Colgate Gets Hammered

Season-opening opponent Colgate got whomped by Stony Brook, 42-26, in its first game Saturday but don't get the wrong idea. All it means is that the Raiders won't be unbeaten when Dartmouth goes to Hamilton, N.Y., in 20 days. It doesn't mean they aren't any good for a few reasons:

• Colgate was playing without All-America tailback Jordan Scott, suspended for the opener.
• Starting quarterback Alex Relph completed just one of two passes before being lost with an ankle injury midway through the first quarter.
• Colgate is a notorious slow-starter under coach Dick Biddle, who always brings the team around.
  
• Stony Brook, which has joined the Big South, is an up-and-comer with 63 scholarships.

Still, it's hard to ignore the fact that Colgate gave up 42 points and 444 yards of offense (Game stats) and you can't really blame that on Scott and Relph, who don't play defense. On the other hand, the absence of the two standouts handcuffed Colgate's ball-control attack, allowing SBU more opportunities with the football.

In the final analysis, Dartmouth fans shouldn't put too much stock in the fact that Colgate lost the game, but some stock in the fact that they didn't win it over an improving opponent. If that makes any sense ;-)

Dartmouth's other two non-league opponents open next Saturday. Holy Cross will be the underdog against a very talented and experienced UMass team that is among the favorites to win the FCS national championship this year. New Hampshire visits an Army squad that took a beating from Temple. Colgate will be back in action as well, playing host to Furman.

Harvard has a report on its annual media day with links to audio from select players. ... Crimson lineman Carl Ehrlich has another edition of his entertaining blog. He tells of a 7-foot-9, 340-pound defensive end named Ivan Itchndakilya. You might say he was s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g the truth a little bit ;-)

The Brown Daily Herald is back up and running and has a short story on the football team down in Providence. Find it here.

I looked around this morning expecting to find some reaction to the Tennessee Titans cutting Dartmouth grad Casey Cramer. It's not that he was an impact player on the field, but he clearly made an impact in the community and with the reporters covering the team, who enjoyed talking with him. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a note or two during the coming week. And as I said yesterday, I'd be surprised if Casey doesn't get another shot in another NFL city. For a bio of Casey on Wikipedia, already updated with his being cut if you can believe it, click here.

Check Green Alert Premium this evening for a report on today's Dartmouth practice.

Titans Cut Cramer

A quick look at the Internet during a lull in Dartmouth's Saturday afternoon practice brings notice that former Big Green tight end Casey Cramer '04 has been released by the Tennessee Titans. From the Nashville City Paper (Link):

The release of Cramer spells the end of his two seasons with the Titans as a valuable special teams and utility player.

Green Alert Take: Knowing Casey, knowing how hard he works and sells himself out for special teams, I'd be surprised if this is the end of his NFL career. But if it is, he's squeezed an awful lot out of himself and the experience.

It Used To Be So Easy ... Used To Be.

Had to laugh at this one. Here's how the Green Alert Penn preview on Aug. 14 began:

HANOVER – It used to be so easy.

Write Penn in at the top of your Ivy League preseason poll and then dig into the rosters and stats and other predictions to try to riddle out how the rest of the conference would stack up.

It’s not that easy anymore.

Now here's how the Philadelphia Daily News Penn preview from Tuesday began:

Used to be, predicting the Ivy League football race was pretty much a no-brainer. You simply put Penn either first or second, and chances are you were Karnac the Magnificent.

Not any more.

Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not claiming the Daily News cribbed the Green Alert. (I almost said, "Went all Biden on me," but this is not a political blog, so scratch that.) It wasn't that way. It just reinforces the theme that the proud Penn program is at a critical fork in the road.

While Penn has been on a downturn, it's quite the opposite at Holy Cross, which Dartmouth will host two weeks after visiting Philly. Chuck Burton at the fine Lehigh Football Nation site takes a look at the state of the Holy Cross program and writes:

If there were ever a time to say "this is The Year" for Holy Cross, this is it. With a preseason player of the year on offense in Randolph, four seniors on the offensive line (five if you include their tight end), and two great WR targets returning, it's a feeling of now-or-never in Worcester.

The main concern that Burton raises is no surprise: the Holy Cross defense.

Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph, by the way, has been named one of 16 players on the Sports Network's first Payton Award Watch list, which is for the top offensive player in the FCS. He's joined on the list by Yale running back Mike McLeod and Colgate tailback Jordan Scott. The full list with head shots and capsules is here.

Named to the Buchanan Battle Watch list is Yale linebacker Bobby Abare. That whole list can be found here. Interestingly, Yale is one of just four schools to have players on both lists.

Find the full Sports Network release on the naming of the watch lists here.

Former Dartmouth assistant Lance Clelland, who left the staff this year to become a high school head coach back home in Maryland, inherited a 1-9 team but he also inherited something else: A rifle-armed 6-4, 215 transfer quarterback headed to Auburn next fall. Timing is everything. Find a story here.

The names of a Colorado recruit that got away and another from the Rocky Mountain state who has yet to make a choice have hit the 'Net. Nate Solder, who graduated from high school in 2006, will be starting at left tackle for the University of Colorado football team in the Buffs' opener. From this story:

Solder was recruited by Iowa State, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado State, and Dartmouth, where he could have played basketball and football. His parents said University of Colorado was always his first choice.

A biology major who had a 3.93 GPA in high school, Solder is listed at 6-8, 300 pounds in his Colorado bio.

R.C. Willenbrock is a highly regarded kicking prospect from Cherry Creek High School, which sent junior defensive back James O'Brien to Dartmouth. According to Rivals, schools of interest at this point include Notre Dame, Virginia, Duke and Dartmouth. Pretty good company.

Creek, of course, had the unique distinction of producing both of Dartmouth's 1995 co-captains, linebacker Taran Lent and running back Pete Oberle.

There's a good story on Syracuse.com about Colgate coach Dick Biddle, who is on the cusp of the school record for career coaching wins. How good a job has he done? Consider this from the story:

In his first season, Biddle guided Colgate to a 6-5 record, becoming just the third coach in history to post a winning record one year after a team suffered an 0-11 season. His winning percentage is the highest of any current coach in the Patriot League, the second best of all coaches in the Patriot's 22-year history and the best of any coach with seven or more seasons at Colgate.

Check out Green Alert Premium tonight for a wrapup of Saturday's practice.

Practice Heating Up

James Mullen, a walk-on from the lacrosse team, makes a diving grab in front of Pat Scorah. (Click photos to supersize them.)
Tim McManus hands off to Hudson Smythe as Buddy Teevens looks on.
Michael Wu tries to hold off Tyler Green.
Max Heiges watches the action after handing off to Nate Servis.
Freshman defensive lineman Eddie Smith takes a breather with his hat in his hand. The signature D in the front of the helmet and the striping will be in place before the opener against Colgate.

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It's essentially the same Dartmouth preview he had on his blog, but Roar Lions Roar author Jake Novak's look at the Big Green is now available on The Bleacher Report.

Chuck Burton, who does a nice job with Lehigh Football Nation, has pulled together his Ivy League preview and prediction for CSN. (PDF link) He gives Dartmouth kudos for making a "a leap in the right direction last year despite its 3-7 record," but doesn't give the Big Green much love in his predictions:
1. Harvard
2. Yale
3. Brown
4. Princeton
5. Cornell
6. Penn
7. Dartmouth
8. Columbia

Dartmouth players named in the CSN piece: Sophomore quarterback/wide receiver Tim McManus, senior tailback Milan Williams and fifth-year senior linebacker Joe Battaglia.

Among the schools mentioned in this story as recruiting Norman, Okla., linebacker Zac Ladner are Tulsa, Drake and Dartmouth.

The holiday weekend is coming but Green Alert Premium will continue regular coverage of Dartmouth practice each day. Be sure to check in tonight for a special feature.

A Few More Quotes

A few more quotes from Buddy Teevens that didn't make it into last night's Green Alert Premium report:

• We gave time to more younger guys than we ever have.

• It was probably a 'C' practice. I was impressed with the recall with a lot of the young guys. We just threw stuff right at them and said, 'Hey, execute.' And they did a pretty good job.

• (The idea was to) give them all an opportunity to be seen on film. That allows us to evaluate and make decisions a little more readily rather than just wait for a scrimmage situation.

• Nobody completely jumped out, but there were a lot of guys where it was, 'Man, not bad. Not bad. Not bad.'

