Undefeated Since 1974

The Dartmouth junior varsity schedule has been filled out and the new addition is both a surprise and the polar opposite of the opponent no longer on the schedule.

Taking the place of Milford Academy, where big-time programs direct prized recruits who don't qualify academically, will be the University of Vermont club football team. That's right, club team. The game will be Sept. 21.

Vermont, one of just two states in the union without Division I football (Alaska is the other), played last year in the semipro Northeast Independent Football League (NIFL). Where the Catamounts played teams like the Mass Fury, Exeter Gamblers and Vermont Ravens last year, this fall the schedule features opponents like jayvee or club teams from St. Lawrence University, Bates College, Williams and now Dartmouth. Visit the UVM club football site.

Dartmouth and UVM have played on the varsity level 28 times with the Big Green holding a 24-1-3 mark over the Catamounts and outscoring them, 903-27. The teams haven't met since a 56-0 Dartmouth win on Oct. 3, 1936.

Vermont dropped varsity football more than 30 years ago, an occasion marked by shirts occasionally seen around Burlington bearing the saying, "Undefeated Since 1974. There is periodic talk about trying to reinstate the program as noted in this story and it will be interesting to see if the game against Dartmouth fuels that fire at all. For another story about UVM football's demise, click here.

The 2008 Dartmouth Jayvee Schedule (all games at home)

• Sept. 13 Middlebury, 1 p.m.
• Sept. 21 UVM, 1 p.m.
• Oct. 31 Harvard, 2 p.m.
• Nov. 9 Bridgton Academy, Noon

With the start of practice a week from today at 3:45 p.m., Dartmouth has added an assistant offensive line coach. Pat Hau was a 6-6, 310 three-year-starter and Academic Big 10 choice for the University of Minnesota in the late '90s. He landed in the Upper Valley when his wife took a job locally. ... In other coaching news, Joe Scola '07, an undergraduate assistant last year while finishing up his degree, is now officially termed a part-time outside linebacker coach.

Among the staff changes is the addition of Chris Feller as video coordinator. Feller, a student volunteer at Ohio University under Frank Solich, replaces fellow OU grad and friend Jake Kirkendall, who left Dartmouth in early summer to take a position at Eastern Michigan. ... With the relatively late move of strength coach Dan Nichol to Maine, Bob Miller, the football program's former strength coach, will fill this year. ... Also, Chris Micale, the Dartmouth recruiting operations director and a calming influence around the football offices, has moved on.

The Sports Network has released its first 2008 FCS poll. There were 116 teams in the FCS a year ago and a whopping 59 teams received votes this year. No fewer than six Dartmouth opponents were among them. Here's how they ranked:

16. UNH
24. Harvard
30. Yale
37. Holy Cross
39. Colgate
52. Brown

In case you are wondering, Dartmouth opponents that did not receive a vote were Penn, Princeton, Cornell and Columbia.

Back in May the Daily Dartmouth wrote about incoming quarterback Conner Kempe and his horrifying kiteboarding accident. The Underwater Times also had a story. Fortunately, there's no video of Kempe's accident, but this hard-to-watch video shows shows a hauntingly similar accident. There's a story about this accident here.

A 6-foot-3, 255-pound offensive guard from New Jersey reports Dartmouth among the Ivy schools he's been hearing from. He also "camped" at Maryland and Duke according to this report.

If you are curious about the college presidents' and chancellors' Amethyst Initiative about the failure of the 21 drinking age, click here.