'Memorable' Weekend

Given that the legendary 1970 Dartmouth football team is being honored at Saturday's Homecoming game against Harvard this is as good a time as any to recall just how dominant that team was.

1970 Dartmouth Football Scores
Sept. 26 at Dartmouth 27, UMass 0
Oct. 3 Dartmouth 50, at Holy Cross 14
Oct. 10 at Dartmouth 38, Princeton 0
Oct. 17 at Dartmouth 42, Brown 14
Oct. 24 Dartmouth 37, at Harvard 14
Oct. 31 Dartmouth 10, Yale 0*
Nov. 7 at Dartmouth 55, Columbia 0
Nov. 14 Dartmouth 24, at Cornell 0
Nov. 21 Dartmouth 28, at Penn 0

Points for: 311 (34.6 points per game)
Points against: 42 (4.7 points per game)

* Yale came into the Dartmouth game 5-0 having outscored its opponents, 147-29. The Bulldogs would lose only to the Big Green and at Harvard, 14-12.

Here is the final 1970 Associated Press ranking:
1. Nebraska
2. Notre Dame
3. Texas
4. Tennessee
5. Ohio State
6. Arizona State
7. Louisiana State
8. Stanford
9. Michigan
10. Auburn
11. Arkansas
12. Toledo
13. Georgia Tech
14. Dartmouth
15. USC
16. Air Force
17. Tulane
18. Penn State
19. Houston
20. Oklahoma
(tie) Mississippi

A selection of Lambert Trophy winners (for "Eastern supremacy")
1967 Penn State
1968 Penn State
1969 Penn State
1970 Dartmouth
1971 Penn State
1972 Penn State
1973 Penn State
1974 Penn State
1975 Penn State

The New York Times obituary for coach Bob Blackman reprised the give-and-take between Joe Paterno and Blackman after the Big Green claimed the Lambert Trophy. From the story:

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno, partly in jest, challenged this award and suggested a postseason game between his team -- a perennial national power -- and Dartmouth. ''If we were allowed to play a postseason game, I'd prefer to play a team with a better record,'' Blackman replied. Penn State's was 7-3.

(Dartmouth, of course, also won the Lambert Trophy in 1965.)

*

Harvard coach Tim Murphy quoted talking about Dartmouth in the Crimson:

“They’ve grown up. They’re a big, physical, aggressive team. When they were competitive a year ago, they just couldn’t finish; now they’ve finished games...They have the people, the personnel, and the scheme to play with anybody in our league. It’s clear they’re the most improved team.”

And a little defensive strategy from corner Matthew Hanson in the same story:

“First and foremost our plan is to stop the run. That’s always our plan of attack–to stop the run and make our opponent one-dimensional.”

*

The Sports Network's Ivy League picks:

Penn 17, Brown 13
Harvard over Dartmouth
Yale over Columbia
Penn over Princeton

*

Jake Novak in the Columbia football blog, Roar Lions Roar:

Harvard -1 ½ at Dartmouth

A very tough game to pick, but I think Harvard is really gearing up for a strong stretch run. The Crimson win and cover.

*

Allen Lessels has a capsule about Dartmouth's biggest game of the year in the Manchester Union Leader (under a lede about UNH not playing this weekend ;-)

*

There's also a Daily Dartmouth column about Homecoming that includes this:

The football team wasn’t that great last year or the year before, but unless you’ve been living under the granite of New Hampshire you might have noticed the team actually matters this year. The ’14s came in this year expecting another losing season. They clearly didn’t read my column where I hyped up the team but erroneously said it was time to jump off the Big Green bandwagon.

*

From a story out of a Cape Cod newspaper about a 6-foot-5, 305-pound offensive lineman at Dennis-Yarmouth High School named Nathan Crary:

... (S)chools like Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Tufts, Wesleyan and Boston College have contacted him.

The story says he particularly likes Dartmouth and ... Tufts.