Scenes From Day One

Buddy Teevens does an interview with WMUR, the ABC TV station in Manchester, NH, that will be broadcasting the Dartmouth-UNH game from Hanover on Sept. 27.
Quarterbacks and running backs go their separate ways after a handoff.
Senior guard Elliot Dial (51) and the other offensive linemen better stay low and keep their feet moving.
Senior tailback Nate Servis leads sophomore tailback TJ Cameron up the field.
Junior Alex Jenny, the No. 1 quarterback coming out of the spring, sends a pass down the field.
Dartmouth football really was a hot topic Wednesday. So hot that the Hanover FD showed up at Floren Varsity House shortly after the end of practice to answer an alarm.

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The Roar Lions Roar blog takes a generally favorable look at Dartmouth's prospects for 2008. I believe in an earlier post Jake had the Big Green pegged for a fifth-place finish. Not what folks in and around Hanover hope for, but about as high a finish as anyone has projected.

From a release on the Cornell website:

"On the day before the first classes commence, the Big Red football team closed out preseason camp with an intrasquad scrimmage on Wednesday afternoon ..."

For those of you concerned about Cornell (and other Ivy League teams) getting a jump on Dartmouth by beginning practice sooner, this is why. With classes beginning, the opportunity for double sessions is gone in Ithaca. Not so in Hanover, where Dartmouth doesn't begin classes until Sept. 24 if my calendar is correct. So while Cornell players are in class, Dartmouth can start to make up the missing practice sessions.

The Daily Pennsylvanian is back publishing and has a story about a brewing quarterback competition in West Philly. Apparently the junior college transfer from Fullerton College in California has been opening some eyes. Two of them belong to coach Al Bagnoli, who is quoted this way:

"I think for the first time, we have two kids who we think can be varsity quarterbacks at this level and win games," said Bagnoli, who's about to embark on his 17th campaign with Penn.

"We're all encouraged by Kyle Olson's play. He gives us another dimension that we didn't have last year."

The DP also has a story about what can happen when a program used to winning starts to lose. Under the headline, After flops, program is 'fragile,' the story quotes Bagnoli:

"Whereas before we spent an awful lot of time making sure (players) didn't get too confident, now you've got to be really concerned that you build enough confidence ..."

They can relate in Hanover ...

Jordan Scott, the talented tailback at Colgate, has been elected as one of the team's tri-captains for the 2008 season according to the team website. Given Scott's well-documented legal troubles of the past year, this is an intriguing announcement. ... Scott's issues aside, I'm a fan of Colgate coach Dick Biddle, who doesn't say much but generally tells it like it is. Such is the case regarding the Colgate coaching victories record. Biddle begins the season tied with legendary Andy Kerr with 95 career wins at Colgate. Where so many coaches would say the record doesn't matter, Biddle was forthright in a Utica Dispatch story. He said:

“I’m not going to lie; it’s important to me. But it’s also important to the players, former players and all of the coaches I’ve had here because they’re the ones that made it possible.”

With its Blue-White scrimmage out of the way, UNH is turning its attention to its annual FBS (nee I-A) game. But this time there's a twist according to Allen Lessels in the Union Leader. After beating Rutgers, Northwestern and Marshall in its last three FBS games, New Hampshire isn't going to fly under Army's radar next week, especially with the Cadets trying to get their program turned around. UNH coach Sean McDonnell:

That team we'll be playing will be much more focused on playing the University of New Hampshire than teams have been in the past. It's a situation where they're a good football program. It's a tradition-rich program and they're trying to turn things around and get things going.

That game, by the way, could be a shootout. (Not literally, because Army would win that one for sure ;-). The guess here is that the innovative UNH no-huddle offense that dropped bundles of points on Rutgers, Northwestern and Marshall in three wins, will give Army problems no matter how much preparation the Cadets do. But on the other side of the equation, UNH has trouble stopping people and Army's option attack is just different enough from what the Cats usually see that it will probably pretty effective. Someone might have to score 50 points to win this one. ...

The UNH Blue-White scrimmage only confirmed that the Wildcats can still move the ball (at least against themselves) in the first year A.R. (After Ricky). Ricky Santos' successor at quarterback, RJ Toman, completed 16-of-22 passes without an interception while backup Kevin Decker, a redshirt freshman, hit on 9-of-12 throws for 161 yards and two touchdowns.

The College Sporting News All-America team is out and this team also is dotted with players Dartmouth will see this fall. (PDF link):

First Team
Yale tailback Mike McLeod
UNH tight end Scott Sicko

Second Team
Harvard offensive tackle James Williams
Yale linebacker Bobby Abare

Third Team
Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph
Colgate tailback Jordan Scott
Princeton punter Ryan Coyle

Check Green Alert premium tonight for an in depth look at the second day of Dartmouth football practice.

And finally, those two Hanover High School students survived the first day of the new school year yesterday. The freshman was expected to have another football scrimmage today, but it was cancelled because injuries had further cut down a roster that was already down to 30 or so.

A Word Of Advice ...

If you are headed out to practice today or in the weeks to come, keep in mind that it gets chilly in the North Country as the sun drops lower in the sky.

With the temperature being 72 degrees as I write this and the hourly forecast not predicting much of a drop before practice finishes, this advice might sound silly, but bring along a sweater or light jacket.

For what it was worth, I was at a high school scrimmage yesterday in shorts and a golf shirt and as the shadows grew longer it got a wee bit brisk.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

Practice for the 127th season of Dartmouth College football kicks off at 3:45 this afternoon with 47 letterwinners and 15 players with starting experience among those hitting the field.

Here's the latest 2008 roster drawn from the official Dartmouth website. Players listed at the end without numbers will, or have been, assigned duplicate numbers:

