at least against themselves) in the first year A.R. (After Ricky). Ricky Santos' successor at quarterback, RJ Toman, completed 16-of-22 passes without an interception while backup Kevin Decker, a redshirt freshman, hit on 9-of-12 throws for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

The College Sporting News All-America team is out and this team also is dotted with players Dartmouth will see this fall. (PDF link):

First Team
Yale tailback Mike McLeod
UNH tight end Scott Sicko

Second Team
Harvard offensive tackle James Williams
Yale linebacker Bobby Abare

Third Team
Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph
Colgate tailback Jordan Scott
Princeton punter Ryan Coyle

Check Green Alert premium tonight for an in depth look at the second day of Dartmouth football practice.

And finally, those two Hanover High School students survived the first day of the new school year yesterday. The freshman was expected to have another football scrimmage today, but it was cancelled because injuries had further cut down a roster that was already down to 30 or so.