Monday Monday

Dartmouth tailback Nick Schwieger being named to the All-Ivy League first team is the subject of a brief story in the Attleboro Sun Chronicle. The wording of the story sounds a little familiar ;-)

The official Dartmouth sports information site is carrying the story I freelanced for the final game program about the seniors who stuck it out on the field for all four years. Find that story here.

Dartmouth alum Clark Judge '73 of CBSSports.com takes a little shot at his alma mater in his praise of the Tennessee Titans in a column Five Things I Like. Judge writes:

1. Tennessee owner Bud Adams as GM of the Year. Without his arm twisting, I'm not sure Vince Young plays another down in Tennessee. And without Vince Young the Titans are as lifeless as Dartmouth football.

Ouch.

Yale's infamous fake punt in the Harvard-Yale game gets the one-two treatment in the New Haven Register and the Yale Daily News.

In the Register, columnist Dave Solomon thinks Yale coach Tom Williams is protecting someone else who was responsible for the call. He writes:

...(If) you’re asking me if Williams was zany enough to actually make that call, I’m telling you no.

Solomon quotes from a letter Williams sent to "a few hundred of his closest donor friends:"

“Much will be made of ‘the call’ and rightfully so. No one except the staff and the team will understand the circumstances surrounding what happened. All I can say to you is that as the head coach, the buck will always stop with me. Whether we wanted the play at that time under those circumstances is really not important. The fact is that it was attempted, and it didn’t work out. I take full responsibility for that.”

The Yale Daily follows with a story that includes this quote from punter Tom Mante:

I was surprised, as most people were, but we all knew what was coming.

In light of the Register story, Williams has this to say to the Yale paper Sunday:

“We’d had a lot of bad things happen to us, including a missed tackle on fourth down and a missed field goal, and I thought our defense was gassed. We missed a block on the play — otherwise we would have won the game. It was good for 40 yards, and we’d prepared it all year.”

Another column in the Yale Daily essentially defends the call.

•

And finally ... winter/indoor track practice begins today for that certain Hanover High senior and her sophomore brother. The senior – who spent much of the Thanksgiving break working on college applications – appears fully recovered from the condition that sabotaged her final cross country season and is excited to get going. It is fair to say the soph, who is using the season to prepare for baseball, is considerably less excited.

UNH Advances, Holy Cross Falls

The University of New Hampshire (10-2) opened the NCAA playoffs with a 49-13 win at No. 8 McNesse State (9-2) Saturday. Allen Lessels writes in the Manchester Union Leader about a dominating performance by UNH, which will have a rematch at Villanova Saturday in the quarterfinals.

UNH squeaked out a 28-24 win on Oct. 10 for the only loss on Nova's ledger this fall.

It's always interesting to see how the game looked to the "other" team's press, so check out the story in the American Press of Southwest Louisiana.

Dominic Randolph threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns as Holy Cross pushed Villanova hard in a 38-28 loss in another opening-round game that the Worcester Telegram story called the end of an era.

The Philadelphia Inquirer story says, "Holy Cross quarterback Dominic Randolph and the Crusaders' pass-happy offense were nearly unstoppable yesterday," but that Villanova had even more firepower.

The Telegram preview for the Holy Cross game focused on coach Tom Gilmore's homecoming to Philadelphia. The story was headlined: On his turf; Gilmore taught HC all about Philly toughness.

And straight from the pages of Ripley's (or in this case the Great Falls Tribune), Montana not only escaped from a 41-14 second-half hole against South Dakota State, but went on to a 61-48 victory.

Finally, congratulations to the Dartmouth men's basketball team which defeated Hartford, 68-56, to win for the first time after opening the season with four losses. (link)

Recruiting News

The names of two line recruits reported to be coming to Dartmouth have surfaced.

Brett Kana, a 6-foot-4, 276-pound offensive/defensive tackle from Bishop Guertin High School in Nashua, N.H., has told WMUR TV in Manchester he is headed Hanover way. His MaxPreps profile has little information but several photos. Kana was a member of the New Hampshire Division II all-state first team. (link) Kana also throws the shot and discus.

The New Britain Herald reports that, "two-way lineman Martin Pomykala made a verbal commitment to Dartmouth. " His junior highlight film can be viewed on YouTube here. Scout.com lists him at 6-3, 240 with a 4.7 time in the 40. (Scout.com is usually, but not always, in the right neighborhood for height and weight. There are times when the 40 time isn't in the right continent, so your mileage may vary.) There's more information on Pomykala here. It says he heard from Boston College and Connecticut, visited Rutgers and went to "junior day," at LSU.

Dartmouth had no fewer than three talented players on the roster this fall from Belen Jesuit Prep in Miami (All-Ivy safety Peter Pidermann, linebacker Diego Fernandez-Soto and safety Anthony Diblasi) and it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the school sends another student-athlete or two this way in the next few years. The Miami Herald has a story about the rising fortunes of the Belen program, which each year seems to send several players to the Ivies. The story says:

A Belen home game is like an Ivy League setting with small tailgate gatherings at a stadium with no lights and very few frills. Beyond the football is a stringent academic institution that will not bend, and that's why success on the field has come slower than in most places.

Next fall news on the University New Hampshire football might not be germane because Dartmouth will have officially ended its series with UNH. In the meantime, a Concord Monitor story about the Wildcats in anticipation of today's playoff game at McNeese State is a reminder of the quality of opponent Dartmouth was facing each September:

...(T)he Wildcats have finished the season in the top 10 four of the last five years, they are a combined 56-19 from 2004-2009 and they have made the playoffs for six straight years, the longest streak in school and conference history and the third longest active streak in the country.

A conservative website called Land of the Free has a column on the fight over the Fighting Sioux nickname. The column includes this:

After more than 35 years, the Big Green nickname remains wildly unpopular and the college’s student body has instead given unofficial approval to an animated beer keg as the school mascot. Now here is a healthy alternative to a school’s politically incorrect use of a Native American mascot — glorification of alcohol.

And finally, if you tune in to the TV show Extreme Home Makeover Sunday night you'll see a house being built for a family in neighboring Lyme, N.H. You never know until you watch a show what footage was included and what hit the cutting room floor, but the Dartmouth men's ice hockey team was involved in the project, film was shot in Hanover and at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Playoff Time ... Not

To see what the Ivy League is missing, click here for the College Sporting News bracket and overview of the NCAA playoffs. Please do not forget that Penn, which is not allowed to go the the playoffs by Ivy League decree, dropped a 14-3 decision to No. 2 Villanova in the opening game of the year. Nova had just one touchdown from scrimmage in that game. Villanova and Holy Cross play tomorrow. Also on top tomorrow, New Hampshire at McNeese State.

Speaking of UNH, I missed this during the season but they can change it to SIX:


The legendary Fifth Down Game between Dartmouth and Cornell has been brought up in a lot of different contexts over the years. Now it is mentioned in this Wall Street Journal story with regard to the infamous hand ball in the World Cup qualifying soccer match between Ireland and France. What isn't often mentioned is something I saw in an interview with one of the Cornell players from the game. He says that yes, Cornell did the right thing giving the victory back to Dartmouth because of the extra down. But he contends that the feeling on the Cornell side was that Dartmouth wouldn't accept the victory and would let the game stand. Guessed wrong on that one, huh?

Gridiron Power Index

The final Gridiron Power Index of the regular season is out. Think of the GPI as sort of a BCS standings of the next level down, combining the various rankings – computer and human – into one. Here's what it shows (125 teams total):

20. Penn
40. Harvard
53. Brown
68. Columbia
79. Yale
88. Princeton
100. Dartmouth
106. Cornell

Current and future opponents:
8. UNH
30. Holy Cross
39. Colgate
77. Butler
113. Sacred Heart
120. Georgetown

For a Deadspin look at the annual Harvard-Yale Bacchanalia, click here.

The Deadspin piece, by the way has a mention about the furor at Dartmouth after the college's now former admissions and financial aid director wrote his infamous letter to the president of Swarthmore College saying, "... football, and the culture that surrounds it, is antithetical to the academic mission of colleges such as ours." If you are new to all of this, click here for the Boston Globe story.

