The Forecast Is ... Perfect

It used to be that when I did phone interviews with coaches from visiting teams during the week, they would always have one question for me: "What's the forecast?" Dartmouth coaches, knowing I'd spoken with their colleagues, would ask the same thing before road games. Thanks to the Internet, no one asks that question anymore.

But in case you are wondering, the forecast for Saturday in the village of Hamilton, NY, is drop-dead perfect. Sunny and 72 degrees. Don't forget the SPF 30!

Speaking of Saturday, the Dartmouth football family will be tailgating at Colgate's Blue public lot at Colgate, beginning at 10 a.m.

Admit it. You think I've been overdoing this Jordan Scott-Mike McLeod thing. Sure, the Colgate and Yale tailbacks are good, but they can't be that good, right? Well, check out the following, purloined from Colgate's game notes:

NCAA Active Career Rushing Leaders
1. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 4,776
2. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 3,672
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Rushing Yards Per Game
1. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 136.5
2. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 122.4
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Carries
1. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 1081
2. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 817
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Carries Per Game
1. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 30.9
2. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 27.2
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Rushing Touchdowns
1. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale –48
2. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 45
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Total Points
1. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 294
2. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 286
3. JT Rogan, Sr., San Diego – 282
NCAA Active Career Leaders - Scoring Touchdowns
1. Mike McLeod, Sr., Yale – 49
2. Jordan Scott, Sr., Colgate – 47
JT Rogan, Sr., San Diego – 47

The Manchester Union Leader has a well-done preview of the Dartmouth football team. It includes this "lede:"

Since Buddy Teevens returned as Dartmouth's football coach in 2005, the program has enjoyed tremendous change.

The new Floren Varsity House, artificial turf and renovated grandstand are among the improvements, yet there is much work to be done in Hanover.

Like restoring Dartmouth into an Ivy League power.

The Patriot League's weekly release is up here. Scroll down for a few sentences about Colgate-Dartmouth. (It's Dartmouth-Colgate in the Ivy release ;-)

Senior tailback Hudson Smythe and sophomore defensive end Buddy Benaderet get a mention in this Palo Alto Online story about area players in the Ivy League. Not surprisingly, the focus is on Cornell quarterback Nathan Ford.

A columnist in the Columbia Spectator is making a call for an 11th game. Good luck.

It's a story that's been told more than a few times this preseason, but LSU quarterback Andrew Hatch is a Harvard transfer. This story reminds us, as he looks ahead to leading No. 6 LSU into Jordan-Hare Stadium to play No. 9 Auburn, that the last road game he played in was at ... the Yale Bowl, where he helped quarterback the Harvard jayvees against the Bulldog javvers. Said Hatch:

It’s going to be a little different crowd in terms of numbers. Same game, I guess.

I'm not sure everyone in the SEC would agree ...

I'm no web expert, but I know what I like and I really like Princeton's Gameday Central layout. This is one-stop shopping with links to helpful information presented in a clear and unconfusing way. Kudos to the folks at Princeton for a gem.

And finally, I'm still getting used to this cross country stuff. That certain Hanover High junior's team had an away meet yesterday and finished second. That would be an absolute stunner if they had brought the varsity team, but they didn't and I know of one first-year runner who was disappointed to be doing a very tough workout instead. The varsity will be in action Saturday morning in something called the Black Bear Invitational. ... That certain Hanover freshman, meanwhile, saw his second football game of the season cancelled Monday afternoon because injuries left the jayvees without enough players to field a competitive team against a squad from a higher division.