1 Rob Mitchelson, RB, 5-10, 185, Jr., Oklahoma City, Okla. (Heritage Hall School)
3 Milan Williams, RB, 5-9, 172, Sr., Mobile, Ala. (UMS-Wright Prep)
6 Casey Frost, SS, 6-3, 209, Sr., Lawndale, Calif. (Loyola)
8 Chuck Zodda, K/P, 5-7, 165, Sr., Framingham, Mass. (St. Mark's School)
10 James O'Brien, CB, 5-11, 185, Jr., Englewood, Colo. (Cherry Creek)
11 Tim McManus, QB, 6-0, 183, So., St. Paul, Minn. (St. Thomas Academy)
12 Max Heiges, QB, 6-3, 208, Jr., Tiburon, Calif. (Novato)
14 Niles Murphy, WR, 6-0, 170, Jr., Bluffton, S.C. (Hilton Head Prep)
15 Alex Jenny, QB, 5-11, 182, Jr., Wayland, Mass. (Wayland)
16 Muhammed Abdul-Shakoor, CB, 5-10, 171, Jr., Stone Mountain, Ga. (Clarkston)
19 Donald Kephart, K, 5-11, 210, So., Lafayette, Calif. (Acalanes)
20 Steve Morris, CB, 6-0, 181, So., Hinsdale, Ill. (Hinsdale Central)
21 Peter Pidermann, FS, 6-0, 200, Jr., Hialeah, Fla. (Belen Jesuit Prep)
22 Kyle Cavanaugh, FS, 6-2, 185, Sr., Wayne, N.J. (Wayne Hills)
25 Michael Dearwester, LB, 6-1, 215, Jr., Mamaroneck, N.Y. (Rye Neck)
26 Ian Wilson, SS, 6-0, 198, Sr., Burbank, Calif. (Loyola)
28 Matthew Dornak, CB, 5-11, 198, Jr., Austin, Texas (Westlake)
30 Hudson Smythe, RB, 6-3, 215, Sr., Menlo Park, Calif. (Sacred Heart Prep)
31 Tony Pastoors, FS, 6-2, 197, Jr., Andover, Minn. (Totino-Grace)
32 Nate Servis, RB, 5-10, 195, Sr., Milwaukee, Wis. (Univ. School of Milwaukee)
33 Joe Battaglia, LB, 6-1, 222, Sr., Manlius, N.Y. (Christian Brothers Academy)
34 Robbie Krattiger, CB, 5-11, 188, So., Norman, Okla. (Norman North)
35 Chris Burns, CB, 5-9, 175, Jr., The Woodlands, Texas (The Woodlands)
36 Thomas Brown, FB, 6-0, 220, Jr., Cos Cob, Conn. (Greenwich)
37 Pat Scorah, SS, 5-8, 205, So., Washington, D.C. (St. John's College HS)
38 Taylor Babcock, DE, 6-2, 238, Sr., Weston, Conn. (Weston)
39 Matthew Kelly, K, 6-3, 193, So., Tampa, Fla. (Tampa Catholic)
40 Carter Scott, LB, 6-0, 221, So., Columbia, S.C. (Hammond School)
41 Matt Oh, LB, 6-2, 220, So., Coppell, Texas (Greenhill)
42 Philip McKeating, LB, 6-2, 225, Jr., Gibsonia, Pa. (Pine-Richland)
43 Johari Wiggins, LB, 6-1, 218, Sr., Durham, N.C. (Charles E. Jordan Sr.)
45 Joseph Zimring, RB, 6-0, 205, So., St. Louis, Mo. (Mary Institute)
46 Marlon Alebiosu, DE, 6-1, 210, Jr., Stamford, Conn. (King & Low Heywood Thomas)
48 Zechariah Glaize, LB, 6-2, 209, Jr., Fairburn, Ga. (Landmark Christian)
51 Elliott Dial, OG, 6-1, 295, Sr., Sumter, S.C. (Sumter)
53 Tony Bates, LB, 6-1, 215, Sr., Hammonton, N.J. (Hammonton)
54 Eddie Tabasky, C, 6-3, 299, Sr., Ormond Beach, Fla. (Mainland)
56 Andrew Dete, LB, 6-1, 215, Sr., Marietta, Ga. (Marist School)
57 Josh Speicher, LB, 6-0, 230, Sr., Boston, Mass (Boston Latin School)
60 Max Copello, DT, 6-1, 305, Sr., Stockton, Calif. (St. Mary's)
62 Spencer Hood, LB, 6-2, 200, So., Carlsbad, Calif. (Carlsbad)
64 Alex Johns, LB, 6-4, 220, So., Washington, D.C. (Gonzaga College HS)
66 Alexander Toth, OT, 6-5, 280, Jr., Bronxville, N.Y. (Bronxville)
67 William Montgomery, OT, 6-5, 278, So., The Woodlands, Texas (The Woodlands)
68 Alex Rapp, OT, 6-5, 260, Sr., St. Louis, Mo. (St. Louis Country Day)
69 Jonathan Summers, OG, 6-5, 320, Jr., Santa Monica, Calif. (Loyola)
70 Rich Cummings, DT, 6-3, 247, Sr., North Syracuse, N.Y. (Christian Brothers Academy)
71 Alex Wodka, OG, 6-3, 285, So., Arlington, Ill. (Buffalo Grove H.S.)
73 John O'Sullivan, OT, 6-5, 286, So., Merrick, N.Y. (Calhoun)
76 Michael Wu, DT, 6-0, 267, Jr., San Mateo, Calif. (Aragon)
77 Shane Peterlin, C, 6-4, 267, So., Phoenix, Ariz. (Brophy Prep)
79 Malcolm Freberg, DE, 6-2, 206, Sr., Marietta, Ga. (Walton)
80 Kevin Gallagher, TE, 6-3, 235, So., Princeton, N.J. (Hun School)
81 Carroll Papajohn, TE, 6-5, 235, Jr., Gulf Breeze, Fla (Gulf Breeze)
83 Eric Paul, WR, 6-4, 201, Sr., The Woodlands, Texas (The Woodlands)
85 Josh Doherty, DT, 6-3, 245, Jr., Halifax, Mass. (Silver Lake Regional)
87 Andrew von Kuhn, WR, 6-3, 196, Sr., Birmingham, Ala. (Mountain Brook)
88 Philip Galligan, WR, 5-11, 186, Sr., Moraga, Calif. (Campolindo)
89 Mike Cummings, TE, 6-5, 250, So., McLean, Va. (Deerfield Academy)
91 Jeffrey Smith, DT, 6-3, 240, Jr., Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (Jacksonville Episcopal)
92 Buddy Benaderet, DE, 6-3, 234, So., Palo Alto, Calif. (Palo Alto HS)
93 Erik Estabrook, WR, 6-4, 205, Sr., Syracuse, N.Y. (Christian Brothers Academy)
94 Rehan Muttalib, DT, 6-1, 250, Sr., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Palos Verdes Peninsula)
95 Tyler Green, DT, 6-4, 263, So., Amherst, N.H. (Middlesex School)
96 Charles Bay, DE, 6-3, 235, So., Marietta, Ga. (Wheeler)
97 Kyle Brong, DT, 6-3, 256, Jr., Lehighton, Pa. (Lehighton)
98 Brian Scullin, P, 6-5, 211, Sr., Alexandria, Va. (St. Stephen's & St. Agnes)

Shawn Abuhoff, CB, 5-11, 185, Fr., Hialeah, Fla. (Dade Christian)
John Albert, RB, 5-10, 181, So., Roxbury, Mass. (Charlestown)
JB Andreassi, CB, 5-10, 175, Fr., Water Mill, N.Y. (St. Anthony's )
Garrett Babb, WR, 5-9, 175, Fr., Shawnee, Okla. (Bethel)
Dominic Baker, TE, 6-7, 224, Jr., Homewood, Ill. (Homewood-Flossmoor)
Kyle Battle, WR, 6-3, 180, So., Cincinnati, Ohio (Sycamore)
Ben Boachie, WR, 6-3, 211, So., Silver Spring, Md. (Springbrook)
T.J. Cameron, RB, 5-11, 195, So., Greenwich, Conn. (Greenwich)
Joe Casey, CB, 5-10, 175, Fr., Noblesville, Ind. (Noblesville)
Kyle Cook, OL, 6-5, 260, Fr., Anaheim, Calif. (Mater Dei)
Josh Curcio, DT, 6-4, 285, Sr., Plantation, Fla. (Plantation)
Nicholas Danford, SS, 5-11, 185, Sr., Rollinsford, N.H. (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Kevin de Regt, CB, 5-9, 178, So., Stamford, Conn. (King & Low Heywood Thomas)
Will Deevy, QB, 6-5, 205, So., Englewood, Colo. (Kent Denver)
Anthony Diblasi, SS, 6-1, 175, Fr., Miami, Fla. (Belen Jesuit Prep)
Brad Dornak, WR, 6-0, 180, Fr., Austin, Texas (Westlake)
Mark Dwyer, DT, 6-4, 240, Fr., Woburn, Mass. (Woburn)
Royce Egeolu, LB, 5-10, 240, Fr., San Antonio, Calif. (John Paul Stevens )
Kevin Estrada, FB, 5-11, 235, So., San Francisco, Calif. (Riordan)
Diego Fernandez-Soto, LB, 6-0, 185, Fr., Miami, Fla. (Belen Jesuit Prep)
Austen Fletcher, OL, 6-1, 275, Fr., Old Brookville, N.Y. (St. Anthony's )
John Gallagher, TE, 6-2, 225, Fr., Salem, Ore. (West Salem)
Chris Hardy, RB, 6-2, 210, Fr., Dayton, Ohio (Oakwood)
Chad Hollis, CB, 5-10, 170, Fr., Longwood, Fla. (Phillips Academy)
Ajmah (AJ) Houston, CB, 5-10, 190, So., Bronx, N.Y. (Taft School)
Luke Hussey, FS, 6-0, 205, So., Seattle, Wash. (Lakeside)
Chase Jensen, TE, 6-3, 215, So., Solana Beach, Calif. (The Bishop School)
David Johnson, CB, 5-9, 181, So., Bronx, N.Y. (Horace Mann)
Conner Kempe, QB, 6-4, 200, Fr., Tequesta, Fla. (The Benjamin School)
Patrick Lahey, OL, 6-3, 282, Fr., North Andover, Mass. (Brooks School)
Ryan Lee, OL, 6-6, 240, Fr., Columbia, S.C. (Heathwood Hail Episcopal)
Aaron Limonthas, LB, 6-0, 210, Fr., Houston, Texas (Lamar)
Benjamin Magnus, LB, 6-3, 190, Fr., Corrales, N.M. (Albuquerque Academy)
Tyler Melancon, LB, 5-10, 180, Fr., Parker, Texas (Plano East Sr.)
Brock Middleton, OL, 6-5, 250, Fr., Phoenix, Ariz. (Brophy Prep)
Brendan Murray, LB, 6-0, 185, Fr., Chicago, Ill. (Notre Dame HS)
Ryan O'Neill, OL, 6-4, 240, Fr., Orland Park, Ill. (Marist)
Grant Palmer, OL, 6-4, 245, Fr., Bexley, Ohio (St. Charles)
Darius Pelissier, RB, 6-0, 209, So., Canyon Country, Calif. (North Hills Prep)
Connor Phillips, DE, 6-3, 225, Fr., Potomac, Md. (Winston Churchill)
Cody Poe, DT, 6-4, 250, Fr., Tahlequah, Okla. (Sequoyah)
Michael Reilly, WR, 6-1, 190, Fr., Denver, Colo. (Kent Denver)
Dan Rooney, QB, 6-3, 200, Fr., Pittsburgh, Pa. (Shady Side Academy)
Foley Schmidt, K/P, 5-9, 175, Fr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn. (St. Thomas)
Nick Schwieger, RB, 5-10, 190, Fr., Norton, Mass. (Bishop Feehan)
Tanner Scott, WR, 6-4, 184, So., Kenilworth, Ill. (Deerfield Academy)
Lane Shipley, DT, 6-2, 262, So., Steamboat Springs, Colo. (Steamboat Springs)
Alex Shulman, TE, 6-2, 205, Fr., Hingham, Mass. (Thayer Academy)
Eddie Smith, DT, 6-3, 265, Fr., Louisville, Ky. (Christian Academy)
John Spradling, WR, 6-1, 187, So., Houston, Texas (Kinkaid)
Tim Vanderet, WR, 6-5, 199, So., Cupertino, Calif. (Homestead)
Bruno Vetter, DL, 6-1, 235, Fr., New Orleans, La. (Isidore Newman)
Zach Wodka, OL, 6-3, 265, Fr., Arlington Heights, Ill. (Buffalo Grove)

