Big Day In Big Green Land

Quote of the day from Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim at Tuesday's inauguration (italics are mine):

"Aspire to change the world. If you're an engineer, take on climate change and move us toward a more sustainable future. If you're a musician, play or write something that truly moves people. And if you're a football player, beat Harvard.”

Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens missed yesterday's Ivy League teleconference to attend the ceremonies on the Dartmouth Green along with 5,000 or so others. Standing in for him on the call was assistant head coach Chris Wilkerson. You can hear Wilk's comments and/or the entire teleconference by clicking here. (Just a thought, but the Ivy League might want to consider breaking the recording down by coach. In fact, any site that is considering using sound might want to check out how The Citadel manages it. That's about as user-friendly as it gets.)

Speaking of the Ivy teleconference, Harvard posts a transcript of coach Tim Murphy's remarks up on its site. Good idea.

A freshman parent asked me last week who Dartmouth's big rival would be. I tried to explain that while it is Harvard, that isn't necessarily a two-way street. Ironically, Murphy addressed the idea in his Tuesday remarks:

Every game with us is a "rivalry" game. I get this question every week. Our big rival is obviously Yale and traditionally Princeton as well. We've got a bull's-eye on our front and our back as well... Whoever wants to call us a rival is fine with us.

Today's Columbia Spectator takes a look at the 2009 Dartmouth team. Although Alex Jenny began this season with the most career passing yards among Ivy League quarterbacks, he has not started 21 games in his career as the story says. Counting Colgate, he now has started eight games during his career.

New Hampshire's game notes are up for Saturday and they offer some stunning – for UNH – numbers. Keeping in mind that New Hampshire has been an offensive Juggernaut for a few years but hardly a defensive power, consider that this year's Wildcats are:

• First in the nation in total defense
• Fourth in the nation in rushing defense
• Fourth in the nation in pass efficiency defense
• Sixth in the nation in sacks
• Eighth in the nation in tackles for loss

Granted, the Wildcats opened with a St. Francis program that has struggled mightily over the years, and then played a Ball State team that has been offensively challenged this year. Still, Ball State is an FBS team. And St. Francis did come out and pummel Morehead State a week after losing to UNH. (The Red Flash returned to form by absorbing a 31-0 beating last week at powerful Northern Iowa.)

Should have mentioned this before but the Dartmouth marching band did not perform at Saturday's opener against Colgate. With classes just starting this week the new-look band wasn't completely organized yet. Apparently the DCMB may actually be marching this fall instead of "scattering," but we'll find out in another week. To better understand the band, consider this description from the web:

To join the DCMB, you don't need musical experience, but you do need a lot of enthusiasm ...

Great quote on a Colgate message board regarding the Raiders' offensive strategy under old school coach Dick Biddle: "That's five yards and a cloud of ground up tires."

Extra Point
I saw an article a couple of days ago about how Arnold Palmer's "prime" might have been a little shorter than that of some other golfers because he was always so approachable. I don't know about that. But I do know that at the first Master's I covered, I saw Arnie head into a porta-potty on one hole and open the door to find a channel of fans funneling him back onto the course and clapping as he walked by.