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.