In other Dartmouth news, work continues on the Chase Field (location of football's Blackman Practice Fields) upgrades. Find a diagram of the new configuration of the various playing and practice fields, and a story here.

The Harvard and Yale football captains will throw out the first pitch at the Boston Red Sox-Baltimore Orioles game on Sept. 2. The Ivy League has a story.

Out in Ithaca, N.Y., the Cornell Big Red is enjoying its first preseason on Schoellkopf Field's new FieldTurf surface. The Ithaca Journal reports.

The facilities arms race in the Ivy League continues unabated. Check out Harvard's new locker room and strength & conditioning center. It's beautiful stuff, of course, but I've got to admit I thought I was watching HGTV as I read this from the story:

Located throughout the locker room are eight structural columns wrapped in a shaker-design custom hardwood cherry. Complementing the look of the room five Corian inlaid Harvard logos installed in various locations as well as wall-to-wall carpeting with custom-made logos throughout.

With practice beginning and the season just around the corner (OK, maybe not just around the corner) a nod of thanks to Coach Buddy Teevens, his staff and the folks at Dartmouth for allowing me to do what I do with Big Green Alert. It's not that way everywhere. Consider what's happening out at Washington, where visitors to practice must sign confidentiality agreements and incur the wrath of Coach Tyrone Willingham for even the most innocuous of "leaks." This Seattle Times story is chilling for anyone who has ever reported on a team.

Away from the football field ... I've posted several times about our local Little League all-star team playing a series in Cuba earlier this month. I coached in the league again this year and had one of my players on the trip. The Boston Globe traveled with the team and has a story as well as 30 pictures from the trip here.

And finally, it is the first day of school for kids in Hanover. That certain junior gave tours to the school for freshmen (like her brother) yesterday. She's involved in everything at the school and clearly was excited this morning, even though her honors course load, three varsity sports and the amazing amount of homework she always has will be a burden. As for her brother ... not so much. He'll be fine, but most of us can remember the intimidation of that first day in high school and he was feeling that as the bus pulled up at the end of our driveway at 7:17 this morning.

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Tonight on Big Green Alert Premium – a full report on the first day of practice.

Sept. 6 Intrasquad Scrimmage

The Dartmouth Sports Information website has a brief story up about the imminent start of practice. It includes both the full practice schedule and mention of a scrimmage with officials on Sept. 6. Find the story here.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ...

One day left until the first practice of the 2008 season. Here's a look at the schedule for the first couple of weeks of practice:

Wednesday, August 27
3:45 Practice #1

Thursday, August 28
3:45 Practice #2

Friday, August 29
3:45 Practice #3

Saturday, August 30
3:45 Practice #4

Sunday, August 31
3:15 Practice #5

Monday, September 1
3:45 Practice #6

Tuesday, September 2
8:15 Practice #7
3:45 Practice #8

Wednesday, September 3
3:45 Practice #9

Thursday, September 4
8:15 Practice #10
3:45 Practice #11

Friday, September 5
3:45 Practice #12

Saturday, September 6
8:15 Practice #13
3:45 Practice #14

Monday, September 8
8:15 Practice #15
3:45 Practice #16

Tuesday, September 9
3:45 Practice #17

Wednesday, September 10
8:45 Practice #18
3:45 Practice #19

Thursday, September 11
3:45 Practice #20

Friday, September 12
1 Scrimmage at Harvard

Saturday, September 13
Colgate game week begins

While Dartmouth is just getting going, first-game opponent Colgate opens up the regular season this weekend against Stony Brook. The Colgate game notes have been posted here. As expected, tailback Jordan Scott is not on the depth chart for the opener. He is serving a one-game suspension for an on-campus incident that resulted in a 21-day jail sentence this summer.

Like Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivy League teams, Harvard still has 25 days until its first game, but a former Crimson quarterback won't have to wait that long. In fact, he may not only play, but be starting under center in the LSU opener according to this story.

We've linked a number of times over the past year to stories about North Carolina State quarterback Russell Wilson, whose father Harry Wilson '77, was a three-year letterwinner for Dartmouth. The latest story reports that the former Dartmouth player and proud dad suffered a stroke several weeks ago and will not be at his son's first start against South Carolina, which will be televised Thursday night on ESPN.

Dartmouth, Yale and Stanford were among the first schools to have a Baton Rouge quarterback on its radar. According to this story, Barrett Bailey, now ranked No. 23 in the country among dual-threat high school quarterbacks, is getting a lot more attention these days.

The sometimes hilarious, often outrageous Deadspin site has a piece about walking around wearing football jerseys. Dartmouth gets a mention it might not want in this column. From the link (and I plead guilty to sanitizing this outtake):

I have owned two football jerseys in my time. The first was an old Phil Simms jersey (my mom got it for me one year without realizing I was a Vikings fan). The second was a free jersey I got at Dartmouth football camp that said WEARERS OF THE GREEN across the chest and stomach, with no numbers on the back or front. The jersey itself was green, so the caption seems extraordinarily redundant in retrospect.

I wore both of these jerseys. I looked like a colossal #&!X#% in both of them, especially that idiotic Dartmouth one. Who puts a slogan on a jersey?

And finally, scrimmage No. 2 this evening for that certain Hanover High freshman to be. He's gearing up for it by, well, by playing golf this morning. School starts tomorrow for the two of 'em and, that annual Staples commercial aside (The most wonderful time, of the year ...) I feel badly for them. I don't think you ever really forget what that last day of summer felt like when you were a kid.

Big Week

This is a big week and no day of the week is bigger than Wednesday. Yup, that's the day classes begin for Hanover schoolkids.

What's that? Oh yeah, Wednesday also means football on Memorial Field. Finally. That's right, Dartmouth football practice kicks off that afternoon. And in case you are wondering, while Dartmouth is getting started later than other Ivy League schools, the number of practice sessions each school has before the opening game is the same as it is for the other Ivies. They are just distributed differently.

Stumbled across the following promo featuring Holy Cross coach Tom Gilmore, a former Dartmouth assistant. It's kind of funny although I've watched it several times and it has cut out each time before the end so I'm not completely clear on what it's all about.
Frenzy Promo featuring HC Coach Tom Gilmore


Speaking of Patriot League opponents, there's a nice offseason capsule on first-game opponent Colgate on the well-done Lehigh Football Nation blog. ... Call this Patriot League day because the Express Times has a Patriot League preview that has a look both at Colgate and Holy Cross and the Worcester Telegram writes about Holy Cross' fifth-year tight end, Ryan McGuire. (Sticking with the same theme, a full Holy Cross preview – the ninth of 10 Dartmouth opponent previews – will be posted on Green Alert premium this evening.) ...

Read about former All-America tight end Casey Cramer and his bid to retain a roster spot on the Tennessee Titans in this story in The City Paper. Titans' coach Jeff Fisher says of Cramer:

“He's very consistent. He knows what to do and how to do it, and he has fun doing it. He's a versatile player that you can plug in anywhere on special teams, and a number of different positions on offense. That's why he's been playing. He's found a home here, and we appreciate everything he's done and the things that are ahead.”

That sounds encouraging, but Cramer knows he's on the bubble and he sounds OK with that. He says:

"Whatever happens, I'll be fine. I obviously have a lot of fun playing football, but I'll be fine outside of football as well.”

Former Dartmouth women's soccer coach Erica Walsh, now the head coach at Penn State, has won a gold medal as an assistant with the U.S. women's soccer team in Beijing. There's a brief in The Collegian of Penn State.

