Of Polls and Rakings

The preseason polls and rankings have come fast and furious as May turned to June. Last week the BGA blog discussed the Athlon Top-20, which has Penn beginning the year at No. 13 with (former opponent) New Hampshire at No. 14.

A quick stop at the bookstore yesterday turned up the 2010 Lindy's magazine, which got down to the nitty gritty of the individual league races. Here's how Lindy's sees the Ivy League finishing this fall:

1. Harvard
2. Penn
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Columbia
6. Dartmouth
7. Princeton
8. Cornell

For what it's worth, Lindy's picks Dartmouth opponent Holy Cross second in the Patriot League (behind Colgate) and Week 1 opponent Bucknell fifth in the seven-team conference. Lindy's has Week 2 opponent Sacred Heart penciled in eighth of the nine teams in the Northeast Conference.

Lindy's Offensive Player of the Year in the Ivies is Brown quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero. The Defensive Player of the Year is safety Collin Zych of Harvard.

The Lindy's synopsis of Dartmouth suggests the Big Green's hopes revolve around running back Nick Schwieger and the essay introducing the league takes a shot at the Ancient Eight for the inconsistency it shows in not allowing at least an 11th game while basketball plays on and on and on.

Unlike Lindy's, a peek inside The Sporting News doesn't reveal much originality with this year's annual predicting the 2010 season will finish exactly the way the 2009 season finished:

1. Penn
2. Harvard
3. Brown
4. Columbia
5. Princeton
6. Yale
7. Dartmouth
8. Cornell

The Sporting News calls Newhall-Caballero the preseason Offensive Player of the Year in the Ivies and (unless I wrote it down wrong, which is a possibility) it lists Penn defensive lineman Jake Peterson, who missed all of last year with an injury, as the Defensive Player of the Year. TSN projects Harvard's Bisi Ezekoye as the Newcomer of the Year at wide receiver even though he is listed as a running back on the Harvard roster.

The Sporting News picks Dartmouth opponent Holy Cross to win the Patriot League with Colgate second and Bucknell sixth of seven.

(As is the case with the Ivy League, TSN's picks are identical to last year's standings for the Patriot League, which leaves me wondering if they didn't pick at all, but rather just reproduced the '09 standings. Thoughts?)

Chosen the top defensive player in the Patriot League is Holy Cross linebacker Sean Lamkin. The top offensive newcomer is 6-foot-5 Holy Cross freshman quarterback Max Librizzi of Essex Junction, Vt., brother of former Dartmouth women's basketball captain Jamie Librizzi.

The AnyGivenSaturday site has its Preseason Top 25 posted. Dartmouth opponents (current and recent) on the list:

6. UNH#
24. Penn
25. Holy Cross
31. Colgate#
43. Harvard

# Off schedule for 2010

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An emailer the other day asked whether Dartmouth would have any football games televised this fall. Good question. It seems there's always at least one game that is broadcast, but nothing has been announced yet. If you are a New Hampshire fan, however, you are in luck. The Wildcats will have six games broadcast on The Comcast Network or Comcast SportsNet New England.

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Dartmouth defensive back and Daily Dartmouth columnist Chad Hollis has a piece in the Daily D arguing against a new NCAA celebration rule. Hollis writes:

Supposedly, this rule encourages good sportsmanship — but I disagree because I don’t think celebrating is unsportsmanlike. When I score a touchdown, spiking the ball sends the other team a message. The message is that right now, “I’m better than you.” I can dance in the endzone because I earned it. If you don’t like it, stop me next time. There is nothing unsportsmanlike about honesty — it fuels both teams to play well.

I guess we'll agree to disagree on this one. I'm from the "act like you've been there before," school when it comes to getting into the end zone.

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The Daily Dartmouth has a story about the Big Green baseball team playing in the NCAA Division I Regionals. (Find Dartmouth's thorough press packet for the games here.) The Daily D writeup notes that Dartmouth will start sophomore Kyle Hendricks in Friday's nationally televised game (ESPNU) against Miami with senior Robert Young slated to start Saturday.

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And finally ...

I've gotta admit I didn't find this one on my own. Dartmouth corner Chase Womack is an accomplished athlete but he may not be the most accomplished performer in his own family. That distinction probably belongs to 16-year-old sister Joy, featured (and pictured) in the New York Times after moving to Moscow on her own last year to study ballet at the Bolshoi Academy. See more shots of her in the accompanying slideshow (and video).