Opponents And The O Line

Buried at the end of a seacoastonline.com story about New Hampshire naming former quarterback Tim Cramsey as offensive coordinator, a glimmer of hope for teams looking to slow down the high-powered UNH offense next fall:

The Wildcats, who graduated four starters on the offensive line and productive wide receiver Mike Boyle, begin their month of spring practice on April 8 or 9.

Likewise, a look at the Colgate two-deep from its final regular season game against Holy Cross shows four of five starters graduating on the Raiders' offensive line, including All-America tackle Nick Hennessey.

It's hard to overstate the importance of a solid offensive line to a team's ability to move the football. While you can be sure there are talented players queued up awaiting their chance in both Durham and Hamilton, they won't be as experienced as the linemen the Big Green had to face last fall. (In case you are wondering, Dartmouth's final non-league opponent, Holy Cross, has three of five starters on the O-line back from its final two deep, and eight of 10 overall.)

Worth noting: All three non-league opponents do have their starting quarterbacks returning.

A Daily Princetonian look at how the Tigers go about recruiting for football includes several quotes from freshman Jonathan Meyers, "a highly sought-after recruit who turned down programs like Florida and Michigan in favor of Princeton ... ."

A crowd of 1,710 turned out a highly charged Leede Arena last night as the Ivy League championship Dartmouth women's basketball team led from pillar to post while denying Harvard a share of the title and clinched a berth in the NCAA Tournament with a 64-51 victory. Dartmouth (18-10 overall, 13-1 Ivy) now has won 17 Ivy League titles over the past 30 years. The victory over the Crimson was the 400th in the career of head coach Chris Wielgus.

The Big Green, which has won 15 of its last 16 games, will find out the who, where and when of this year's tournament when the NCAA Tournament field is announced Monday. Gulp, the ESPNU bracketologists have Dartmouth playing 33-0 and top-ranked Connecticut in Storrs on March 22.

Interestingly, Dartmouth has legitimate candidates for Ivy League basketball player of the year honors on both the men's side and the women's side in senior Alex Barnett and sophomore Margaret Brittney Smith. Barnett will have to overcome the fact that his team was just .500 in the league, and Smith will have to overcome the fact that she's just a soph, but a very strong case can be made for both of them. At the very least, they should both be first-team, All-Ivy.

And finally, the halftime shooting contest featured former football teammates Brian Scullin, Eric Paul and Cole Springer. They all missed their half court shots, 3-pointers and free throws, losing the contest to the only female shooter, who won it on a 3-pointer.