Quick Turnaround This Weekend

It's hardly a secret that the Dartmouth football schedule is out of kilter.

All road games in New England in odd-numbered years. No games in New England in even-numbered years. Not a one.

Making matters worse: Those five games in even-numbered years happen to be the five longest road trips Dartmouth ever makes. All in the same year.

Here's the kicker for yours truly. Two of this year's four jayvee games (all are at home) are on the Sundays after varsity contests at Colgate and Cornell. Because I write two stories on game nights and don't finish the second until perhaps 9 p.m., I usually choose to spend Saturday night in Upstate New York and then make the long drive home in a leisurely fashion the next morning. Once back here I sit down and get to work on a follow story to the previous day's varsity game.

But jayvee games at 1 p.m. against Vermont this Sunday and at noon against Bridgton the Sunday after Cornell mean I'm going to have to call a couple of audibles this fall. I suppose I'll either be getting up awful early or be getting home awful late ;-)

Live stats from Saturday's opener at Colgate will be available here.

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Recognize the name George Darlington? He spent one year as a Dartmouth assistant under Bob Blackman and eventually ended up being a fixture on Tom Osborne's staff at Nebaska. He's now at San Diego and was the featured in this story. It notes that Darlington:

... became the first assistant in Division I-A history to be part of more than 300 wins at one institution. From 1973-85, he coached defensive ends and outside linebackers for the "Blackshirt" defense. From 1986-2002, he was the defensive backfield coach. He helped Nebraska to three national titles in 1994, 1995 and 1997 as well as numerous conference championships.

Find Darlington's bio here.

And finally, Dartmouth football – make that futbol – is off to a terrific start. In its second game of the year, the Big Green soccer team put a 4-0 hurt on Indiana, ranked No. 3 or No. 6 depending on which poll you prefer. (The PR guy in me will go with No. 3). There's a story here. Senior Craig Henderson of New Zealand was named Soccer America's National Player of the Week after the upset. (link) And Jeff Cook's squad, ranked No. 25 with a bullet, just won its own tournament with a victory over Colgate yesterday. (link)