Still Another Name

Another day, another email with a potential recruiting target. Thanks.

This one is Keith McBride, a 6-foot, 205-pound tailback from Memphis University School. For McBride's list of schools, click here and then click through on the "show all" link. This fall McBride ran for 141 yards and two touchdowns to help MUS to its second state title in a row (and 26th consecutive win). ESPN.com has an interesting evaluation but does not include Dartmouth among the schools he is "considering."

Memphis University School, by the way, sent basketball standout Jim Barton to Dartmouth in the 1980s. Barton is the second all-time leading scorer in Ivy League history behind only Bill Bradley.

The final FCS poll numbers have been compiled on CSN and four of Dartmouth's 10 opponents this fall are consensus top-25 teams.

The Any Given Saturday Poll:

7. UNH
14. Holy Cross
21. Penn
22. Colgate

The Sports Network Poll:

7. UNH
14. Holy Cross
20. Penn
21. Colgate

The FCS Coaches Poll:

7. UNH
14. Holy Cross
20. Colgate
23. Penn

It is interesting that for as consistent as the polls are otherwise, Penn drops to 23rd in the Coaches Poll. Without doing a survey of the voters I can't confirm this, but in the past I was told (by a coach not affiliated with Dartmouth) that Ivy League teams face an uphill battle in the Coaches poll. This person said coaches see no benefit in having a team from a conference that that does not go to the playoffs finishing high in the national rankings.

And finally, while our local paper didn't have the sports editor's columns about dealing with Dartmouth's budget crisis online last week, Dartmouthblog has reproduced them in their entirety along with an analysis.