The Town Topics down in Princeton has a piece on head football coach Roger Hughes being let go. It includes this statement from Athletic Director Gary Walters:

"Roger Hughes has been a fine ambassador of the football program during his tenure as head coach. The University is grateful for his service, integrity, and effort on behalf of the Princeton football program. Ultimately, given its commitment to achieving excellence across the board, the University has determined that a fresh start in the football program is needed.”

The story notes that Hughes will finish out his contract, "in a yet-to-be-determined role with the Athletics Department."

For a transcript of a Q&A with Jeff Orleans, former executive director of the Ivy League, click here.

Enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and/or friends.

Wrapping Up the Season

In case you missed it, here's a TV report about Harvard-Yale that shows the failed punt fake:



It took some time to make the web, but the official Ivy League release on the All-Ivy selections has been posted here. This list includes the school year of the nominees, helpful as you look ahead to next year and who is returning what.

In case you weren't counting (and count me among that group, pun intended) there were 13 members of the first offense and 14 members of the first defense.

By my count, then, there should have been nine members of the second offense and eight members of the second defense. But no, there were 14 members of the second offense and 16 members of the second defense. With 12 more members on the honorable-mention offense and defense there was no shortage of players honored.

Green Alert Take: Mixed feelings on this one. It's great to have a lot of players recognized but when four quarterbacks in an eight-team conference make the all-league it seems a little strange. Read on ...

While by most accounts this was not a banner year for quarterbacks in the Ivy League (although four All-Ivy selections may debunk that) it was quite the opposite in the Patriot League. No fewer than four of the seven teams had QB's who posted remarkable numbers, with four in the top 20 nationally in passer rating:

• Rob Curley, Lafayette, third in rating, 3,044 yards, 28 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, 68.8 percent
• Greg Sullivan, Holy Cross, 11th in rating, 1,952 yards, 18 touchdowns, five interceptions, 58.7 percent (plus 808 rushing yards and seven rushing TDs)
• John Skelton, Fordham, 15th in rating, 3,429 yards, 26 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 64.4 percent (plus five rushing TDs)
• Dominic Randolph, Holy Cross, 18th in rating, 3,429 yards, 31 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 64.3 percent (plus 474 yards and six touchdowns rushing)

Harvard's Collier Winters was the top-rated quarterback in the Ivy League at No. 41 with 1,861 yards passing, 15 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a 57.6 percent completion rating. There were 93 quarterbacks rated including seven from the Ivies (no Penn quarterback made the NCAA passing/games played threshold):

41. Harvard-Winters
46. Brown-Newhall-Caballero
64. Columbia-Olawale
75. Yale-Witt
83. Princeton-Wornham
84. Dartmouth-Conner Kempe
90. Cornell-Ganter.

Holy Cross' Randolph, by the way, is the only Dartmouth opponent to make the ballot for the Payton Award, symbolic of the top offensive player in the FCS. (link)

Brown's Paul Jasinowki joins Florida's Tim Tebow and 22 others on the CoSida Academic All-America team. (link)

Full All-Ivy League Team

CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Buddy Farnham, Brown
Jake Lewko, Penn

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Treavor Scales, Harvard

FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
OL -- Mark Callahan, Brown
OL -- Paul Jasinowki, Brown*
OL -- Jeff Adams, Columbia
OL -- Ben Sessions, Harvard
OL -- James Williams, Harvard*
OL -- Joe D'Orazio, Penn*
QB -- Kyle Newhall-Caballero, Brown
RB -- Nick Schwieger, Dartmouth
RB -- Gino Gordon, Harvard
WR -- Buddy Farnham, Brown
WR -- Bobby Sewall, Brown
WR -- Austin Knowlin, Columbia
TE -- John Sheffield, Yale

FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
DL -- James Develin, Brown*
DL -- David Howard, Brown
DL -- Lou Miller, Columbia*
DL -- Joe Goniprow, Penn*
LB -- Kelly Cox, Brown
LB -- Jake Lewko, Penn*
LB -- Chris Costello, Cornell
LB -- Paul Rice, Yale
DB -- Chris Perkins, Brown
DB -- Derrick Barker, Harvard
DB -- Colin Zych, Harvard
DB -- Jonathan Moore, Penn
DB -- Chris Wynn, Penn
DB -- Adam Money, Yale

FIRST TEAM SPECIAL TEAMS
PK -- Andrew Samson, Penn
P -- Tom Mante, Yale*
RS -- Buddy Farnham, Brown

SECOND TEAM OFFENSE
OL -- Tim Danser, Brown
OL -- Ben Osborne, Harvard
OL -- Alex Spisak, Harvard
OL -- Luis Ruffolo, Penn
OL -- Andrew Hauser, Princeton
OL -- Mark Paski, Princeton
QB -- Collier Winters, Harvard
RB -- Zachary Tronti, Brown
RB -- Treavor Scales, Harvard
RB -- Luke DeLuca, Penn
RB -- Lyle Marsh, Penn
WR -- Bryan Walters, Cornell
WR -- Chris Lorditch, Harvard
TE -- Andrew Kennedy, Columbia

SECOND TEAM DEFENSE
DL -- Tom McCarthy, Yale
DL -- Carl Ehrlich, Harvard
DL -- Chucks Obi, Harvard
DL -- Josue Ortis, Harvard
DL -- Owen Thomas, Penn
LB -- Sean Hayes, Harvard
LB -- Jon Takamura, Harvard
LB -- Zach Heller, Penn
LB -- Steven Cody, Princeton
DB -- David Clement, Brown
DB -- A.J. Cruz, Brown
DB -- Adam Mehrer, Columbia
DB -- Shawn Abuhoff, Dartmouth
DB -- Pete Pidermann, Dartmouth
DB -- Kevin Gray, Penn
DB -- Dan Kopolovich, Princeton

SECOND TEAM SPECIAL TEAMS
PK -- Tom Mante, Yale
P -- Nate Lovett, Brown
RS -- Bryan Walters, Cornell

HONORABLE MENTION OFFENSE
OL -- Quentin Bernhard, Cornell
OL -- Andrew Bohl, Cornell
OL -- Alex Toth, Dartmouth
OL -- Greg Van Roten, Penn
QB -- M.A. Olawale, Columbia
QB -- Kyle Olson, Penn
WR -- Tanner Scott, Dartmouth
WR -- Kyle Derham, Penn
WR -- Trey Peacock, Princeton
TE -- John Gallagher, Dartmouth
TE -- Nicolai Schwarzkopf, Harvard
TE -- Luke Nawrocki, Penn

HONORABLE MENTION DEFENSE
DL -- Victor Ojukwu, Harvard
DL -- Matt Boyer, Princeton
DL -- Joel Karacozoff, Princeton
DL -- Joe Young, Yale
LB -- Corey Cameron, Columbia
LB -- Brian Levine, Penn
LB -- Erik Rask, Penn
LB -- Travis Henry, Yale
LB -- Sean Williams, Yale
DB -- Andrew Shalbrack, Columbia
DB -- Rashad Campbell, Cornell
DB -- Ryan Barnes, Harvard

HONORABLE SPECIAL TEAMS
PK -- Foley Schmidt, Dartmouth
PK -- Patrick Long, Harvard
P -- Drew Alston, Cornell
RS -- Austin Knowlin, Columbia

* - Unanimous Selection

Schwieger All-Ivy First Team

All-Ivy is in. Here's a brief glimpse at Dartmouth's picks:

First Team
TB Nick Schwieger

Second Team
S Peter Pidermann
DB Shawn Abuhoff

Honorable Mention
OT Alex Toth
WR Tanner Scott
TE John Gallagher
PK Foley Schmidt

Many Happy Returns

In case you were out of town – as I was – the word came down at Sunday's banquet that Buddy Teevens would be back next fall as Dartmouth football coach. It probably wasn't the best-kept secret around that he would be back, but it was kept quiet until the breakup banquet. A quote from acting athletic director Bob Ceplikas in today's Valley News:

"It was a telling moment. You had to see the reaction of the plaeyrs when the president announce that Buddy was staying on as coach. They were just so enthusiastic."

More from Ceplikas in the story:

"He is definitely our coach going forward. He is the guy who can get us where we want to be. It's clear we are not going to settle for anything less."

And this:

"We feel that in light of the number of obstacles taht were in place that we've made tremendous progress. When you look at the on-the-field performance of the freshmen and sophomores you can see we are headed in the right direction in terms of talent. We feel as though all signs are pointing toward going in the right direction."