Odds And Ends

You guessed it. More internet woes on the mountain. Just in time for preseason. I'm on campus using Dartmouth's wireless. ...

Some interesting stuff this morning including an Ivy League preview in the New York Times blog. The lede, not surprisingly, is about Yale's Mike McLeod. Regarding Dartmouth, the piece says Buddy Teevens, "plans to use two quarterbacks: the junior Alex Jenny and the sophomore Tim McManus, who started at wide receiver last year."

I'm sure that's what is sounded like to the writer, but trust me, the plan heading into camp is not a platoon system at quarterback, so don't worry. Jenny and McManus will be battling for the job along with several others. But don't look for the QBs to alternate series.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an in-depth look at what it means to play football in the Ivy League. Here's a quote the story uses from Teevens, who returned to Dartmouth after a stint at Stanford:

"I have a better appreciation for it the second time around. When I was coming up the first time, I was focused on going to the next level. But after you go through it and come back, you really can't take this for granted, what this level of football is about. These kids work just as hard, but you have to find the right kids for your program, guys who fit in academically as well as athletically."

The story has a list of Ivy Leaguers currently in NFL camps and it misses at least one. Brown grad Paul Raymond caught the winning 24-yard TD pass for the New York Jets against the New York Giants this weekend. He gets a mention in this capsule. For more on Raymond check out this short Newark Star-Ledger profile. Of coming from the Ivy League, the speedster had this to say:

"I've felt it (the stigma) a little. I'm short and I come from the Ivy League. But once I did a couple of things on the field I starting feeling a lot more comfortable."

The Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y., has a story about prominent Dartmouth grad Mike Slive, who once worked in the college athletic department. It starts this way:

Mike Slive has just completed a 15-year television contract with CBS, one that will give the Southeastern Conference tremendous exposure and increase its prestige as a premier athletic entity.

Some think that will be his legacy as commissioner of the SEC, which numbers some of the nation’s top athletic programs among its members.

Maybe, but Slive, a former Utica Free Academy football quarterback, is much prouder of having helped clean up the conference’s image while enhancing its competitive edge since he became the boss in 2002.

And finally, that certain Hanover High freshman-to-be had his first scrimmage yesterday. It was at Plymouth, a traditional New Hampshire powerhouse. He got in with the other freshmen at the end, playing fullback, and got one carry. He was stopped at the line, but got that first hit out of the way. At just 5 feet (on his tippy toes) he wasn't going to be confused with the 6-foot-5 freshman running back Plymouth had ;-)

You Say: Bring On The Playoffs

This one didn't surprise me even a little bit. OK, maybe the 12 people who said things are fine the way they are caught me off blance, but that 75 percent wanted to go to the playoffs was certainly no surprise. Put me in that camp as well.

The venerable Sagarin Ratings have been posted and as always, they are both interesting and maddening. What's neat about these ratings is that they mix in both the, ahem, I-A and I-AA teams. (It's their nomenclature, not mine.)Here's the rating for Ivy League teams and Dartmouth opponents, keeping in mind 245 teams are rated:

124. Harvard
131. Yale
153. Penn
168. Princeton
169. Brown
183. Cornell
193. Dartmouth
213. Columbia

97. New Hampshire
156. Colgate
161. Holy Cross

The Ivy League is ranked the No. 18 conference overall and 6th in, ahem, I-AA. The Patriot League is at No. 20. The Colonial, home of UNH, is ranked No. 12, ahead of the I-A Sun Belt.

The Sports Network has named its preseason All-America team and four Ivy Leaguers are among the seven honored players Dartmouth will face this fall. Here are the seven:

OFFENSE
First Team
Scott Sicko, New Hampshire, TE, Jr., 6-3, 225

Second Team
Dominic Randolph, Holy Cross , QB, Sr., 6-3, 223
Mike McLeod, Yale, RB, Jr., 5-11, 200
Nicholas Hennessey, Colgate, T, Sr., 6-6, 300

Third Team
James Williams, Harvard, T, Sr., 6-6, 285

DEFENSE
Second Team
Bobby Abare, Yale, LB, Sr., 6-2, 210
Andrew Berry, Harvard, CB, Sr., 6-1, 175

I went over the list three times looking for Colgate tailback Jordan Scott and couldn't find him. It's possible he was overlooked because of his legal difficulties this year, but I have a hard time believing there are six running backs better than he is in the FCS. There aren't. End of story.

Cornell coach Jim Knowles has an interesting Q&A on the Cornell website. ... There's not much meat to Columbia coach Norries Wilson's camp update, but the straight-talking coach tells it like it is with this comment:

Anyone can look good in shorts, tomorrow the shoulder pads go on, and I will get a better look at what’s what.

A little more on Russell Wilson, a quarterback who would have looked pretty good in Green, from the News Observer down in Raleigh, N.C.:

Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson was named N.C. State's starting quarterback on Friday afternoon. Five things to know:

1. He has athletic blood lines. Paternal grandfather Harrison Wilson Jr. played baseball and basketball at Kentucky State. Father Harrison III played football and baseball at Dartmouth and spent a brief time with the San Diego Chargers.

The local paper reports today that the new Dartmouth baseball field is well behind schedule, a result of the summer's record-setting rains, a surprise discovery or two on the site, and a key employee of the company doing the project taking another job. The story said the Big Green is scrambling to find another site for fall workouts.

And finally, that certain Hanover High freshman to be is on his way to Plymouth, N.H., today for his first football scrimmage. He doesn't expect to see any action but with just 29 kids on the roster, he might. ... The junior-to-be received her cross country uniform yesterday. Hanover girls cross country finished fourth in the nation in Oregon last fall and won new unis and warmups from Nike as a result of the appearance in the elite meet.

Oh, and one more thing. Today's Blog is brought to you from the back of the '84 VW camper parked outside of the Etna Town Library. That's right. Internet on the mountain is down again. Fortunately, our one-room village library now has wireless and I can access it from the VW out here on the side of the road.

Another Poll

Another day, another poll. This one by the FCS coaches. Dartmouth opponents who show up on the poll:

16. UNH
24. Harvard
30. Yale

It's nice to see Elon at No. 15. The Phoenix is (are?) coached by Pete Lembo, a former Dartmouth assistant who had a terrific run at Lehigh before heading south, and an old friend.

Add Penn to the list of Ivy League teams that have kicked off practice. There's a brief story on the Penn website. Remember, while some Ivy League schools are starting earlier than others, the total number of practices each can have before the opening game is the same. They are just distributed differently.

Harvard is catching some heat from neighbors both about the planned Sept. 19 night game against Holy Cross and the Yale game set for Harvard Stadium in November. There's a story here regarding concerns about parking, noise and drinking.

Like Dartmouth alum Casey Cramer, former Brown wide receiver Sean Morey, 32, has hung around the NFL because of his dedication and ability on special teams. Find a story about Morey's fight to stick with the Arizona Cardinals here.

I'm not sure Dartmouth has anything official like this, but it's a good idea. The Colgate alumni association organizes tailgates for road games. Details here.

A former Dartmouth player-turned-headmaster at Norcross, a private school in Virginia, is also an assistant football coach at the school. From the story:

(Tim) Seeley, a backup quarterback on Dartmouth’s 1978 Ivy League championship team with a postgraduate divinity degree from Harvard, has a vested interest on both sides of the issue. He is in his seventh year as a football assistant, spending five seasons under longtime North Cross coach Jim Muscaro.

Former Dartmouth men's basketball coach Dave Faucher is the new head coach at Daniel Webster College, a Division III school in southern New Hampshire according to this story. Good for Fauch, who has worked with John Lyons at Kimball Union Academy the past several years but really itched to get back into the college game. Here's a link to the team site.

The U.S. News & World Report ranking of Best Colleges 2009 is a lot friendlier to Dartmouth than the Forbes' ranking was. USN&W has Dartmouth 11th nationally. Here's the top-10 plus remaining Ivies:

1. Harvard
2. Princeton
3. Yale
4. (tie) MIT, Stanford
6. (tie) Cal Tech, Penn
8. (tie) Columbia, Duke, Chicago
11. Dartmouth
14. Cornell
16. Brown

A regular reader of the blog sent along another link to the Forbes Magazine story about the earning power of Dartmouth alums. This excerpt offers a little more explanation:

Dartmouth produces well-rounded people who can move into senior-level positions easily," says Monica Wilson, associate director of career services at the school. Another important factor in the success of Dartmouth grads is an extremely tight and loyal alumni network. Dartmouth is located in tiny Hanover, N.H., and is the smallest of the Ivy League schools with 4,100 undergrad students enrolled. Yet the alumni network is extremely impressive and stretches from Daniel Webster to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during its 239 year history. Other prominent grads include General Electric (nyse: GE - news - people ) head Jeffrey Immelt, eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) chief John Donahoe and former IBM (nyse: IBM - news - people ) boss Louis Gerstner.

