The Magic Number Will Be . . .

Before you vote in the poll (over to the left) about attendance for the first-ever night game on Memorial Field, here's some background.

Average attendance at Dartmouth since the undefeated 1996 season:

2010 - 5,971
2009 - 4,103
2008 - 5,136
2007 - 5,498
2006 - 4,515
2005 - 5,317
2004 - 4,859
2003 - 5,656
2002 - 6,035
2001 - 5,578
2000 - 5,635
1999 - 6,738
1998 - 7,517
1997 - 5,963
1996 - 7,195

And here's the top home crowd in each of the years since '96:

2010 - 9,142 vs. Harvard
2009 - 5,073 vs. Colgate
2008 - 7,518 vs. Holy Cross
2007 - 8,720 vs. Columbia
2006 - 7,414 vs. Holy Cross
2005 - 6,710 vs. Penn
2004 - 6,109 vs. Yale
2003 - 8,125 vs. Columbia
2002 - 8,102 vs. Harvard
2001 - 7,020 vs. Columbia
2000 - 8,028 vs. Harvard
1999 - 8,023 vs. Cornell
1998 - 12,017 vs. Yale
1997 - 13,111 vs. Harvard
1996 - 10,119 vs. Yale

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Belen Jesuit High School has been an Ivy League and Dartmouth favorite recruiting ground for a while now, sending Pete Pidermann '10, Diego Fernandez-Soto '12 and Anthony Diblasi '12 to Dartmouth in recent years. Could there be yet another Belen product headed this way? The Miami Herald writes of running back/safety Frankie Hernandez:

Hernandez has already proven he can excel both on-and-off the field. His top-notch grades and superb football skills have caught the attention of Ivy League schools, including Dartmouth.

“He is one of the top-five players I’ve had in my 30-years of coaching,” coach Rich Stuart said. “He’s a very smart, physical, all-around player. Whatever college gets him is going to get a steal.”

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The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story about the Quakers' bid for a third-consecutive Ivy League championship.

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Part 2 of the preseason video look at Week 2 opponent Sacred Heart can be viewed here.

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The Yale preview will be up on Big Green Alert premium later today.