The Ivy League weekly release shows two Dartmouth freshmen and a sophomore named to the honor roll for their play against Princeton. Named were:

• Freshman strong safety Garrett Waggoner (12 tackles seven solos)
• Freshman linebacker Garrett Wymore (11 tackles, eight solo, one fumble recovery)
• Sophomore tight end John Gallagher (6 receptions for 92 yds)

And yes, I've been known to get the two Garrett W's confused from time to time. And I'm not the only one. Hint, hint ;-)

All-Ivy League picks should be out around lunch time. Without naming names I think there are four Dartmouth players on defense who could get some kind of honor. I don't think all will because that's unlikely when your defense is ranked where Dartmouth's was this year, but purely on an individual basis, four players have a shot.

Offensively I have another four names that could get recognition but expect two. I'll let you know when the release comes out who were on my lists.

The Sagarin Ratings:
123 Pennsylvania
155 Harvard
170 Brown
181 Columbia
189 Yale
216 Princeton
217 Dartmouth
226 Cornell

Monday Wrap

On the road and in a hurry, so check in tonight. In the meantime ...

The Daily Dartmouth on Saturday's game.

The University of New Hampshire was seeded No. 10 and will travel to McNeese State in the first round of the NCAA playoffs. (link) Holy Cross will travel to No. 2 Villanova, which last year had its way with Patriot League champion Colgate. (link)

Northeastern drops its football program. The Boston Globe reports. From the story:

The 87 players and 10 coaches learned their fate last night at a meeting on campus with (athletic director Peter) Roby, a day after the Football Championship Subdivision team won its final game, 33-27, at the University of Rhode Island to finish 3-8. Officials also planned to quietly notify key alumni and donors before issuing the official announcement in a letter scheduled to be released today at 6 a.m., informing the university that Huskies football would be no more.

Peter Roby, the Northeastern AD, is a former Dartmouth basketball player and someone whose name has been mentioned regarding the permanent Dartmouth athletic director position.

Sunday Wrap, Awards, Princeton Fires Hughes

Princeton fires football coach Roger Hughes after a big rivalry win over Yale and an impressive road win over Dartmouth. Seems as if the decision must have been made before last two games. Story. Ironically, Princeton's official news release on Saturday's game included this:

Despite the tough start to the season, the win clinches Princeton a share of fourth place in the Ivy League and gives the Tigers their first 3-1 finish since the Ivy League championship season of 2006.

Dartmouth official release on Saturday's loss can be found here. Princeton's release can be found here.

Dartmouth's season-ending awards were handed out at the banquet Sunday. (link) They are:

• Bob Blackman Trophy (most valuable player): Senior safety Peter Pidermann
• Kenneth T. Young Award (underclassman who made the most significant contribution to the team): Sophomore safety Shawn Abuhoff
• Jake Crouthamel Award (underclassman who contributed the most to the success of the team on offense): Sophomore tailback Nick Schwieger
• Doten Award (sophomore who made a significant contribution to the success of the football team) Sophomore tight end John Gallagher
• Manners Makyth Man Award (best conducted himself to the advantage of Dartmouth and displayed good manners in the sense of William Wykeham’s phrase, “Manners Makyth Man.”) Senior quarterback Max Heiges
• Earl Hamilton Freshman Award (top rookie) Freshman linebacker Garrett Wymore
• Offensive Scout Team, Freshman offensive lineman Thomas Prewitt
• Defensive Scout Team, Freshman defensive lineman Teddy Reed
• Special Teams, Senior tailback Matt Dornak
• John Manley '40 Award (most improvement through efforts in the weight room) Junior defensive end Charles Bay and Schwieger
• Gordon P. Bennett Award (outstanding lineman who exemplifies high degree of performance, sportsmanship and character) Senior offensive lineman Alex Toth
• Lester R. Godwin Award (senior football squad member who, through extraordinary perseverance, has risen above personal disadvantage to contribute measurably to the team) Senior corner Chris Burns
• Alan Hewitt ‘34 and Robert Hewitt ‘40 Award (athletic performance with academic achievement) Senior quarterback Alex Jenny
• Earl Hamilton Varsity Award (sincere friendliness and sense of humor plus appreciation of the outdoors) Senior defensive lineman Jeff Smith
• Frank Hershey Award (zest for life, has maintained a strong, positive attitude and a sincere desire to win) Senior tailback Rob Mitchelson

And here's your final opponent roundup of the season:

Harvard 14, Yale 10
Yale coach Tom Williams' call makes Bill Belichick's call seem conservative.

Columbia 28, Brown 14
Sorry, but this one didn't compute for me. Lions may well have their quarterback designate.

Penn 34, Cornell 0
No brainer.

Bucknell 23, Holy Cross 17
Hardly the way the Crusaders wanted to head into the playoffs.

New Hampshire 27, Maine 24
Wildcats find a way. Barely.

And finally, very, very good visit to Cornell. On to Colgate tomorrow.

Delay of Game

Catch you later ...

Need to be in Ithaca by 1 p.m. No time this morning. Check back in this afternoon/evening.

Senior Day

Forecast for kickoff is 49 degrees and partly cloudy. Let's play two! (I'll be the seniors would go for that ;-)

Jake Novak over at the Roar Lions Roar blog picks the Big Green to win today's finale with this comment:

Dartmouth may be 2-7, but the second half of the season has been more upbeat in Hanover than it's been at any other Ivy school other than Penn.

Allen Lessels' preview of the New Hampshire game in the Manchester Union Leader has a few paragraphs about Dartmouth's finale tacked on.

Missed this earlier but The Bay Area Citizen has a photo of Dartmouth freshman Miles Gay and Harvard sophomore Scott Fritz posing together in uniform down at Harvard. The pair are friendly rivals from the Clear Creek Independent School District. Fritz, by the way, is a 6-foot-2, 275-pound offensive lineman and brother of former Dartmouth quarterback/MVP Mike Fritz.

You always have to be careful with message board information, particularly when it is anonymous, but Any Given Saturday has a short thread that offers some insights on the football scholarship movement in the Patriot League. If the PL were ever to go scholarship, that would have impacts both on Ivy League scheduling and recruiting.

Internet is beyond slow up here on the mountain this morning so I'm punting.

Princeton Prep

The Daily Princetonian has a story about Saturday's season finale between Princeton and Dartmouth. It includes this synopsis of the Tiger season:

Just one month ago, the football team’s season was looking bleak. After losing two of their co-captains to injury and coming up short in four straight games, the Tigers (3-6 overall, 2-4 Ivy League) were mentally preparing themselves for a potential one-win season and the team’s first last-place finish in Ivy League play since 1973.

Since then, Princeton has won two of its past three games and is aiming to finish with a respectable 4-6 record for the third straight year.

If Dartmouth fans are looking for omens they will like this from the Prince:

Princeton had disastrous performances the last two times it played the weekend after a win.

You are wondering what that's all about, aren't you? Admit it. OK, I'll do your footwork for you. One week after 17-14 win at in their second game at Lehigh on Sept. 26, the Tigers took it on the chin at home against Columbia, 38-0. On Halloween they tripped up Cornell, 17-13, only to get pounded by Penn the following game, 42-7.

Last week they knocked off Yale, 24-17.

The Princetonian story also includes this:

Instead of relying so much on a running back now, the Big Green employs a two-quarterback system, which (defensive back Dan) Kopolovich said Princeton had been preparing for intensely.

“It’s almost like preparing for two different teams,” he explained.

The Daily Pennsylvanian look around the Ivy League has this to day about the happenings in Hanover:

Halfway through the season it appeared that Dartmouth was destined to finish near the bottom of the Ivy standings.

But with a 2-2 record in its last four games, the Big Green have positioned themselves so that a win tomorrow at home against Princeton will guarantee them at least a tie for fourth in the conference at season’s end.

The Daily Dartmouth look ahead to the game is here.

Given that neither team is in the running for the championship and that it's not really a huge rivalry game, Dartmouth-Princeton doesn't get a sniff in the weekly predictions column on The Sports Network. But a couple of other games have capsules and these predictions: Penn 17, Cornell 7, and Harvard 28, Yale 17.