Free!

Good news for fans attending Dartmouth football games at Memorial Field this year. For the first time, game programs will be given away free on Saturday afternoons. That's right. Free. Gratis. And no, they won't be cut-down versions of the old programs but instead the same award-winning publications you've always enjoyed. Smart move by the athletic department.

As noted yesterday, Dartmouth's first practice is next Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. In case you were wondering, the first double session day will be Tuesday, Sept. 2. Green Alert Premium will have full reports after each session.

While the Big Green countdown is at 6 days, other schools are already reporting. Cornell, of course, is already in camp. The Ithaca Journal had a story about the start of the Big Red preseason and also a Q&A about what needs to happen this year for Cornell to contend.

In anticipation of Thursday's start of camp for the Lions, the Columbia website has a detailed look at prospects for the team.

Yale players report today and kick off practice tomorrow as this Yale website reports.

The Brown website writes about the Bears opening camp Saturday with great expectations.

Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Harvard quarterback now with the Cincinnati Bengals, is the subject of this Bengals.com story. Two things jump out. First, Harvard coach Tim Murphy tells of the day he "saw Fitzpatrick knock out two Dartmouth defensive backs with his running style on plays he says 'are legendary around here.' "

Selective amnesia, I suppose, because I honestly don't remember two D-backs getting knocked out.

The story also includes this from Murphy on Fitzpatrick:

From his first day as a freshman to the day he graduated, he never lost a competitive sprint; ever. And he's a 4.7 guy. Look, it's not the SEC but we've got guys that can run. We've got cornerbacks running a lot faster than that and a guy like Clifton Dawson (the Ivy's all-time rusher). But he just never let anybody beat him.

That has a familiar ring. I like to tell pretty much the same story about another quarterback who made it to the NFL. I don't know if Jay Fiedler won every sideline-to-sideline sprint, but he won – or was barely nosed out in – most of them and while he was fast, he wasn't the fastest guy on his team either. Just watching him run those things at the end of a long practice you knew what kind of competitor he was. Those runs at the end of practice are something I always learn from, and I'm not the only one. ...

It's high school preview time and out in Illinois 6-3, 205-pound Dartmouth-bound linebacker Tom Patek (link) is pictured in a photo captioned this way:

Carmel Catholic's Tom Patek will be lining up at linebacker this fall. Earlier this summer, he made a verbal commitment to play football at Dartmouth University.

Speaking of high school football, that certain Hanover High freshman-to-be who is going through his first-ever double-sessions has been slipping into sleep each night on the couch watching the Olympics. He's black-and-blue all over but seems to be feeling good about his decision to play football instead of golf. ... That junior-to-be is thoroughly enjoying cross country. Joining yesterday's training were three June grads, one heading to Stanford where she will run on scholarship, one running this fall at Brown and another who will run at Middlebury. Impressive. The XC schedule came out and it includes an appearance at the Manhattan Invitational down in New York. Unfortunately, it's not the morning of the Columbia game ;-)

Undefeated Since 1974

The Dartmouth junior varsity schedule has been filled out and the new addition is both a surprise and the polar opposite of the opponent no longer on the schedule.

Taking the place of Milford Academy, where big-time programs direct prized recruits who don't qualify academically, will be the University of Vermont club football team. That's right, club team. The game will be Sept. 21.

Vermont, one of just two states in the union without Division I football (Alaska is the other), played last year in the semipro Northeast Independent Football League (NIFL). Where the Catamounts played teams like the Mass Fury, Exeter Gamblers and Vermont Ravens last year, this fall the schedule features opponents like jayvee or club teams from St. Lawrence University, Bates College, Williams and now Dartmouth. Visit the UVM club football site.

Dartmouth and UVM have played on the varsity level 28 times with the Big Green holding a 24-1-3 mark over the Catamounts and outscoring them, 903-27. The teams haven't met since a 56-0 Dartmouth win on Oct. 3, 1936.

Vermont dropped varsity football more than 30 years ago, an occasion marked by shirts occasionally seen around Burlington bearing the saying, "Undefeated Since 1974. There is periodic talk about trying to reinstate the program as noted in this story and it will be interesting to see if the game against Dartmouth fuels that fire at all. For another story about UVM football's demise, click here.

The 2008 Dartmouth Jayvee Schedule (all games at home)

• Sept. 13 Middlebury, 1 p.m.
• Sept. 21 UVM, 1 p.m.
• Oct. 31 Harvard, 2 p.m.
• Nov. 9 Bridgton Academy, Noon

With the start of practice a week from today at 3:45 p.m., Dartmouth has added an assistant offensive line coach. Pat Hau was a 6-6, 310 three-year-starter and Academic Big 10 choice for the University of Minnesota in the late '90s. He landed in the Upper Valley when his wife took a job locally. ... In other coaching news, Joe Scola '07, an undergraduate assistant last year while finishing up his degree, is now officially termed a part-time outside linebacker coach.

Among the staff changes is the addition of Chris Feller as video coordinator. Feller, a student volunteer at Ohio University under Frank Solich, replaces fellow OU grad and friend Jake Kirkendall, who left Dartmouth in early summer to take a position at Eastern Michigan. ... With the relatively late move of strength coach Dan Nichol to Maine, Bob Miller, the football program's former strength coach, will fill this year. ... Also, Chris Micale, the Dartmouth recruiting operations director and a calming influence around the football offices, has moved on.

The Sports Network has released its first 2008 FCS poll. There were 116 teams in the FCS a year ago and a whopping 59 teams received votes this year. No fewer than six Dartmouth opponents were among them. Here's how they ranked:

16. UNH
24. Harvard
30. Yale
37. Holy Cross
39. Colgate
52. Brown

In case you are wondering, Dartmouth opponents that did not receive a vote were Penn, Princeton, Cornell and Columbia.

Back in May the Daily Dartmouth wrote about incoming quarterback Conner Kempe and his horrifying kiteboarding accident. The Underwater Times also had a story. Fortunately, there's no video of Kempe's accident, but this hard-to-watch video shows shows a hauntingly similar accident. There's a story about this accident here.

A 6-foot-3, 255-pound offensive guard from New Jersey reports Dartmouth among the Ivy schools he's been hearing from. He also "camped" at Maryland and Duke according to this report.

If you are curious about the college presidents' and chancellors' Amethyst Initiative about the failure of the 21 drinking age, click here.

Dartmouth TV Games Up To 6

This just in from a Dartmouth release:

Dartmouth College finalized an agreement yesterday with the New England Sports Network (NESN) to have two Big Green football games televised in 2008 by the broadcast company. The contests will take place at 12:30 p.m. on both Oct. 11 and Nov. 1 when Dartmouth hosts the Ivy League co-favorites Yale and Harvard, respectively.

With the latest announcement Dartmouth will now have six games broadcast this fall:

• Sept. 20 at Colgate (Time Warner Sports)
• Sept. 27 New Hampshire (WMUR)
• Oct. 4 at Penn (CN8)
• Oct. 11 Yale (NESN)
• Oct. 25 at Columbia (Versus)
• Nov. 1 Yale Harvard (NESN)

The Big Green had three games broadcast a year ago.

Cornell Reports, Yale On Tap

Although Dartmouth still has another week of waiting, the Cornell football team opens practice tomorrow. The Big Red players took part in a charity softball game yesterday. Find a mention and pictures on the Cornell football website.

Yale players also will report this week. The New Haven Register has a story written out of the impending start of the Elis' camp and the chance to put last year's season-ending debacle against Harvard behind them.

Dartmouth practice doesn't begin for another nine days, which probably has some of you scratching your head and wondering if the Big Green is at a competitive disadvantage because the other schools have more practices before the Sept. 20 opening of the season. The answer is they don't, because the number of practice sessions each school can have before the opener is the same. They are just distributed differently. Dartmouth actually has a little bit of an advantage because school starts so late that the players are still all-football, all-the-time well after most of the other Ivies have begun classes.

Dartmouth's first practice coincides with the UNH Blue-White scrimmage. The Wildcats open Sept. 6 at Army.

Too bad practice hasn't started because it's football weather right now in Hanover. It's 62 degrees and overcast with the temperature not expected to rise much. Just watch, it will be 85 degrees and humid next week.

