Beware The Bulldog

The Pioneer Football League coaches have spoken and they've given Week One Dartmouth opponent Butler a solid shot at winning the PFL title and the coveted automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs that the league will receive for the first time this fall.

The Pioneer Football League Coaches Poll
(first-place votes in parentheses)

1. San Diego (5) 111
2. Butler (4) 110
3. Jacksonville (2) 99
  Drake (1) 99
5. Dayton 85
6. Marist 67
7. Morehead State 65
8. Campbell 49
9. Davidson 42
10. Valparaiso 32
11. Mercer 20
12. Stetson 13

Find the Butler release here. The PFL release is here.

Given the Butler schedule, the opener against South Dakota State and the Dartmouth game could both play a big role in the Bulldogs' seeding should they earn the Pioneer Football League bid:

Butler Schedule
Aug. 31 at South Dakota State
Sept. 7 Wittenberg
Sept. 14 at Franklin
Sept. 21 Dartmouth
Sept. 28 at Jacksonville
Oct. 5 Stetson
Oct. 12 Campbell
Oct. 26 at San Diego
Nov. 2 at Dayton
Nov. 9 Valparaiso
No. 16 Morehead State

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Dartmouth's numerical roster has been posted on the football website. Find it here.  Nothing particularly noteworthy in the numbers although it will be interesting when freshman Danny McManus stands to the right of older brother Ryan. Their uniforms will read 234 with Ryan wearing 2 and Danny 34.

Reminds me of that time at Yale a few years back when they had three kickers (at least I think they were kickers) numbers 1, 2 and 3. They were standing kind of apart from the rest of the team behind the bench in random order during the Yale game and a chant started up from the Yale sidelines. "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3."Sure enough, after a bit and without looking up, the three players rearranged themselves in numerical order, a switch that brought huge applause.

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Kevin Dobes, a former defensive back at Princeton and son of Dartmouth defensive coordinator Don Dobes, has been named director of football operations at Wagner College on Staten Island. Find a story here.

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The local daily caught up with Chris Wilkerson, who is leaving his role as Dartmouth's assistant head coach to take over for onetime Dartmouth assistant Dick Maloney as head coach at the University of Chicago. link

Wilkerson had this to say:

“It had to be a good job to leave here, that’s for sure. The timing is a little bit unique, but you can’t always choose when an opportunity presents itself. I felt very good about the people on Chicago’s campus and it felt like it was the right fit.”

And this:

“You’ve got to be good before you’re great and we’re finally good. I think this is about to be an amazing time for Dartmouth football.”

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There will be "night" football at Dartmouth's Memorial Field this Saturday when the 60th Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl game between graduated seniors from New Hampshire and Vermont kicks off at 5:30 p.m. New Hampshire holds a 44-13-2 advantage in the series, although yet another rule change, this time limiting the number of players from New Hampshire's largest schools, may help the game be more competitive. New Hampshire has won the last 12 games including a 62-24 victory last year.

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From the Penn website:

The University of Pennsylvania’s Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics (DRIA) will celebrate the successful conclusion of its $125 million campaign at Homecoming, which this year runs from November 7-9.

These may be apples and oranges, but this is from the University of New Hampshire website:

What is the current value of the University’s endowment? 

Currently, the University of New Hampshire Foundation manages more than $125,000,000 invested in its endowment. 

Discuss among yourselves.