When Buddy Teevens was rehired as Dartmouth coach before the 2005 season, another name that had support for the position was Jim Webster, an assistant at North Carolina who had been a highly regarded member of the Dartmouth staff. Webster, who ended up at Tennessee State, resigned this week after a five-year record of 25-31 and a 17-18 conference ledger. From an article in The Tennesseean:

The Tigers’ best record under Webster, 59, came last year when they went 8-4 but lost their last two games and failed to receive an invitation to the playoffs.

When asked if he resigned under pressure Webster said, “Would it matter? Would it really matter?”

Webster's resignation came on the field in the aftermath of an upset of Eastern Illinois. Find another story here.

Dartmouth did not have an Ivy League championshp this fall but the men's soccer team did advance to the NCAA Tournament and a date last night with Boston College. From the Daily Dartmouth:

The Dartmouth men’s soccer team fell to Boston College in the second period of overtime, 2-1, as a strike from 23 yards out in the 103rd minute won the first-round game of the NCAA tournament for the Eagles and ended the Big Green’s season in Chestnut Hill, Mass., on Thursday.

And off the field, Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim has announced changes in the restructuring of the college administration. The Daily Dartmouth reports.

Dartmouth-Princeton Notes

Dartmouth's official release for the finale against Princeton can be found here. Turns out it is a milestone game for Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens. From the release:

For Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens, this will be his 100th game at the helm of the program in this his second stint as the head coach. He began his tenure with the Big Green in 1987 and coached through the 1991 campaign. Following terms as the head coach at Tulane and Stanford, Teevens returned to his alma mater for the 2005 season and currently has a 35-62-2 record at Dartmouth.

Dartmouth's full game notes are available for download here.

Princeton's game notes have been posted and can be downloaded here.

The New Hampshire Football Report has a capsule on the Big Green week here. Find the Princeton Alumni Weekly look ahead at the game here.

Cole Marcoux, the 6-foot-5 quarterback headed Dartmouth's way, is central to this story in the Riverdale Press. From the story:

The Dartmouth-bound senior ended his illustrious high school career with 260 yards through the air and two passing touchdowns.

There's a summer Q&A with Marcoux here. ... Marcoux's bio on the web site for The Ride can be found here. It reads this way:

6’5” / 234 lbs. New York is known for producing stars on the hard court and this Bronx native has this perception working against him. He chose football over baseball and has a tremendous upside due to his strong frame and stature. An outstanding student with a 3.94 G.P.A., Marcoux’s learning curve is holding him back from becoming a prize recruit. He does, however, have a cannon of an arm and size that you can't teach.

The Washington Post prep page had a story about The Ride here.

Click here for a story about another quarterback on The Ride to get a little more insight into the show.

From the For What They Are Worth department, if you check the Scout.com and ESPN.com recruiting sites, neither Marcoux nor several other recruits whose families have emailed news of their commitment are listed on the Dartmouth pages for those services.

Penn's game notes for the Ivy League champions or co-champions (depending on the Harvard-Yale outcome) includes these notes that Dartmouth followers may find interesting:

Penn holds the record for most unbeaten Ivy seasons with six. Both Harvard and Dartmouth are second with four apiece—which is the same number that head coach Al Bagnoli has achieved. With a win today, Penn would have more unbeaten seasons in the Al Bagnoli era than any other program has in its history. Penn went 7-0 in Ivy play in 1984, 1986, 1993, 1994, 2002, and 2003.

And this ...

With its 14th Ivy title in program history, Penn is now tied for second with Yale among Ivy schools behind Dartmouth’s 17 championships. No school has won more outright titles than the Quakers as they go for their 11th today (Dartmouth is second with nine).

A regular reader (I think) from the Louisville suburbs sent along a link of interest to Ivy League followers noting that a record previously by Jerry Rice and Brown's Chas Gessner has been broken. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that a receiver at Hanover College caught 25 passes last week, setting an NCAA all-divisions record. From the story:

Rice set the mark of 24 at Mississippi Valley State in 1983, and Chas Gessner tied the all-divisions mark in 2002 for Brown University.

It's not a sports story but the Daily Dartmouth has an interesting piece about Brandon Del Pozo '96 serving as police captain of the 50th Precinct in The Bronx, N.Y. It's a long, long way from Hanover to The Bronx, but not quite so long if you grew up in New York City.

The D also has a piece about Dartmouth's increased visibility on YouTube. The story says Dartmouth has posted ...

... 296 videos covering a broad spectrum of Dartmouth-centric subjects. A number of videos are full-length recordings of on-campus lectures by professors. Others are sit-down examinations of a professor’s research, edited down to a few minutes ...

The story notes ...

One of the channel’s most-watched videos includes highlights from Dartmouth Night, the Friday of Homecoming. The video depicts the building of the bonfire and athletic teams singing the Alma Mater as the fire is lit.

Unless I missed it, the story in The D doesn't list the URL for the Dartmouth channel. You can visit it if you click here. The Dartmouth Night video is below (featuring college President Jim Yong Kim wearing a Dartmouth Football jacket):

QB From Reality Show Set For Dartmouth

Photo courtesy of The Ride.

Cole Marcoux, a 6-foot-5, 234-pound quarterback from the Fieldston School in New York City and one of eight QBs in the reality TV show The Ride, has committed to Dartmouth according to this story in the Riverdale Press.

Marcoux wasn't originally slated to be on the show about "under the radar" high school quarterbacks, but as the story says:

... Tom Martinez — one of the show’s instructors and the personal mentor of New England Patriots star quarterback Tom Brady — suggested that Marcoux be added to the show after noticing his size, strength and cannon of an arm. Almost immediately, the decision was made to expand the size of the group just to include Marcoux.

Also from the story:

The show features various drills and quarterback-skill competitions that are judged in a gradual-elimination format. The last two finalists will be sent to the Aloha Prep Bowl in Hawaii, where one will be chosen the winner and have the chance to play in high school football’s biggest showcase — the U.S. Army All-American Bowl in January.

Two of the 10 episodes have already been aired, but no eliminations have taken place yet. The next new showing is scheduled for today, Thursday, Nov. 19, at 11 p.m.

For more about the TV show The Ride, click here.

Speaking of Saturday

The 10th and final weekly teleconference call featuring the Ivy League's head football coaches can be heard here. A few comments from Princeton coach Roger Hughes in advance of Saturday's finale at Dartmouth:

On last week's 24-17 win over Yale:

Obviously Yale was a big win for our program and for our kids, especially our seniors being their last home game. You know we've been through a little adversity this season and I think it was great to see our kids rise to the challenge to beat what I think is a good Yale team and a well-coached Yale team. So from that standpoint we were pleased with our efforts.

We didn't always play correctly but I thought we played with a lot of emotion, a lot of inspiration and played as hard as we could for the whole 60 minutes.

On this week:

We would love to close out the season with a win. Having coached at Dartmouth for eight years and watching numerous films on them we know what kind of challenge that's going to be. They are like we were last week. Their seniors have their last home game. It's an emotional time for them. I know they are going to be flying around. I know how hard those kids play. I know that Coach Teevens and his staff are going to have them flying around and I think it's going to be an atmosphere like others have said, to sound cliche, I don't think records mean that much.

We all have one game left and this game is going to be an emotional setter for the rest of the offseason and carry you over into next season. And so for all those reasons we understand the challenge that we are going to face at Dartmouth and clearly are looking forward to that opportunity.

On the running of Kenny Gunter against Yale (23 carries, 119 yards) and what it means to his team:

It's been kind of a little bit of a tragedy from the standpoint that Kenny's been banged up off and on all year. He missed most of preseason with a hamstring pull, finally got back into things during the Columbia game, got hurt again in the Brown game. So he's kind of been in and out of our plans. It was very satisfying and I know very rewarding for Kenny to come out and have the kind of game that he had last week.

It's a whole lot easier to call a game from the standpoint where you are coming off a second-and-four as opposed to second-and-10. Clearly having the pressure taken off our quarterback even allowed him to be more flexible in what he did. Tommy Wornham, our quarterback didn't feel like he had to win the game, that other parts of or offense were working very well. And so it had a very compounding effect. Also the fact, time of possession, all the things that are benefits of running the football effectively, started to help and show through during that Yale game.

