UNH UGH

Pre-pre-pre-preseason polls and publicity can be as ridiculously wrong as they are ridiculously early, but sometimes where there's smoke there's . . . a spark?

In its sneak peek at next season The Sports Network has 2014 Dartmouth opponent New Hampshire slotted fourth in the nation. Here's what TSN writes about the Wildcats:

After a surprising run to the FCS semifinals, the Wildcats will return a superb offense and a fast-improving defense. Two has been better than one at quarterback with Sean Goldrich and Andy Vailas, and the pair will benefit from a 1,000-yard rusher (Nico Steriti) and two 1,000-yard wide receivers (R.J. Harris and Justin Mello). The defense boasts leading tacklers Akil Anderson and Shane McNeely at linebacker as well as fast-rising safety Casey DeAndrade. Coach Sean McDonnell's squad will visit Toledo and host Lehigh.

Yup, it's going to be an interesting start of the 2014 season for the Big Green.

Dartmouth opens next fall against a woeful Central Connecticut State team that went 4-8 last fall and has gone 10-23 over the past three years. One of the Blue Devils' wins last year was over Division III Salve Regina. On the other hand, they had a 37-16 lead over Lehigh with 10:46 to go before losing in double overtime, 51-44. And Lehigh, you may recall, defeated UNH, 34-27.

Dartmouth and New Hampshire renew their rivalry over at Durham in Week Two and the Big Green opens Ivy League play one week later at home against Penn.

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The question earlier this week was, could über-successful UNH football coach Sean McDonnell possibly be heading to Massachusetts? While the UMass school paper reported that he was offered an interview the feeling here was that although McDonnell is the rare successful coach who doesn't even earn as much as his school's hockey coach, he's way, way too smart to make that move. Having his name floated for the position in Amherst certainly didn't hurt his chances of getting a raise and possibly moved along the conversation regarding the sad-sack UNH stadium.

Turns out it's all academic (pardon the pun) because Allen Lessels of the Manchester Union Leader reports that McDonnell turned down the opportunity to interview.

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From Dartmouth Now:

Business Insider ranks Dartmouth No. 1 on its list of colleges where students can get a “true winter experience.” The website makes note of the annual Winter Carnival traditions as well as the College’s winter-themed physical education classes, such as skiing and skating.

Makes sense to me. But then I clicked on the link and Business Insider lost all credibility.

There's nothing much new on the BI site for people who know about Dartmouth and how it embraces winter. But you have to wonder about how tree-lighting and a yule log helps Columbia grab the third spot while Middlebury, which not only has its own downhill ski area but kicks off its midwinter graduation with "Febs" skiing down a slope in their caps and gowns, finishes ninth.

That's even sillier than ranking football teams almost eight months before the next season.