Another Day, Another Poll

With the preseason magazines starting to hit the stands the much-anticipated Athlon FCS Top 25 has been released with three Dartmouth opponents being named. Not surprisingly, New Hampshire comes in at No. 9. Holy Cross is at 18 with Harvard pegged at 23rd. Thanks to Roger Brown of nhfootballreport.com for sharing the full poll:

1. Appalachian State
2. Richmond
3. Northern Iowa
4. Villanova
5. James Madison
6. Montana
7. Weber State
8. Southern Illinois
9. New Hampshire
10. Wofford
11. William & Mary
12. South Carolina State
13. Jacksonville State
14. Elon
15. Massachusetts
16. Central Arkansas
17. Maine
18. Holy Cross
19. Cal Poly
20. Tennessee-Martin
21. Grambling State
22. Texas State
23. Harvard
24. Georgia Southern
25. Eastern Washington

Speaking of UNH, the Colonial Athletic Association (which has a whopping seven teams in the top 25) has 2009 team previews online. Find the New Hampshire preview here.

And thanks to a regular reader for a link to a YouTube video of a catch that former UNH standout David Ball made during a preseason stint with the Chicago Bears. Upon further review, the receiver who regularly tormented Dartmouth (and everyone else in the FCS) was ruled out of bounds on the grab, but that takes little away from a tremendously athletic catch that is well worth viewing.

More strange news out of Harvard where a Bostonchannel.com news report reveals that Joe Villapiano, a "... Harvard football coach has been charged with trying to run down his pregnant ex-girlfriend in his car." If you scroll down this Rivals site there's also a mention of the alleged incident that begins this snide way:

If it's bloodthirsty coaches you want, the place to be this week isn't Destin, it seems, but the Ivy League.

Dartmouth baseball will open NCAA Tournament play tomorrow at North Carolina. Find game notes here and the school's full NCAA Tournament Guide here.

In case you are wondering, it's raining again today in the Upper Valley and there's more of the wet stuff expected tomorrow. I knew I should have bolted for Chapel Hill ;-)