My hope is that Kenny can play with the same type of emotion and passion that he had last week. The results remain to be seen against a pretty good Dartmouth defense. Any time you have the ball and you are running the ball effectively certainly as a coach it makes the play calls much easier.

Brown coach Phil Estes had these remarks about Dartmouth in light of his team's 14-7 double-overtime win against the Big Green:

I thought they were extremely motivated. Well-coached. I think (Harvard coach Tim) Murphy had said it when he played them: The biggest difference between the two teams is that we have a senior team and they have a very young team that is up and coming. So they are going to be a very dangerous football team in the future. And my hat's off to them.

Speaking of the future for the Dartmouth football team, Joe Asch over at Dartblog follows up yesterday's support for coach Buddy Teevens with several responses to his piece.

Back to Princeton, the Daily Princetonian has a story about Tiger co-captain Mark Paski, who will be starting a record 40th consecutive game on the offensive line Saturday. That's quite an accomplishment for anyone and truly amazing on the offensive line where no one starts their first collegiate game.

The well-regarded Gridiron Power Index compiled by College Sporting News is out and, in addition to ranking teams, it also ranks conferences for overall strength. Interestingly, the Ivy League and Patriot League are neck-and-neck each week. Here's how the FCS shapes up this week:

1. Colonial Athletic Association (25.40)
2. Big Sky Conference (30.29)
3. Great West Conference (31.15)
4. Southern Conference (31.72)
5. Missouri Valley Football Conference (33.40)
6. Southland Conference (40.50)
7. Big South Conference (49.95)
8. Ohio Valley Conference (50.70)
9. Patriot League (51.40)
10. Ivy League (51.75)
11. Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (60.14)
12. Southwestern Athletic Conference (64.23)
13. Northeast Conference (66.22)
14. Pioneer Football League (73.40)
15. Independents (75.21)

Dartmouth and its opponents (current and future) are ranked this way in the GPI:

9. New Hampshire
21. Holy Cross
24. Penn
T-37. Harvard
T-37. Harvard
T-44. Brown
71. Yale
74. Columbia
T-87. Dartmouth
95. Princeton
104. Cornell

Future Opponents
91. Butler
T-113. Sacred Heart
120. Georgetown

And finally, that regular reader who is an enthusiast for trick plays offers up video of yet another one at the high school level in this short clip from YouTube.

Turning Attention to Princeton

For a nicely produced video look at how Dartmouth's final opponent fared last week, check out this package on Princeton's 24-17 victory over Yale.

Do read down this well-done ESPN.com story on Jordan Culbreath, the Princeton captain who last year ran for 276 yards against Dartmouth and is waging a courageous battle with aplastic anemia. From the story:

Jordan wore his No. 21 jersey for Senior Day on Saturday when Princeton played Yale, but that was it in terms of uniform. He put away his pads and helmet for good in September, when a sprained ankle helped save his life.

The Columbia Spectator writes about the Penn-Harvard showdown last week and has a brief capsule of Dartmouth-Brown at the end. The Daily Pennsylvanian weekend wrap also has a mention of Dartmouth-Brown.

And now for your weekly look at the rankings ...

Sagarin - 245 teams ranked (last week's ranking in parentheses)
97. UNH (98)
122. Penn (137)
135. Holy Cross (150)
150. Harvard (157)
158. Colgate (160)
162. Brown (161)
188. Yale (190)
189. Columbia (203)
203. Dartmouth (209)
219. Princeton (228)
220. Cornell (222)

Future Opponents
218. Butler (205)
231. Sacred Heart (230)
241. Georgetown (241)

Dunkel Index - 125 teams ranked (last week's ranking in parentheses)
10. UNH (10)
20. Penn (24)
21. Holy Cross (16)
29. Harvard (26)
40. Brown (38)
49. Colgate (50)
62. Columbia (70)
66. Yale (53)
76. Dartmouth (83)
95. Princeton (107)
101. Cornell (95)

Future Opponents
109. Sacred Heart (104)
113. Butler (105)
116. Georgetown (119)

Can't say as I've ever posted a link to a story from Scotland's Daily Record before, but the work that former Hanover High and Dartmouth soccer star Tommy Clark has been doing is worth recognizing again. The story about Clark's efforts begins this way:

WITH 30,000 chanting Africans cheering him on,Tommy Clark stepped off the bench and took to the field at the Babourfields Stadium in Buloweyo, Zimbabwe.
The young Scots-born footballer, son of legendary Aberdeen goalie Bobby, had never felt so nervous but hoped to impress as he made his first appearance for local side Highlanders FC.

But despite a a promising debut, Tommy never went on to make much of an impact at the club, although the players and fans made such an impact on him that he has gone on to spend his entire career working to save lives in their name.

A few years after he first lined up alongside them, he discovered that half of the Highlanders midfield he played in had been killed by the AIDS epidemic which burned through the first team and huge sections of the loyal fanbase.

That news inspired him to found the internationally acclaimed charity Grassroots Soccer, which uses football to educate young Africans about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Tommy Clark played for his father, Bobby, at Dartmouth. Bobby Clark is now the head coach at Notre Dame. Tommy's brother Jamie is the head coach of Ivy League champion Harvard.

Speaking of soccer, the Dartmouth men's soccer team is one of four Ivy League teams to earn an invitation to the NCAA Tournament. The Big Green plays at Boston College Thursday with the winner advancing to face St. Johns. Harvard, Brown and Princeton are also in the field.

Green Alert Take: Congratulations to all of those soccer teams for earning the chance to compete against the best, and heartfelt apologies to the Ivy League football champions, who will not be allowed to do the same.

And finally, three of us are yawning a bit this morning after getting up at 2 a.m. to take in the Leonid Meteor Shower. After about 40 chilly minutes and a disappointing number of sightings, we trundled back upstairs for a few more zzzzzzzz's.

Waggoner Top Ivy Rookie

From the Ivy League website:

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Dartmouth freshman strong safety GARRETT WAGGONER (Sarasota, Fla.) posted a career-high nine tackles in the Big Green’s 14-7 overtime loss to Brown. Waggoner’s biggest contribution was streaking across the field on a Brown pass in the waning seconds of regulation to bat the ball away from a wide-open receiver near the goal line. Without his effort, Brown almost assuredly would have reached the end zone on the playfor the win. Of his nine tackles, seven were solo with 0.5 tackles for loss along with two pass break-ups.

Name to the Ivy League honor roll:

• Michael Reilly, WR, Dartmouth - 3 rec. for 84 yds., 1 TD
• Diego Fernandez-Soto, LB, Dartmouth - 3 rec. for 84 yds., 1 TD 10 tackles, six solos, one tackle for a loss. (That's what I get for copying and pasting directly from the Ivy League site.)
  

Chiming In

Dartblog turns its attention to football and starts today's column about the future of Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens this way:

For a while there the hounds were baying for Buddy’s head, but the football team’s strong showing at Brown and its two wins in its last four games seem to have shut them up. However, let’s put the question out there again, but ask it from a management perspective: Should Buddy be canned?

The answer it ultimately gives:

Let’s keep Coach. We’ll play .500 ball next year and win the Ivies in a year or two after that.

In case you are late to the table, the Dartblog story includes a brief reprise of the story of the infamous letter about football's place at the college written by Dartmouth's then director of admissions and financial aid. A photocopy of that letter was mailed to us – anonymously – at the newspaper along with a note of apology for not sharing it sooner. That act by someone who felt badly about what was happening to the proud Dartmouth football program began a series of events that led in a roundabout way to Big Green Alert and this blog.

The Brown Daily Herald offers it take on Brown's 14-7 overtime win Saturday against Dartmouth. The story includes this:

On a sloppy day with rainy skies, the Bears’ defense kept the Big Green offense stuck in the mud for most of the game. Other than a lone screen pass that went 77 yards for a touchdown, Dartmouth gained only 144 yards and no additional points on the day.

The Daily Dartmouth has a follow story on Saturday's game.

The Big Green will close out the season Saturday against a Princeton team that has been up and down and is up again after knocking off Yale, 24-17, Saturday.

