FCS Kickoff This Week

The college football season kicks off this week and the first FCS (the former Division IAA) game will be one Dartmouth fans should be watching closely. The game will pit Indiana State against NAIA school Quincy University of Illinois. Indiana State has the longest FCS losing streak in the nation at 26 games.

Should ISU happen to beat the Hawks, the dubious distinction of having the longest streak will fall to Dartmouth, which has dropped its last 12. The good news, though, is that if Indiana State wins, Dartmouth should only be alone atop the list for a short time with an assist from its in-state neighbor. St. Francis (Pa.) – which is one game behind the Big Green with 11 consecutive losses – will need to pull a mighty upset to avoid No. 12 when it opens up at New Hampshire on Sept. 5.

Should UNH prevail as expected, St. Francis will have a chance to leapfrog Dartmouth when it plays Morehead State on Sept. 12, one week before the Big Green tries to get off the schneid in its opener against Colgate.

The fourth-longest losing streak in the country, by the way, belong to Chattanooga, which has dropped its last 10 games. The Mocs open Sept. 3 against Division II Glenville State of West Virginia. Chattanooga then plays Furman on Sept. 12.

While Dartmouth doesn't open practice until Wednesday, Yale is already going and the New Haven Register has a practice story and a blog post about practice.

The New York Times has a lengthy story about the peripatetic quarterback Andrew Hatch, the once and future Harvard QB who last played for LSU. The Times puts on the record a badly kept secret, that Hatch will be eligible for the Crimson in 2010.

Harvard, of course, announced last winter that it was not currently accepting transfers, so how did Hatch end up returning? The Times put it this way while also explaining his eligibility issue:

He transferred back in January, though to Harvard he was technically only on a leave of absence, and struggled through his rehabilitation until last March. And because Harvard did not count any of his L.S.U. credits, it made him a sophomore.

For four months, he lobbied the N.C.A.A. to let him play this season. Normally, a player who transfers from a Football Bowl Subdivision school to a Football Championship Subdivision school automatically becomes eligible. But the N.C.A.A. deemed that the second transfer negated that.

From a story in the Charlotte Observer:

An Ivy League mentor helped hone the judgment that made N.C. State's Russell Wilson the first-team, All-ACC quarterback as a redshirt freshman.

And just who was the Ivy League mentor who helped shape Wilson? That would be his father Harry, who happened to letter on the gridiron for Dartmouth in 1974-75-76, making the All-Ivy first team as a senior.

Russell Wilson, incidentally, has a characteristic that would make him a Buddy Teevens favorite as a quarterback. He makes very good decisions. He threw just one interception in 275 passes last year, including a season-ending 249 straight (a school record and the longest active streak in the country). All that while tossing 17 touchdown passes. He's also an infielder on the NC State baseball team.

Be sure to visit Green Alert Premium tonight for a look at the 2009 Big Green from an outsider's perspective.