Checking The Record

The Harvard Crimson has a column questioning whether if it is fair to judge now former Yale coach Jack Siedlecki by how his team performed against Harvard, given how the rest of the Ivy League has struggled against Tim Murphy's team. From the story:

After all, Siedlecki is hardly the only coach to suffer at the hands of the Fightin’ Tim Murphys in the greatest modern era of Harvard football. The Crimson’s current run of seven-win seasons—which at eight is the longest since 1911, and the longest in Ivy League history—has come at the expense of virtually every other Ivy League school, good coaches or not.

That sent me scurrying to the Dartmouth record book to see how the Big Green stacked up against eight consecutive seven-win seasons since the formal start of Ivy League play. Here's what I found:

Dartmouth twice won seven or more games in a span of eight years, but never did it eight straight:

• 1965-72 (exception: 4-5 in 1968)
• 1990-97 (exception 4-6 in 1994)

Speaking of Harvard, a Crimson review of the movie, Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29, elicited this statement, hopefully intended to inflame and not meant to be taken seriously:

Everybody loves an underdog, and if you’re going to accept the absurd premise that either Harvard or Yale could be one, it might as well be your team.

The Sports Network has revealed the finalists for the Walter Payton Award as the top offensive player in the FCS. They are: Appalachian State quarterback Armanti Edwards, James Madison QB Rodney Landers and Western Illinois running back Herb Donaldson. Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph was ninth and Harvard quarterback Chris Pizzotti was 11th.

The Des Moines Register has a look ahead to this weekend's playoff game between New Hampshire and Northern Iowa. It includes a mention that UNH quarterback RJ Toman has passed for 2,867 yards and 27 touchdowns this fall. That, too, got me scrambling for the Dartmouth record book. Toman, just a sophomore, would be second on the all-time Dartmouth list for passing yards in a season (behind only Brian Mann's 2,913 in 2002) and first in touchdowns. (The Dartmouth record is 25 by Jay Fiedler in 1992.)

Toman, by the way, was fifth in the nation in passing efficiency, so he wasn't just throwing the ball around. He was throwing it effectively. And, of course, he's back for two more years, precisely the amount of time UNH is left on the Dartmouth schedule.

Former All-America safety Lloyd Lee, a key member of the undefeated 1996 Big Green team and a captain of the last winning Dartmouth team in '97, gets a mention in this Minneapolis Star Tribune story. Lee, who came from Bloomington, Minn., and played parts of two years with the San Diego Chargers, is the linebacker coach for the Chicago Bears. (Hmmm. Wonder if he might get a phone call from Yale?)

It's something you hear all the time. You can get a great education just about anywhere, but it is who you meet at schools like Dartmouth and the other Ivies that helps set the schools apart. True? Hard not to wonder with the news in today's Daily Dartmouth that two more Dartmouth alums could join incoming Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner '83 in the Obama Cabinet. Mentioned as possible appointments are John Kitzhaber '69 as the possible Secretary of the Interior and Dan Reicher '78 as the possible Secretary of Energy.