Double Deuce

Highlights for co-Ivy League Player of the Year Nick Schwieger

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The Topsfield, Mass., press has a story on Dartmouth early decision offensive line recruit Will Guinee of Malden Catholic. From the story:

At 6-feet-5-inches and about 230 pounds, Guinee said he expects to put on at least 50 pounds before his freshman football season at Dartmouth. His current size was sufficient at the high school level, but he’ll need to thicken up to match up with Ivy League opponents.

Coach Buddy Teevens had this to say about Guinee in the BGA early decision story:

He’s an athletic guy who plays lacrosse as well. He’s a little along the lines of a Dan Jamokha. He has growth potential and good feet.

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A finalist for South Carolina's Mr. Football Award could be joining Guinee in the Dartmouth recruting class according to the Post and Courier. Bo Patterson of James Island passed for 1,735 yards and 17 touchdowns, ran for 1,041 yards and nine touchdowns and was named to the South Carolina Shrine Bowl as a receiver. From a December story, Patterson:

... is an outstanding student and is taking an official visit to Brown University this weekend and to Dartmouth the first weekend in January.

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Colgate tailback Nate Eachus, the nation's leading rusher who will provide a huge test for the Dartmouth defense in September's opener on Memorial Field, finished fifth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award as the nation's best offensive player at the FCS level. (link)

Penn's Al Bagnoli finished 15th in the voting for the Eddie Robinson Award as the top coach. (link) Given that the Quakers were not settled at quarterback early in the season, lost their top running back to injury, swept the Ivy League and lost only to Villanova despite heavy graduation losses on the defensive side, it's surprising the dean of Ivy coaches finished that low. Credit (blame?) at least part of that on the conference's decision not to participate in the playoffs and show just how good Ivy football is. Hard to believe Bagnoli led a team that overcame all that to 14th in the nation but somehow finished 15th in the voting.

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Am I the only one who thinks the bowl game schedule has become nuts? It used to be there were the Cotton, Rose, Orange and Sugar Bowls on New Year's Day (and night) and that was the culmination of the bowl season. The Fiesta Bowl then came to the party and that was OK.

As much fun as I made of the former Poulan Weedeater Independence Bowl, at least that was before the biggies. Holding the GoDaddy.com Bowl (do teams throw computer chips onto the field when they qualify for that one?) almost a week after the Rose Bowl is like drinking that open bottle of New Year's eve champagne a week later. There's no fizz.

And while UConn won the Big East's BCS bid, its season is over while Pitt gets the final Big East spotlight playing in the Compass Bowl. Can someone explain that to me? (Oh yeah, TV/ESPN.)

All that said, how about Miami last night completing the jump from a double-digit loss team one year to a double-digit win team the next? Never happened before in so-called major college football. (link)

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The FCS national championship game will be played tonight in Frisco, Texas, with Delaware taking on Eastern Washington. The game is on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. Craig Haley of The Sports Network predicts a 27-17 Delaware win. And yes, two-time defending Ivy League champion Penn will still be idle.

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Dartmouth hockey faces No. 1 Yale tonight at Thompson Arena. The Daily Dartmouth has a story about the game against the Bulldogs, whose second-leading scorer, Denny Kearney, grew up across the river in Norwich, Vt., and played with Big Green coach Bob Gaudet's sons growing up. His sister Hannah, who won the Olympic gold medal in the moguls in Vancouver, is expected to enroll at Dartmouth.

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The Daily Dartmouth reports that acting Dean of the College Sylvia Spears will not apply to be the college's permanent dean.