One Up, One Down

If the opening week of the FCS season suggested anything it is that Dartmouth's first opponent this fall may have found the answer to its biggest question, and that the second may struggle even more than expected.

Looking for a replacement for graduated quarterback Greg Sullivan, Week One opponent Colgate saw quarterback Gavin McCarney complete 17-of-24 passes for 210 yards without an interception and run for 114 yards on 21 carries as Colgate clawed its way back from a 31-21 halftime deficit to defeat Albany in overtime, 37-34. (story and stats) Nate Eachus ran for 165 yards on 36 carries including the winning touchdown from one yard out after a huge third-down save by McCarney. The Raiders, who surrendered 28 points in the second quarter, pitched a shutout in the second half before giving up a field goal in the top of the overtime inning.

From a Utica Dispatch blog:

“He’s very, very quick, a very, very good athlete who is smart with the ball,” Colgate’s All-American tailback (Eachus) said. “We all believe in him.”

Right, right, right, and I can see why. I had no idea the kid was this good.

And this . . .

McCarney, a 6-2, 192-pounder, was everything Eachus said he was as he accounted for more than 300 yards in offense, passed for two touchdowns, ran for two more, made a lot of very good decisions and very few bad ones. He took his team on wearying scoring drives of 79, 55, 80, 95, and 59 yards . . .

Sacred Heart, meanwhile, was falling at home to Marist, 20-7, before a "crowd" of 2,167. (story and stats) In case you were wondering, Marist was picked eighth of 10 teams in the nonscholarship Pioneer Football League.

As expected, Sacred Heart used two quarterbacks, giving each two series at a time. It's not a good thing when a story in the local paper quotes the head coach saying, "The quarterbacks are a little bit of a problem, but we didn't help them."

He may not have been the first to say it, but back when he was head basketball coach at Providence College former Dartmouth assistant basketball coach Gordy Chiesa, now an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies, said of his team: "We're short but we're slow." That came to mind reading Gorham's comment because the Pioneers compounded their problems by rushing for all of 32 yards on 28 carries.

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A story about Monmouth's loss to Lehigh yesterday sheds some light on the challenges facing Northeast Conference schools like Sacred Heart. From the story:

.... (T)here remains some support among the school presidents within the conference to increase the number of scholarships, if not to 63 then to a number closer to that than the 40 they’re set to expand to in 2013.

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Cornell's Bryan Walters survived the final cut with the San Diego Chargers and the Coast News has a few paragraphs about the "fan favorite."

Ivy Leaguers who got the axe yesterday were Brown's James Develin (Cincinnati), Brown's Buddy Farnham (New England), Yale's Nate Lawrie (San Francisco), Yale's Shane Bannon (Kansas City), Harvard's Collin Zych (Dallas). Ivy Leaguers on NFL rosters on opener day are Zak DeOssie and Kevin Boothe (New York Giants), Matt Birk (Baltimore) and Ryan Fitzpatrick (Buffalo).

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Former Dartmouth assistant Joe Moglia has dipped into the Ivy League to sign Yale grad Tom Mante as a punter for his Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. story

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Check Green Alert premium later today for an informal play-by-play breakdown of yesterday's scrimmaging action.