The Daily Princetonian game story notes the Tigers rushed for 247 yards against a Bulldog defense that had been statistically among the best in the country until late in the season. The story mentions Princeton falling for a fake punt and onside kick, and says this about Tiger head coach Roger Hughes, the former Dartmouth offensive coordinator:

Lapses like this appear to have put Hughes on the hot seat recently. After finishing 4-6 each of the last two years, Princeton is now guaranteed its third straight losing season. This is only the sixth time in 140 years of Princeton football that the team has had at least three straight under-.500 seasons — the last time from 1999 to 2001. Though this win should pacify Hughes’ critics a bit, next week’s game at Dartmouth is still a must-win.

For another look at how this week's opposition fared, check out this Princeton Packet story.

And finally, a couple of high school notes. Former Dartmouth head coach John Lyons has his Kimball Union Academy team undefeated once again at 8-0 after Saturday's 59-24 victory over Vermont Academy. Lyons, you may recall, led Dartmouth on a 21-0-1 streak from 1995-97, then the second-longest unbeaten streak in I-AA history.

And a regular reader points out that New Hampshire high school powerhouse Plymouth ran its winning streak to 55 consecutive games with a 38-0 win in its state championship contest. As the emailer said, "Must be fun to play your entire high school career and never lose."

Week Nine Roundup

The official Dartmouth Sports Information release on the Brown game is here. The Brown Sports Information release is here. The Providence Journal did not staff the Brown-Dartmouth game but has this blurb.

Here is today's Ivy League/opponent roundup ...

Penn 17, Harvard 7
The Quakers grab at least a share of the crown and with a home game against reeling Cornell next week, they have to like their chances of locking up the outright title. The Crimson needs a win at home and a Big Red upset of Penn to earn a share.

Princeton 24, Yale 17
A satisfying win over a big rival for coach Roger Hughes and his crew (who will be in Hanover Saturday) as they get 247 rushing yards and 16-of-23 passing against a once-dominant Yale defense.

Columbia 30, Cornell 20
Quarterback Milli Olawale returns to action and runs for two second-half touchdown runs to give the Lions their third road win of the year.

Holy Cross 28, Lafayette 26
Dominic Randolph throws for two touchdowns and runs for one as Holy Cross and former Dartmouth assistant Tom Gilmore clinch the Patriot League title and a trip to the NCAA playoffs.

Colgate 29, Bucknell 14
Still another big second half for the Raiders, who score 20 points after the break.

***

The Omaha World-Herald has a story about Joe Moglia, the onetime Dartmouth assistant turned CEO of TD Ameritrade who has returned to football after 25 years and now wants to be a Division I head coach. From the story:

At Dartmouth, he had lived for two years in an unheated storage loft above the football office because he couldn't afford to maintain two households on an assistant coach's salary.

An interesting nugget in the story: Moglia last year applied for the Yale head coaching position. He also spoke to UMass about its opening last year.

And finally, that certain Hanover High senior went to Connecticut yesterday to watch her cross country team finish fourth in the New England championships. Although she had hoped to be ready to run by New Englands, it wasn't to be. Still, the competitive athlete in her bubbled to the surface when she excitedly talked about how runners were slipping and falling in the mud and how much she wished she could have been out there fighting the elements.

Halftime Scoreboard

7-0 Dartmouth at Half

A 74-yard catch-and-run from Greg Patton to Michael Reilly has Dartmouth ahead 7-0 at the half.

The Big Green held on a fourth-and-one at the plus 10 in the final seconds to take the lead into the locker room.

Neither team is doing much offensively but one play was all it took.

Greetings from Rainy Providence

Heavy rain falling at Brown Stadium right now. It's been intermittent for the past half hour. From a distance the field looks OK, but walking on it I found it spongy and loose. It will be torn up pretty good today.

Lots of accidents on the drive down today. Thank goodness for the Rain-X I put on the windshield last night.

Terrific story in today's New York Times about the Penn football program and how it has come back. Find it here.

Relive the Glory

Just stumbled across an 8-minute, 33-second YouTube highlight video from Dartmouth's win over Columbia. It starts with the National Anthem and finishes with the Alma Mater, with some football in between ;-)

For a program story I freelanced on Brian Mann, Dartmouth's new director of football operations, click here.

A couple of other program stories written by former Dartmouth director of sports information Jack DeGange are also on the web. To relive the glory of the 1963 team, click here. Jack's piece on the 1969 team is here.

The New Hampshire Football Report's capsule look at today's game against Brown is under the headline, Dartmouth may be on the rise.

Oh, and if you are looking to buy some Dartmouth-wear for the holidays, the official Big Green store can be found here.

Now off to Providence. Keep your fingers cross with regard to the weather. I know someone who doesn't like to drive at night in the rain. Me.

Recruiting Note

CentralJersey.com is reporting that a 6-foot-1, 255-pound defensive tackle from Lawrenceville, N.J., named Ethan Posey was "offered" a "likely letter," by Dartmouth. The story includes this on the Lawrence High senior:

"He’s had a great senior season,” coach Rob Radice said. “Ethan brings a nasty presence to our defensive front. He’s a very good pass rusher, he gets double teamed a lot and he still has 65 tackles.”

The story says Posey is a 455-pound bench presser and has run a 4.9 40 although the ESPN recruiting site has him listed at 5.2 over the 40. There's a little more information on him, with a picture, on the Rivals site.

Something Will Be in the Air: Wind and Rain

The AccuWeather forecast for game time Saturday in Providence is calling for 55 degrees, rain and winds of 23 mph at 1 p.m., and 21 at 2 p.m. Still, the Brown Daily Herald expects the Bears to have a big day in the air. From the story:

Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero ’11 leads the Ivy League in completions, attempts, touchdowns, interceptions, yards, total offense and pass efficiency. With two of the league’s top receivers in (Bobby) Sewall and Buddy Farnham ’10, the Bears’ aerial attack should have a big day against Dartmouth.

Standout Brown receiver Sewall in the BDH story:

“They’re always in zone coverage with very little blitzes. They blitz somewhere along the lines of 8 percent of the time.”

I personally thought they blitzed 9 percent of the time, but maybe I'm wrong ;-). Wow, has the ability to break down an opponent video via computer come along or what? Eight percent of the time?

Mike Szostak has a nice piece in the Providence Journal about Sewall and Farnham, Brown's perfectly matched receiver/utility player combo. And in case anyone forgot, Mike reminds us:

Two years ago this weekend (Nov. 10, 2007), Sewall ran all over Brown Stadium and the Big Green in one of the greatest performances by a Brown player. The former All-Stater from Portsmouth rushed for 144 yards and 4 touchdowns, caught 18 passes for 141 yards and threw a 41-yard touchdown pass, a 326-yard effort in Brown 56-35 victory.

The Daily Dartmouth preview runs under the headline, Aerial attack will be key for Big Green in battle with Brown. From the story:

Most likely, Brown will focus on defending (running quarterback Greg) Patton’s offensive production, so a Big Green aerial attack will be critical to a Dartmouth victory.

Jake Novak's Roar Lions Roar blog has been kind to Dartmouth – there could be a little commiseration thing going on there – but he's not going out on a limb this week with his picks. Jake writes:

... (T)he Big Green have made strides and guys like Charles Bay, Nick Schwieger, and Greg Patton are making 2010 look pretty good in Hanover. But the Bears will probably make Dartmouth look bad Saturday.

The weekly prognositcator for the Harvard Crimson giveth and taketh away. First, there's a little compliment to Dartmouth:

The grit you showed in your double-overtime win against Cornell last week was certainly the hallmark of a team on the rise.

That, not surprisingly, is followed by the punch line:

I look forward to seeing you next season, when, like this year’s Columbia team, you’ll jump out to a hot start, evoke uncontrollable shrieks of “Sleeper!” from the “experts,” and inevitably disappoint everyone who ever believed in you.

And for good measure, the Crimson preview of the Columbia-Cornell game begins this way:

Ah, the two teams who lost to Dartmouth now play in some kind of Bizarro championship game of ineptitude.

Harvard, of course, is playing host to Penn Saturday with a share of the Ivy League title on the line. The posters over at AnyGivenSaturday pose an interesting question:

Ok, both the Patriot and Ivy titles will be settled roughly an hour's distance from one another in the Commonwealth this Saturday. Which crowd do you see as being bigger and why?

I'm gonna guess the Harvard game will slightly outdraw Holy Cross simply because it is Harvard, but I don't have a strong conviction either way. What do you think?

