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."