Dete Nominated For Draddy

Dartmouth tri-captain Andrew Dete is one of 164 semifinalists for the Draddy Trophy, which honors accomplishment on the field and in the classroom. Presented by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, “The Draddy Trophy is one of college football’s most sought after and competitive awards,” NFF Chairman Archie Manning said in a release announcing the semifinalists. “It recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the country for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary community leadership, and we’re incredibly proud to select the next winner from this remarkable group of semifinalists.”

In addition to Dete, five other Ivy Leaguers were named:

• Brown - Michael Dougherty
• Columbia - Phillip Mitchell
• Harvard - Andrew Berry
• Princeton - Ryan Coyle
• Yale - Casey Gerald

Dete, an economics major with a 3.74 grade point average, was presented with Dartmouth's Class of 1948 Scholar-Athlete Award last year.

From the NFF press release: "The NFF Awards Committee will select and announce up to 15 finalists on Oct. 29. Each finalist will be recognized as part of the 2008 National Scholar-Athlete Class, receiving an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship. The Draddy winner, who will receive a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship, will be announced at the NFF’s Annual Awards Dinner on December 9 ..."

(Andrew Dete photo courtesy of Dartmouth sports information)

Dartmouth's preview for the Penn game has been posted here and a PDF of the college's game notes for Penn can be found here.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has a feature about Dartmouth quarterback Alex Jenny.

The DP also writes about Saturday's game being the 800th played at Franklin Field. Coach Al Bagnoli told the paper: "I think there's a little bit of an intimidation factor there. A guy who's played at Bucknell - that stadium seats 12,000 - all of a sudden he comes to Franklin Field and he sees this place and … says, 'Oh boy.' "

True, but that intimidation factor would certainly be bigger if more of the 52,958 seats were filled on Saturday afternoons. ...

The Philadelphia Daily News has a brief capsule of the game here.

Did you know ...

Dartmouth and Penn made history 52 years ago Monday. From a National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame release:

Oct. 6, 1956: Penn snaps a 19-game home losing streak at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, beating Dartmouth 14-7 in Quakers first official Ivy League game. Big Green quarterback Mike Brown (future Cincinnati Bengals owner) accounts for Dartmouth's only score.

While conceding it has been one-sided, the Concord Monitor – which covers UNH football but not Dartmouth – believes the football series between the schools should continue. From a story:

"At the end of the day, these are still the two preeminent football programs in the state, they're both in the Football Championship Subdivision and they should be playing against each other."

And finally, that certain Hanover High School junior learned yesterday that her cross country team would be running in the Eastern States Championship division at the Reebok Manhattan College Cross Country Invitational one week from Saturday at Van Cortland Park in New York City. She's been baking brownies and other treats almost every day it seems as the team raises money for the trip to the big meet, but after graduating several runners who helped them finish third in the premier division a year ago, they didn't expect to be in the top class again this year.