This And That

Thanks to a regular reader for providing a jayvee schedule card.

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Former Dartmouth tight ends coach Derham Cato '05 shows up on the Vanderbilt coaching page.

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With former Princeton beat writer Craig Haley at the controls, the Ivy League coverage on The Sport Networks' page tends to have a little more insight than many. Haley writes of Dartmouth:

They should be considered the darkhorse in the title race, but probably will have to open league play with a win over Penn and later face Yale, Harvard and Brown on the road.

TSN's Ivy League prediction:
1. Harvard
2. Brown
3. Penn
4. Yale
5. Dartmouth
6. Princeton
7. Columbia
8. Cornell

Given that the media poll also has Dartmouth pegged for fifth, Haley's prediction for the Big Green shouldn't be considered a big surprise. Probably the biggest surprise is that he has Princeton, which was 1-9 last year, finishing sixth. The folks in New York City are going to be up in arms that the Tigers, who went winless in the league last year and fell to Columbia, 42-14, are picked ahead of the Lions, who return a first-team, All-Ivy League quarterback.

Haley's point about the challenge presented by Dartmouth's schedule is well taken. The Big Green plays three of the four teams picked ahead of it on the road, and has only the two-time defending champions at home. How huge is that Penn game shaping up to be?

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Speaking of Penn, the Philly Sports Daily coverage out of the Quakers media day includes this:

(Coach Al) Bagnoli feels confident about his team’s offensive progression resulting from last season’s growing pains, specifically citing the overtime contest against Dartmouth on Oct. 2, 2010, when the Quakers held control before Bagnoli opened up his offense. The premature creativity resulted in a pair of Dartmouth interceptions and a trip to overtime, where the Quakers eventually squeaked out the win.

And this is no surprise . . .

. . . (W)ith a new-look offensive line, comprised mostly of first-time starters, the Quakers are looking for a more dynamic attack in search of their third-straight title. While the returning backfield trio of Brandon Colavita, Jeff Jack and Lyle Marsh will still play a large part in the coach Al Bagnoli’s offense, this year, it’ll be the quarterbacks who will be the focal point.

The Daily Pennsylvanian blog reports on the rebuilding of the Quaker offensive line.

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The official Harvard website has a story under the headline, Football Prognosticators Tab Harvard as Ivy Favorite. It, too, makes reference to the scheduling but in this instance how it favors the Crimson. From the site:

Factoring heavily perhaps in both previews is the fact that Harvard hosts Brown, Dartmouth and Penn at Harvard Stadium while only traveling to consensus contender Yale.

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There was a lot of talk around Ivy outposts over the summer about transfers from Cal and UNH pushing Jeff Mathews for the starting quarterback position at Cornell but if a story from the Cornell Sun is on target, the reigning Ivy League rookie of the year has weathered the storm.

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There was a story about the Dartmouth offensive line on Green Alert premium after yesterday's morning practice and a story about the defensive line following the afternoon practice. If you haven't subscribed yet you are going to have a lot of catching up to do ;-)

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It's the last first day of school here in Hanover for us here on Moose Mountain, and That Certain Hanover High Senior was somewhat less-than-thrilled about hopping the bus at 7:04 this morning. As we have for 15 years we made him pose with That Certain Hanover High Grad at the end of the driveway for a first-day photo. The good news for him is that he has his first varsity golf match tomorrow afternoon and he made it through qualifying earlier this week, meaning he gets to miss his last couple of classes to play golf ;-)