Of Predictions And Polls

It's Ivy League football media day with the conference call set to kick off at 11 a.m. Check back this afternoon and see how my prediction of the poll will hold up.

This not my prediction but how I think the media poll will look:

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

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I have a few questions about some of the information offered by the Football Gameplan video (not sure they realize first-team All-Ivy QB Kyle Newhall-Caballero is back for a fifth year at Brown) but there's no question about how professionally produced it is. And there's no question Dartmouth fans will like Football Gameplan's Ivy League prediction for the 2011 race:

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

FG lists as reasons for optimism at Dartmouth: a good running game, a good passing game, balance overall, can get after the quarterback, the defense can do "just enough."

FG lists as causes for concern: a schedule that features road games at Yale and Harvard.

Some FG superlatives in the order they are offered:

• Best QB - Columbia's Sean Brackett
• Best group of running backs - Dartmouth
• Best receiving corps in the Ivy League - Dartmouth
• Best offensive line - Yale
• Best defensive line, - Penn
• Best linebackers - Yale
• Best defensive backs - Brown
• Best special teams - Princeton
• Offensive MVP - Sean Brackett
• Defensive MVP - Josue Ortiz
• Freshman of the Year - Penn CB Kevin Ijoma
• Best pro prospect - Jordan Haynes, Yale
• Toughest schedule - Princeton
• Team on the Rise - Columbia

Find the nine-minute video here.

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A reminder that the first Green Alert podcast looking at Dartmouth opponents has been posted here. It runs 25 minutes. (As of now I believe it requires that you have Quicktime on your computer. I'm looking into ways around that.)

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The Daily Dartmouth has a one-on-one with linebacker Garrett Wymore, Dartmouth's second-leading tackler as a freshman. Regarding hopes for an Ivy League championship this fall he tells the paper:

The players expect it, the coaches expect it, the alumni expect it. But we have to earn it.

Green Alert Take: Smart kid. That's the perfect answer.

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The New Haven Register reports that to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Yale Bowl the Bulldogs will play host to FBS member Army in 2014. The story notes that five of the top 10 crowds in Bowl history have featured Army.

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This shot was taken last evening as we celebrated our anniversary aboard the M/S Mount Washington on the appropriately named sunset dinner cruise at beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee. It's about a 90-minute drive over there and well worth a visit. (We had our reception on a boat in Boston Harbor and so we celebrate our anniversary with a dinner on the water each year. This might have been the first repeat we've had but it was perfect;-)

One of the highlights of the day was Mrs. BGA, who would be money in the bank if she ever got on Wheel of Fortune, playing a video version of the game twice in a "penny" arcade and the machine absolutely showering her with prize tickets. Two games earned 230 tickets – and those brought more stuff for our next yard sale. By the way, it was a little scary when the attendant said the ticket total was the number of tickets divided by two and then grabbed a calculator to divide 230 in half . . .