A regular reader sent along a link to a New York Times story about the Georgia Tech starting center who "received offers from nonscholarship programs at Harvard, Penn, Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown before deciding to walk on at Georgia Tech." Playing center may not be rocket science but if it were, Sean Bedford would be the right guy. Turns out he is an Aerospace Engineering major.

And finally, there's something in the air at just about every college on those first glorious days of spring that was invented right here in "metropolitan, downdown Etna," population 814. In fact, it was right down at the end of our dirt road that it got its start. Check out this Sports Illustrated story from 1987.

Read All About It

The official Brown press release and a PDF of Brown's full game notes have now been posted.

The official Dartmouth press release and a PDF of Dartmouth's full game notes are also available.

The Dartmouth press release notes, and you can double-check this if you don't believe it because I'll admit I had to, the Big Green can move into a tie for third place in the Ivy League with a win Saturday.

The game notes include these nuggets:

• Only one player in the country has topped Greg Patton’s 243 rushing yards this fall.
• Patton is one of only two FCS freshmen this year to run for 200 or more yards.
• Patton is the first freshman to have a 100-yard rushing game since Chad Guadet did it twice in 2004.

Patton and Brown running back Spiro Theodosi are featured in a Daily Pennsylvanian story headlined, "Unusual suspect keys wins."

The Dartmouth win over Cornell brought movie scenes and lines to mind for a Daily Dartmouth columnist.

With starting quarteback Alex Jenny and record-breaking tailback Nick Schwieger out for the year, Dartmouth has had its share of bad luck with injuries this fall. But it's not alone. The Trenton Times has a story about the plague of injuries surrounding next week's opponent, Princeton. Tigers coach Roger Hughes:

We've had six ACL tears on our team. We've had nine linebackers (who) last week were out. Three strong safeties out. Obviously, we've had three running backs hurt.

Speaking of injuries, thanks to a regular reader for sending along a link to a Wall Street Journal story that asks this question:

Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem?

In light of the many scary findings about concussions in the past several years, the story considers whether helmets actually cause more injuries than they prevent. It includes a few interesting thoughts out of Australian rules football, where helmets are not worn.

And finally, while there are some great football games in New England this weekend (Havard-Penn and Holy Cross-Fordham) to name a couple not being played in Providence ;-), one of the best will be in Williamstown, Mass., where 7-0 Amherst faces 6-1 Williams at Williamstown in a game to be broadcast live on the New England Sports Network with Doug Flutie doing color commentary.

The Amherst-Williams game has drawn the two largest crowds in Division III history with the 1993 game attracting 13,671 to Williams and the '96 game bringing 12,449 to Amherst. Next year's game will be the 125th, so the guess here is the record could be in jeopardy.

How intense is the rivalry? Consider this from a pep talk a former Williams assistant used to give before the game (link):

"If you wish to be happy for an hour, get intoxicated. If you wish to be happy for three days, get married. If you wish to be happy for eight days, kill your pig and eat it. If you wish to be happy forever, beat Amherst."

If you want to read something sweet, check out this story about the Williams tradition of The Walk, with players walking up the street from the field in full uniform after winning their Homecoming game and pouring into St. Pierre's barber shop. From the story:

The barber shop pulsates to the singing of the Williams fight song and various cheers, while Eph fans gather outside to cheer along and await the scene that is unveiled when the team exits the shop and is greeted by another load roar.

Old friend Stephen Dravis has a touching story in the Advocate about The Walk and its originator, a former player who died last year at age 58.

Looking Back ...

From This Week in College Football History:

November 11, 1978 – Led by receiver Dave Shula, son of legendary coach Don Shula, and quarterback Buddy Teevens, current coach at Dartmouth, the Big Green beat Brown 31-21 in Providence to break its first place tie with the Bruins at the top of the Ivy League. Brown quarterback Mark Whipple, currently the offensive coordinator at Miami (Fla.), opened up the scoring with a four-yard touchdown run in the first.

A recording of the weekly Ivy League football teleconference has been posted here. If you aren't interested in listening to the whole hour, what follows are edited excerpts from Brown coach Phil Estes, whose team will play Dartmouth Saturday, and Jim Knowles, whose Cornell team played Dartmouth last week. Also a couple of quick thoughts from Big Green coach Buddy Teevens.

Brown Coach Phil Estes:

I'm just very happy with the way the team responded after the loss to Penn the week before. We really came out and I thought we moved the ball pretty well. The first half we didn't capitalize on a couple of drives but we had a good response just before the half in the two-minute drive to put up a score.

I'm very pleased with the overall effort of the whole team. And very happy for (corner back and Ivy League defensive player of the week) AJ Cruz because for a freshman he's been picked on quite a bit and he's come through game after game making big plays for us. Not just tackles but a big interception late in the fourth quarter to kind of seal the game for us. He's a very athletic player. He had pick earlier in the game that was taken away by penalty. He's just made big play after big play.

This week we play Dartmouth, a much-improved Dartmouth football team. It seems each week there's something new that they add to the repertoire. They've had some injuries and yet they've been finding some young players to step up and make big plays for them. It's amazing to watch (Greg) Patton just run and make some plays on quarterback counters and sweeps and things like that. He's a terrific football player.

Defensively they seem to improve each week as well. We always have our hands full when we play Dartmouth and we fully expect that this is going to be a tough one, preparing for everything, for every phase, from special teams to offense and defense. They have some things that they do that you really have to really grind and make sure that your team is on the right page.

(On quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero) The big thing for a first-year starter, he's had experience. He's thrown to (Buddy Farnham and (Bobby) Sewall in practices and things like that. And obviously he has a couple springs under his belt where he got a lot of reps with them. I think the big thing is the skill of the wideouts. He doesn't have to throw the perfect ball for them to make the play on it. The biggest thing for Kyle is trying to adjust to the speed of the different receivers, from a Farnum to a Sewall to a (Trevan) Samp to a (Matthew) Sudfeld. They all are unique in what they do and how they run their routes and those are the things you have to get used to. Good receivers can respond to a quarterback and make plays on a ball that may be underthrown or overthrown or things like that. I think they've made him better.

I think what helps a quarterback out is having a run game so that you can kind of get the secondary to bite up a little bit to have to make some plays on a running back. ... The thing about Kyle is, he's seen it all. He's seen people that have come with the house at him and he's made plays. And he's seen people sit back in zone and he's able to make the right throws and the right reads. I just think Kyle is a very mature quarterback that doesn't get rattled back in the pocket and looks for his primary read and works down from there. He's done a good job with that.

(On losing starting tailback Zach Tronti to a knee injury) It's interesting because he ran off the field but that might have been adrenaline. ... Spiro Theodosi was the guy that came in and picked up where Zach left off. Spiro has been playing some fullback for us. He's a tailback by nature but he is a physical football player and he's been running some tailback. But Zach Tronti will be out for the rest of the season.

Cornell coach Jim Knowles:

Dartmouth was a very evenly matched game. Hard-fought. We squandered a few great opportunities we had. Our red-zone offense was not up to standards. I think we were 2-for-6 in the red zone. And our field goal kicker really struggled. And we turned the ball over twice in the red zone, missed a couple field goals. Still everything looked OK until the fourth quarter.

They had a freshman quarterback who just did a great job and they blocked us well – their offensive line versus our defensive front people. And they were able to make a lot of hay out of the wildcat formation.

But defensively we hung in there. We still had a shutout going well into the fourth quarter. We gave up 10 points late, missed a field goal to win the game, or they blocked it. Dartmouth did a great job. I should say they blocked it. And lost the game in double-overtime.

We certainly had our chances and played the whole game. Our kids kept giving great effort but they can look and see why they didn't get the job done.

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens:

(On Brown) They are physically as impressive as anyone we've seen. They are explosive offensively, a senior-laden team with tremendous experience and a lot of great athletes. So a tremendous challenge down there in Providence.

(On Patton) We really projected him more as a defensive player. Maybe reflects on my intelligence as a coach.

***

Not sure if you knew this – I didn't until I started with Twitter – but you don't need to sign up and have a Twitter account if all you want to do is see what all the fuss is about. So if you are curious but prefer not to sign up Twitter, you can check out Green Alert Twitter simply by clicking here.

***

And finally, that certain Hanover High senior was presented with the Coaches Award plaque last night at the cross country banquet. She started the season with high expectations only to have them cruelly dashed through no fault of her own. Her team will be running in the New England Championships this weekend in Connecticut and while she's not ready to compete yet, she's feeling better and is looking forward to a banner indoor season.