You knew it was coming. The Daily Dartmouth has the college's response to being pegged 127th in the Forbes.com college rankings. Here's the lede of the story in The D:

Dartmouth may have been hurt by a “special bias” in the college rankings that Forbes.com released last week, according to Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder, who devised the research methodology. This potential bias stems from the prevalence of internal faculty evaluations and the relatively small number of students at the College who use Ratemyprofessors.com, which is a heavily-weighted factor in the analysis. Dartmouth, the Ivy League institution with the lowest ranking, placed 127th.

The LA Times has a story about the president of Whittier College being ...

"one of 100 college leaders backing the Amethyst Initiative, launched last month to persuade lawmakers to lower the drinking age in the U.S. from 21 to 18.

Not only does the current law fail to protect young people from alcohol abuse, it creates a culture that encourages it, the group's mission statement says. Schools like Tufts, Smith, Dartmouth and Duke are among the high-profile signatories."

Green Goes Gold

Dartmouth alum Dominic Seiterle '98 won a gold medal representing Canada in men's eight rowing. For a Wikipedia entry on Seiterle, who overcame thyroid cancer while a Dartmouth student, click here.

Over at the Roar Lions Roar blog, Jake Novak has a look back at the 1983 Dartmouth-Columbia game played at Giants Stadium. Hard as it seems to believe now, I was at that game and saw the Big Green's Craig Saltzgaber boot a 32-yard field goal on the final play of the game to force a 17-17 tie. Columbia would go on to lose its next 44 games.

After reading Jake's recap I went back (not for the first time) to check the attendance at that game. It was 6,064 in a 76,000 seat stadium. That triggered a thought: I know Dartmouth football attendance has changed over the past 25 years, but how much? Although 1983 was a little atypical – Dartmouth played at Army that fall – the numbers are revealing.

1983 Dartmouth Attendance
Princeton 10,022
at Army 36,637
Holy Cross 10,753
William & Mary 8,294
at Harvard 22,724
Cornell 13,547
at Yale 22,007
at Columbia 6,064
Brown 8,483
at Penn 28,416

2007 Dartmouth Attendance
Colgate 5,115
at UNH 9,560
Penn 5,929
at Yale 24,237
at Holy Cross 5,607
Columbia 8,720
at Harvard 11,005
Cornell 3,711
at Brown 5,119
Princeton 4,017

1983 Total: 158,464
2007 Total: 83,020

Lowest 1983 attendance at Memorial Field: 8,294 vs. William&Mary
Highest 2007 attendance at Memorial Field: 8,720 vs. Columbia (Homecoming)

From a Tennessean story out of a Titans practice:

Josh Miller surprised the field goal coverage unit by throwing a pass to Casey Cramer in the flat.

Now, when I read that I was wondering for just a second if a barb was being thrown at the former Dartmouth tight end in addition to the football. To be honest, he hasn't exactly been a pass-catching machine in the NFL. But I thought that was probably a little harsh for a practice report and found, through the wonders of Google, that Josh Miller is a punter. (You thought I knew that already, didn't you? Sorry. ;-)

A Daily Pennsylvanian sports blogger had this to say after the Ivy League media poll picked the Penn football team to finish in the middle of the pack this fall:

The fourth-place ranking means absolutely nothing; there are simply too many unknowns to make any accurate predictions. I wouldn’t be shocked if the Quakers put themselves in position to win the league, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they got taken down by Columbia, either.

I'm not giving away any state secrets, but suffice it to say Penn's APT (the Green Alert point formula for ranking Ivy League teams this fall) was quite a surprise. Find out why tomorrow when the Penn preview will be posted on Green Alert premium. On tap today: the Harvard preview (although not until I finish a freelance magazine story on a young man who makes ski movies). ...

Our farewell trip to Yankee Stadium yesterday went well. We left at 5 a.m., and got back home at 10:30 p.m. It was a long day, but a good day. Thanks to the regular reader who recommended taking the 4 subway train from the north Bronx. It was absolutely the best way to get in. Free on-street parking in a safe neighborhood at Woodlawn just one block from the station, which was easy to find.

We sat in the upper deck (at least that's what they used to call it) after paying $55 apiece to a broker for $25 tickets. (Believe it or not, that was a good price.) That upper deck in Yankee Stadium continues to be a really terrific seat, by the way.

It was hot, but we saw the Yankees hit four home runs including a grand slam and an A-bomb, so there were lots of fireworks.

In case you are wondering, a bottle of water at the game cost $4.75! I got a soda and then filled the bottle twice from the fountain (the bubbler in New Englandese). Why people would spend that kind of money for water I haven't a clue. Then again, they were spending $8.50 and $9.50 for a can of beer!

You didn't ask, but if I were the commissioner I'd make a new rule in baseball: No fan is allowed to wear a shirt with the name of a player on the back who is younger than he/she is.

Speaking of which, it was interesting that you could get a rough idea of the age of individual fans by what name they had on their back. A few rows in front of us there were kids with shirts saying Jeter and Rodriguez. A few seats away, a fellow with a braided goatee wearing a Mattingly shirt, clearly from his high school days. Over a bit more there was a guy with a Mantle shirt and I knew we could have been in grammar school together. I have no idea what to say about the fellow with the Ruth shirt ;-)

And finally, today starts the second week of double sessions for that certain Hanover High freshman to be. It will be interesting to see how his excitement level holds up. After Saturday's single session he played a round of golf and I'm sure he was reflecting on his choice of football over high school golf after that. He is, by the way, a slam dunk as the smallest player on the football team. ... The junior to be has her first official cross country practice (is that the right word?) today. As she was heading out the door I told her to respect the kids on the team who helped them finished No. 4 in the nation last fall, but to remember the words of my late friend, Jeff Julian, who was the first Vermonter ever to play on the PGA Tour: "Believe you belong."

Ship(ley) Shape

Colorado's Steamboat Pilot & Today as a story about three former Steamboat Springs players continuing their careers at the D-I level. One is Dartmouth lineman Lane Shipley, a sophomore who missed all of his freshman season after suffering a knee injury at the end of a Colorado high school all-star game. Although you haven't heard his name much, if he's all the way back the 6-2, 265 Shipley could be a very pleasant surprise on the Big Green D-line.

Shipley's high school teammates, by the way, are a fullback at Kansas State and a kicker at Colorado State.

Want a professionally shot picture from last year's Dartmouth football season? Visit the Dartmouth photo store where Mark Washburn's photographs are available. There are are 274 shots up on the site and they can be printed up to 20x30 inches. There are shots from a wide variety of other Big Green sports as well.

Kudos to old friend Mike Mahoney – the Penn SID – and his office for a new and better design for the Quakers' website. On that site you'll find an interesting short video entitle, This is Penn Athletics. It's worth a look and you can find it here.

Andrew Hatch, who started his college career at Harvard, is one of two leading candidates to be the next starting quarterback at LSU as a 22-year-old sophomore. Find a story here.

A reminder that you can follow Ivy League athletes in Beijing at the website, Ivies In China.

Now we're off to the Big Apple to take in a final game at Yankee Stadium before it closes. It's going to be a long day, driving down and back. ... But it's going to be even longer for our 4-year-old golden retriever, Cooper.

Taken By Surprise

This one really surprised me, enough so that I extended the deadline to give a few more people time to chime in.

I figured Harvard would run way with it and that Yale would finish second, but clearly Cornell, Columbia, Brown and Penn don't get the blood flowing. The Penn game used to be huge, but Dartmouth's difficulties over the past decade and the Quakers' recent slide has taken some of the spark out of the rivalry.

Old-timers talk about how special the Holy Cross series is, but that isn't reflected here. It might be because the old-timers aren't on the Internet, but I suspect it's more than that. The Colgate game doesn't appear to have any juice either, but then I'm not sure it ever did.

I wouldn't have believed it if you told me that a win over UNH would be right up there with beating Yale, but thinking about it, a win over what has become a perennial Top-10/20 team would indeed be sweet.

Very interesting stuff. Enough so that I might re-work the poll to allow voters to pick several teams.

The Columbia website has Countdown to Kickoff, ticker that is kind of fun. As I write this it's at 35 days, 4 hours, 10 minutes and 17 seconds. Well, not anymore. Now it's 9 minutes, 47 seconds. (OK, I gotta stop that.)

I actually went to the Columbia field hockey home page to see if they had a Countdown to Faceoff ticker. Nope, the football ticker carries over.

NFLdraftblitz.com has an interview with Colgate tailback Jordan Scott. He's asked about the legal difficulties that resulted in a 21-day jail term this summer and he calls it a "big mistake."

