Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Ivy Honors

Dartmouth freshman kicker Foley Schmidt is the Ivy League rookie of the week while junior quarterback Alex Jenny (29-for-48, 343 yds., 1 TD) and junior free safety Peter Pidermann (12 tackles) have been named to the Ivy League honor roll. Find the Ivy League release here. Schmidt gets a quick mention in his hometown Star-Tribune.

Senior defensive lineman Max Copello writes for the Dartmouth Review and has an insider's preview of a team he refers to as the Indians here.

I've heard Princeton coach Roger Hughes – a former Dartmouth offensive coordinator – make the interesting analogy that shows up on a New York Times blog before. Hughes says:
“The N.F.L. has a salary cap. We have, quote, an education cap. We have very strict guidelines as to who we can recruit and how many we can recruit at different academic levels. And so, much like the N.F.L. they have to decide who to give all the money to, we have to decide who’s going to get those lower academic slots, and there’s only so many of those for each team, which means every team gets good players."
Saturday opponent New Hampshire is ranked either No. 7 (The Sports Network poll) or No. 8 (FCS Coaches poll) in the nation. The Wildcats improved to 3-0 with a win over Albany last week. Dartmouth opponents on The Sports Network poll:
7. UNH
26. Harvard
29. Yale
35. Brown
37. Holy Cross
38. Penn
48. Princeton

The beauty of the Internet is that when you make a mistake you can go back in and fix it. Believe me, I've done it a ton of times myself. Here's one from the Columbia Spectator that snuck past the editors and will probably be fixed by the time you click the link:
The 2008 football season did not start as planned for Columbia. Though the team scored 22 points in the second quarter and took a 22-14 lead into the final quarter, the defense and offense both slipped in the fourth quarter as Rutgers scored 15 unanswered points to win 29-22.
Columbia, of course, played Fordham, not Rutgers.

I can relate. I still grimace at the 48-point headline I wrote morning for the newspaper in Pennsylvania where I was sports editor. It said something like: Dodgers Win On Venezuela 2-Hitter. Of course it should have been Dodgers Win On Valenzuela 2-Hitter, but no one noticed until the paper went out the door because Venezuela was spelled right. Ditto for Rutgers.

Missed this the first time around but the Cornell Sun put together a full football supplement, like Penn did. The Cornell supplement can be found here. Stories from Penn's football supplement can be found here.

Speaking of Penn, the Quakers will be a more formidable team this fall if quarterback Robert Irvin is back to form and this Daily Pennsylvanian story suggests that is the case.

On the subject of quarterbacking, the Yale Daily News follow on Saturday's rout of Georgetown begins with this "lede:"
The football team did something in its opener that many undergrads have not seen in their time in New Haven — it threw the pigskin all over the field and threw it well.
That's right, the team that saddled up and rode tailback Mike McLeod until he just about broke down last year is going to keep him fresh as long as possible by throwing the ball. In case you missed it, here are the numbers Yale's QB tandem posted against an admittedly weak Georgetown team:
  • Brook Hart 14-of-18 for 176 yards, 3 TDs
  • Ryan Fodor 10-of-15 for 185 yards, 1 TD
If you check the stats, the Yalies are the top two quarterbacks in the nation in passer efficiency after one game.

Surfing my usual Ivy League haunts I saw a quick note about the Brown water polo team and clicked through to find a Daily Herald mention of Gordon Hood scoring a couple of goals for the Bears. Gordon is the twin brother of Dartmouth linebacker Spencer Hood. You can find Gordon's head shot here and Spencer's head shot here. Yup, they're twins ;-)

While I try to track down Internet confirmation of a promising recruit who has committed to the Big Green (according to an emailer), there's still another Arizona lineman who has been hearing from Dartmouth. Michael Munsil is a 6-1, 255-pound senior at Phoenix Scottsdale Christian who told the Arizona Republic, "I've been talking with several schools, Dartmouth, Air Force, Army. Those are the top ones."

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