Not As Easy As Expected

While Dartmouth was having an intrasquad scrimmage Saturday, its three non-league opponents were all winning, although none handily.

Opening-day opponent Colgate needed a big second half to post a 35-23 win over Monmouth in Hamilton, N.Y., in a night game delayed 45 minutes by a power outage in the village of Hamilton. Tailback Nate Eachus ran for 139 yards, quarterback Greg Sullivan added 99 and 6-foot-6 receiver Pat Simonds caught four passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns as the Raider Big Three did the damage. The highly touted Eachus left the game with a rib injury midway through the third period and at least one message board said he was taken to the hospital. Syracuse Post-Standard story. Complete stats

New Hampshire's Sean Jellison had a 70-yard gallop and 118 yards on the ground while scoring twice but ballyhooed quarterback RJ Toman was just 11-for-23 for 95 yards with three touchdowns. The Wildcats jumped out to a 21-0 lead over lowly St. Francis and then stuttered and stumbled to a 24-14 win. Manchester Union Leader story. Complete stats

Dominic Randolph threw for 414 yards on 36-of-56 passing to help Holy Cross to a tougher-than-expected, 20-7 win over Georgetown Saturday. The Crusaders trailed 7-3 at the half. Worcester Telegram story. Complete stats

Green Alert Take: What does it mean that Dartmouth's three strong non-league foes all struggled more than expected Saturday? Nothing. Wait, I'll take that back. If you are a Big Green fan, it's better than seeing them each win, 55-0. But it will take at least another week to get something of a read on the three.

Yale scrimmaged Union yesterday and Nebraska quarterback Patrick Witt completed 8-of-9 throws for 166 yards and two touchdowns according to unofficial stats on the Portal 21 blog.

Should have mentioned this yesterday, but Casey Cramer '04 has been released by the Tennessee Titans. The fullback/tight end has been sidelined through much of camp and never really got a chance to win back his job.

Green Alert Take: Casey Cramer has been amazingly resilient in his NFL career, coming back from being cut or waived on a handful of occasions. If he's healthy and driven to continue his career it would hardly be a surprise if he shows up on another roster in the coming weeks. But neither will it be a surprise if he hangs it up and puts his Dartmouth degree – and all those finance and investment classes the NFL paid for at top colleges he attended in the offseason – to work.

You've got to love this. Princeton is signing former players up for its annual Sprint (nee Lightweight) alumni tackle football game set for Sept. 13. The fun part takes place that morning when the alums are fitted for equipment. From the information sheet:

Weigh ins will also occur at this time. The weight fine will be $1/lb. over 169 lbs. and $2/lb. under 169 lbs., sorry skinny guys. YOU WILL PAY THE FINE AFTER YOU WEIGH IN.

Check Big Green Alert premium tonight for a notes column out of the first week and a half of Dartmouth practice.

Extra Point
Watching a college football game last night, the contrast with soccer was easy to see – and the struggle the game faces obvious – when ESPN ran what it termed a Score Update across the bottom of the screen. It read Brazil 0, Argentina 0.