Following a legend at quarterback? Aaron Rogers, meet RJ Toman. Um, RJ who? RJ Reynolds? No, RJ Toman, the new QB at New Hampshire. There's a media day story on Dartmouth's game two opponent here that focuses on the task ahead for the new quarterback in Wildcat Country. Find another story about UNH here.

NPR has been following former defensive lineman Adam Nelson's quest for Olympic gold in the shot put. There was a story yesterday after he failed to get off a clean throw. There are links to earlier pieces about Nelson at the end of the story.

Have you seen the stories about the Little League baseball team touring Cuba? The Twin State Peregrines team is made up of kids from the Connecticut Valley South Little League I've coached in the past few years. Our team, the Green Machine, was tremendously young this year so we had only one player picked for the all-star team that made the trip, but what an experience!

Adam Nelson Comes Up Empty

Former defensive lineman Adam Nelson's bid for a gold medal in the shot put after winning silver at the last two Olympic Games went unfulfilled as he fouled on each of his throws. (link)

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I have a friend who used to have phone-in talk show on the radio and getting folks to call in was like pulling teeth, as they say. He could be discussing the most important issues of the day and the phone would just sit there. But if the topic switched to people getting in the 10-items-or-less aisle with 15 items, the phones would light up.

I'm reminded of that anecdote (which I love to tell) by the good-natured back-and-forth between fans of the Yankees and Red Sox in the comments a couple of posts down. Here we are sharing thoughts about important subjects - Dartmouth and Ivy League football - and it's the Sox and the Bombers that stir things up. ;-)

Speaking of which, keep an eye out next week on the regular Green Alert site for a new weekly feature that was recommended by a reader.

Good Luck, Good Friend

Still another change is in store for the Ivy League office down in Princeton with the upcoming departure of Chuck Yrigoyen to become Commissioner of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Chuck has been in the Ivy office for nearly 20 years, the last 10 as Associate Director for Athletic Administration and Championships. Chuck has been a close friend since he joined the Princeton athletic communications office in 1983 and while I'll miss him, I'm thrilled that he has this opportunity, excited for the IIAC, and glad there's email so we can keep in touch easily.

The Ivy League office is certainly taking on a new look. It bid goodbye to Brett Hoover, Associate Director for Communications for the past eight years, earlier this summer. He was replaced by Scottie Rodgers. Ivy Executive Director Jeff Orleans has announced he will retire next June after 25 years in that position.

In other news out of the Ivy League office, the conference has formally announced its football TV package with the Versus network. It wasn't exactly a secret before, but here it is:

• Oct. 11 Noon Cornell at Harvard
• Oct. 25 4 p.m. Dartmouth at Columbia
• Nov. 1 Noon Brown at Penn
• Nov. 15 Noon Princeton at Yale
• Nov. 22 Noon Yale at Harvard

If you've been keeping up on this, you know how I feel about that 4 p.m., start in NYC. Ugh.

Forbes Magazine has ranked 569 college nationally and Milwaukee School of Engineering isn't going to be happy, finishing at the bottom. Northeastern won't be thrilled either, coming in just one slot up.

Unhappier still, I suspect, will be folks at Dartmouth, which finished last among Ivy League schools and a whopping 127th nationally, one spot ahead of Sweet Briar, which I thought was a pipe tobacco. A little about the methodology is on tap, but first the highlights (and lowlights) from the rankings:

Top 10

• 1. Princeton
• 2. Cal Tech
• 3. Harvard
• 4. Swarthmore
• 5. Williams
• 6. US Military Academy
• 7. Amherst
• 8. Wellesley
• 9. Yale
• 10. Columbia

Other Ivies in Top 100

• 27. Brown
• 61. Penn
• 120-120
• 120. Washington and Jefferson
• 121.Cornell
• 122. Samford
• 123. College of Wooster
• 124. Millsaps
• 125. St. John's (Minnesota)
• 126. Macalester
• 127. Dartmouth
• 128. Sweet Briar
• 129. Mississippi College
• 130. Birmingham-Southern College

Bottom five

• 565. Stevens Institute of Technology
• 566. Roger Williams University
• 567. Rochester Institute of Technolog
• 568. Northeastern University
• 569. Milwaukee School of Engineering

Click here to read how Forbes introduced the rankings, which were done "in conjunction with Dr. Richard Vedder, an economist at Ohio University, and the Center for College Affordability and Productivity."

An excerpt from that intro, explaining what was being ranked:

CCAP's methodology attempts to put itself in a student's shoes. How good will my professors be? Will the school help me achieve notable career success? If I have to borrow to pay for college, how deeply will I go into debt? What are the chances I will graduate in four years? Are students and faculty recognized nationally, or even globally.

More from the story, with pointed comments on Dartmouth:

The list also suggests that some schools--the University of Pennsylvania (61st), Georgetown (76th), Cornell (121st) and Dartmouth (127th)--may be living a bit off of their reputations. Graduates of these schools typically ran up large debts; at most of them, notably Dartmouth, students are not particularly happy with the quality of instruction. (CCAP did take perceived course rigor into account while determining student assessment of instructors and courses.)

The Daily Dartmouth has a story about the rankings.

Former Dartmouth gridder and current head of General Electric Jeff Immelt '78 gave a talk on campus earlier this week that I would like to have heard ... but the ticket price was a little steep for the general public so The D recap will have to suffice.

And finally, after two days of double sessions, that certain Hanover High freshman-to-be is feeling it this morning. His sister starts cross country Monday. Before then – Sunday's trip to the House that Ruth Built. By the way, the Yankee-Red Sox rivalry is heating up (in a nice way) in the comments on the posting below.

Thursday Thoughts

If you haven't already, do check out the reaction of the eight Ivy League coaches to the annual media poll on the regular Green Alert site. No password is needed. ... Subscriber content posted yesterday were a story on what position the Ivy League coaches believe is hardest to recruit (defensive line, particularly inside) and the Brown season preview. On tap today: If they were told they would absolutely get either an 11th game or the OK into the NCAA playoffs but not both, which would the Ivy coaches pick? Also, the Columbia season preview.

The Daily Dartmouth takes a look at speedy junior running back Rob Mitchelson, who ran for 230 yards last year playing largely behind Milan Williams. Mitchelson expects he and others in the Big Green's deep tailback corps will see a little more time this fall because of a shift in the offense. Mitchelson told the D:

"We’ve been switching it up recently, and it gets us a chance to get more running backs on the field. The spread system should be nice. After seeing how well it’s worked with other programs, it should be good for backs. We can get a chance to get out on the perimeter and catch some swing passes, and it also creates bigger holes to run through by spreading out the defense.”

The New Hampshire football report concentrates more on high school football in the state and on UNH, but it occasionally has postings about Dartmouth. Click here for a look at a capsule report on the Ivy media poll and coach Buddy Teevens' reaction to it.

This is kind of fun. A 44-year-old writer from the Winston-Salem Journal went through a practice as a wide receiver for the Winston-State University football team. Find the story here.

For what it's worth, back when I was still at the newspaper, Dartmouth assistant field hockey coach Andy Smith thought it would be a fun story to dress me up in goalie garb and stick me in the cage to try to stop a few shots with the "swizzle stick," he developed. I wisely took a pass. Have you ever felt how hard one of those field hockey balls is?

And finally, the first day of double sessions at Hanover High passed without problem for that certain freshman-to-be who was debating football or golf. The hitting hasn't begun, of course, but he seems pleased with his decision. The junior-to-be, meanwhile, begins cross country next week although she went for a 6-mile run last night with her teammates and coach in what was officially termed a "community run."

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Now a question. We will be heading to Yankee Stadium to pay our final respects to the House that Ruth Built Sunday afternoon. I've never driven to the Stadium (we always took the train from the suburbs when I was a kid) and I'm not sure how I feel about doing it Sunday. Anyone from down that way have thoughts about parking at one of the close-in MetroNorth train stations and making a connection to the subway? It sounds simple enough. If we do that, we may drive our '84 VW camper down Saturday afternoon and try to find a place to camp within a reasonable drive of the train station, which would be fun.

The Ivy League Ideal

Meant to post this earlier today but forgot. Check out this ESPNU story on Dartmouth women's basketball player Koren Schram. The piece notes that the All-Ivy player with a deadly 3-point shot and tremendously quick hands ...

... spent the summer as an intern for Dr. James Bussel, a world-renowned expert in pediatric hematology and oncology, at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Schram's work focused on clinical trials related to neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia, a condition that affects the platelet count in newborns and can lead to potentially fatal hemorrhaging in some instances.

Kudos to Dara Ely in the Dartmouth sports information office for helping this story get out and to Koren Schram, who epitomizes the Ivy League idea.