Tuesday Morning Ramblings

The Daily Pennsylvanian leads its Ivy League roundup by pointing out something that has not gone unnoticed in the past:

Dartmouth probably wishes there were more Ivy schools from New York that started with the letter ‘C.’

The Big Green has wins over New York schools Columbia and Cornell this fall. Colgate, the third Empire State school to visit Hanover this fall, refused to cooperate and Culinary Institute of America refuses to travel.

The Columbia Spectator also has an Ivy League roundup.

It's Tuesday and that can mean just one thing. Actually, it means yesterday was Monday and tomorrow is Wednesday, but it also means time to look at the weekly polls. Here they are with last week's ranking/rating in parentheses:

This week's Sagarin Ratings (245 teams rated)
98. UNH (91)
137. Penn (135)
150. Holy Cross (150)
157. Harvard (161)
160. Colgate (163)
161. Brown (169)
190. Yale (180)
203. Columbia (188)
209. Dartmouth (203)
222. Cornell (220)
228. Princeton (225)

Future Opponents
205. Butler (229)
230. Sacred Heart (238)
241. Georgetown (241)

Dunkel Index (125 FCS teams ranked)
10. UNH (9)
16. Holy Cross (27)
24. Penn (28)
26. Harvard (36)
38. Brown (41)
50. Colgate (32)
53. Yale (44)
70. Columbia (51)
83. Dartmouth (99)
95. Cornell (61)
107. Princeton (100)

Future Opponents
104. Sacred Heart (113)
105. Butler (112)
119. Georgetown (111)

Here are Dartmouth opponents in the FCS Polls:
The Sports Network
8. UNH
13. Holy Cross
24. Colgate
28. Penn
29. Harvard
50. Brown

Coaches
7. UNH
14. Holy Cross
24. Colgate
30. Harvard
36. Penn

Kind of a fun thing. Or three.

The YouTubevideo of the final play and celebration after the streak-ending victory over Columbia had been viewed 1,969 times as of 8:30 this morning with three "comments" posted about it. Find the video here.

The video of Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim tossing a football at Dartmouth practice had been viewed 713 times. Find the video here.

By way of comparison, the hilarious (It's my video, I can say that.) of those two certain Hanover kids doing a mock interview of Apolo Anton Ohno when they were a good deal younger has been viewed 549 times. If you watch it, be sure to check out the facial expressions at the end. It still cracks me up and I've watched it, oh, 548 times or so. Find that video here.

On a more serious note, the Daily Dartmouth has a follow on budget cuts that the college that could reach $100 million over the next couple of years.

More On Those Honors

The full Dartmouth release on the weekly Ivy League awards has notes on just how long it has been since the Big Green was so recognized. Find it here.

Should have mentioned this before, but receiver Michael Reilly and linebacker Pat Scorah made the Ivy honor roll.

Patton Wins Double Ivy Honor; Schmidt Also Gets Nod

Turned the Internet back on and good thing I did ...

Ivy League awards are in and the question about whether you can win the Ivy League Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week at the same time has been answered. Yes, Greg Patton, you can.

Not only did the Dartmouth freshman sweep those awards, but sophomore Foley Schmidt was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week.

The awards:

Offensive - Greg Patton, QB, Dartmouth
Defensive - A.J. Cruz, DB, Brown
Special Teams - Foley Schmidt, PK, Dartmouth
Rookie - Greg Patton, QB, Dartmouth

Find the full report here.

Monday Wrapup

The Ithaca Journal tallied up the numbers from Dartmouth's double-overtime victory over Cornell and while the points didn't pile up, a few other stats did. From the story:

The game featured nine turnovers, three missed field goals, 842 total yards and just two touchdowns in regulation.

Not much new in the Daily Dartmouth game story or the Cornell Sun piece.

Back to Cornell, coach Jim Knowles is taking a revised approach to recruiting for the Big Red. Instead of waging – and too often losing – recruiting battles against the Ivy League name brands (HYP), Cornell is going in a different direction. The Ithaca Journal writes:

We have to go find a Cornell type of kid.' We have to find the kid who wants to be here at our place and who may not want to be there or who may not fit that mold. So instead of doing so many head-to-head battles, we've done a totally new broad-based approached to recruiting.

Looking ahead to Week Nine opponent Brown, the Yale Daily News writes:

Brown backup tailback Spiro Theodhosi exploded for 133 yards in the second half ...

I had read that the New Hampshire kid who got away exploded on the Bulldogs for 167 yards, but that's one heckuva half. The Yale Daily also notes:

The usually-strong Yale defense — which had previously kept its opponents to an average of 275 total yards — allowed a season-worst 494 total yards against the Bears.

From the Brown Daily Herald:

“We wanted to prove we are the best offense in the Ivy League,” said wide receiver Bobby Sewall ’10.

The Herald quotes Brown coach Phil Estes on Theodosi, a sophomore from Londonderry, N.H., who had just 11 carries on the season:

“The key was Theodhosi,” Estes said, adding that he was “not surprised by how well he ran.”

And finally, St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a very nice story about Dartmouth alum Kevin Demoff, who became executive vice president of football operations and chief operating officer of the St. Louis Rams at age 32. The story notes that Demoff covered Big Green football for the Daily Dartmouth and also broadcast football, basketball and baseball on the college radio.

Jayvees Hold On For 14-12 win.

Go back and follow the whole JV game here

Jayvees up 14-0

Live-Tweeting the game at BigGreenAlert

A Wild Day To Say The Least

Dartmouth's official release on Saturday's 20-17 double-overtime victory against Cornell can be found here. Cornell's official release is here.

The number is a little off, but Dartmouth freshman Greg Patton (bio) gets a mention in a Denver Post By the Numbers blurb from Saturday's college football. Patton actually had 243 yards rushing, not 245.

Elsewhere ...

Harvard (5-0 Ivy League) and Penn (5-0 Ivy) held serve Saturday, setting up this week's huge showdown at Harvard Stadium. The winner of that game is guaranteed at least a share of the Ivy League title. Everyone else has been eliminated from the championship hunt.

Penn 42, Princeton 7
Kyle Olsen tossed three touchdown passes and Lyle Marsh ran for 99 yards for the Quakers (6-2, 5-0). Princeton (2-6, 1-4) was held to 10 first downs. As this story notes, Penn gone 21 games since allowing a 100-yard rusher, 23 games since allowing a 300-yard passer and 21 quarters – since the last play of the third quarter in the Ivy League opener against Dartmouth – since allowing a rushing touchdown.

Harvard 34, Columbia 14
The Crimson (6-2, 5-0) ran out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter and was up 34-0 before Columbia (2-6, 1-4) scored a couple of cosmetic touchdowns in the final 6:49. The Lions again played without starting quarterback Milli Olawale and rushing leader Ray Rangel.

Brown 35, Yale 21
Kyle Newhall-Caballero completed 23-of-30 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns as Brown (5-3, 3-2) put up 494 yards on the vaunted Yale (4-4, 2-3) defense. Sophomore Spiro Theodhisi of Londonderry, N.H., pierced the Bulldogs for 167 yards and the Bear defense intercepted Yale quarterback Patrick Witt three times.

Holy Cross 24, Lehigh 20
Crusaders quarterback Dominic Randolph hit Freddie Santana with a four-yard touchdown pass with 1:03 left to give the Crusaders (8-1, 4-0 Patriot League) a come-from-behind victory over the Mountain Hawks (2-7, 2-2). The winning drive covered 81 yards.

Lafayette 56, Colgate 49
Defense was a dirty word in Easton as Colgate (8-2, 3-2 Patriot League) surrendered seven touchdown passes to Rob Curley of Lafayette (8-1, 4-0 Patriot). Nate Eachus had 216 yards and five touchdowns on 45 carries for the Raiders.

New Hampshire 55, Rhode Island 42
Chad Kackert ran for 166 yards and two touchdowns for UNH (8-1, 5-1 Colonial) who gave up 424 yards passing to Rhode Island's (1-8, 0-6 Colonial) Chris Paul-Etienne.

Check Big Green Alert premium this evening for a look at Dartmouth's junior varsity game againt Bridgton.