Enough Said

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STATS has a Dartmouth-Harvard game story HERE.

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The Valley News story is HERE.

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The Boston Globe covers the epic battle HERE.

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The Boston Herald report is HERE.

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Harvard Crimson coverage is HERE.

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The Dartmouth Sports Publicity story is HERE.

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The BGA Premium game story went up after got home a little after 2 in the morning, after which we stood in front of the TV and watched a replay of the end of the game in disbelief.

With another Friday night game on tap, there will be two follow stories at some point today. The Optimist-The Pessimist will get pushed up and full coverage of the week of practice will kick off with Monday's first session.

This Is It

(When teams are tied in the standings the default is their overall record. When the overall record is tied the next default is alphabetical, which is why Dartmouth is listed ahead of Harvard, why Brown is ahead of Penn and why Princeton is ahead of Yale.)

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Harvard-Dartmouth, or maybe it's Dartmouth-Harvard is the STATS FCS game of the week Here's the bottom line by the top FCS media outlet (LINK):

If the Crimson are ever going to lose a night game at Harvard Stadium - they are 11-0 - Mischief Night seems like the appropriate time. But Dartmouth some has some demons - only one win over the Crimson in the last 18 years. Harvard, 28-24.

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STATS also has a full story on the game HERE.

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The Harvard Crimson has a preview HERE. From the story:

“Every game is important because we know that we get every team’s best shot,” said (Harvard) senior offensive lineman Cole Toner. “But this is the big one.”

And . . .

“We know that this is our Ivy League championship basically,” (Harvard safety Scott) Peters said. “This is why we do all the winter workouts and all the spring ball.... It’s for games like this.” 

A reminder that the game is being carried on NBCSN, formerly the NBC Sports Network. That's not your regular NBC station but a cable/satellite channel. Check your "guide" to see if you get the station.

Audio of the game will be available on the Ivy League Digital Network and on WFRD, 99.3 FM with Adam Giardino and Wayne Young calling the action. The Harvard radio broadcast is available on WXKS 1200 AM and WRHB 95.3 FM.

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Harvard Schedule
Sept. 19 at Rhode Island W 41-10
Sept. 26 Brown W 53-27
Oct. 2 Georgetown  W 45-0
Oct. 10 at Cornell W 40-3
Oct. 17 at Lafayette W 42-0
Oct. 24 Princeton W 42-7
Oct. 30 Dartmouth
Nov. 7 at Columbia
Nov. 14 Penn
Nov. 21 at Yale

Dartmouth Schedule
Sept. 19 at Georgetown  W 31-10
Sept. 26 Sacred Heart W 49-7
Oct. 3 at Penn W 41-20
Oct. 10 Yale W 35-3
Oct. 17 at Central Connecticut W 34-7
Oct. 24 Columbia W 13-9
Oct. 30 at Harvard
Nov. 6 Cornell
Nov. 14 at Brown
Nov. 21 Princeton

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A lot of followers of Ivy League football seem to prefer out-of-conference games against traditional Patriot League opponents rather than matchups with Northeast Conference and out-of-region teams. The Lehigh Brown and White writes about scheduling challenges for the Patriot League with a mention of the former agreement between that conference and the Ivy League. (LINK)

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We'll be heading to Harvard this afternoon and thanks to the ever-patient Mrs. BGA – who is pretty geeked up for the game by the way – I'll be able to write on the laptop during the ride back home. It's going to be a late one, so you East Coast folks might want to read it with your morning OJ. There will be follow stories on both Saturday and Sunday.

If you haven't visited BGA Premium this week, head over now because the past few days included lengthy interviews with Defensive Coordinator Don Dobes and Offensive Coordinator Keith Clark as well as a detailed preview with thoughts from head coach Buddy Teevens. As always, a huge thanks to the coaches for spending the time to talk after practice each day during a very busy week.

While You Are Waiting . . .

The full BGA Daily will be along in a little bit. In the meantime, be sure to check out this BOSTON GLOBE STORY on the lifelong journey of good friends Buddy Teevens and Tim Murphy, whose teams will square off tonight for the Ivy League lead.

Throwback Thursday

A few scenes from Dartmouth's past including one from 1990 featuring the Big Green players who helped beat Japanese all-stars in the Epson Ivy Bowl in Yokohama, 47-10, on Christmas Eve 1990.

One Day To Go

Here's what Dartmouth will be wearing when it comes down from The Woods to play at Harvard on Friday night:

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If you are headed to the Dartmouth-Harvard (or the Harvard women's ice hockey game for that matter) the school has issued a parking advisory about an expected "high volume of vehicles expected." Find the advisory HERE. The lot will open at 5 p.m. and it will cost you $20 to park.

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Dartmouth's game notes for tomorrow can be found HERE. From the notes for the undefeated and No. 22 Dartmouth Big Green's game against No. 15/16 and undefeated Harvard:

The last time two ranked Ivy teams squared off on the gridiron was the Yale-Harvard showdown in 2007. The 11th-ranked Bulldogs, undefeated entering the game, were handed a 37-6 defeat at the Yale Bowl by the 25th-ranked Crimson.

And this . . .

This is the seventh time the Big Green have won their first six games since the advent of Ivy League play in 1956. Good news for Dartmouth fans — the Green won at least a share of the title in each of the previous six instances — 1962, ’65, ’69, ’70, ’71 and ’96. 

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Hero Sport says, "Our mission is to advance interest and appreciation for small-school athletics through aggregating and publicizing stories about teams, players, fans, and coaches," tomorrow night's game deserves national attention. That being the case, Hero has a posting under the headline:

5 Reasons Dartmouth, Harvard is the Best College Football Game This Weekend

It's one of those hugely annoying postings where you have to click on the arrows to cycle through the pages but in this instance you might actually want to do it. Find the posting HERE.

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Three top FCS quarterbacks have been lost for the season due to injury, but Craig Haley of STATS includes Dartmouth's Dalyn Williams in a story about those still in the picture for the national player of the  ear, writing . . .

. . . there are still plenty of other outstanding quarterbacks on the STATS Watch List for offensive player of the year: Kade Bell of Jacksonville, John Gibbs Jr. of Alcorn State, Jacob Huesman of Chattanooga, Eli Jenkins of Jacksonville State, Troy Mitchell of Western Carolina, Dakota Prukop of Montana State, Tre Roberson of Illinois State, Alex Ross of Coastal Carolina, Jordan West of Eastern Washington and Dalyn Williams of Dartmouth.

Find the posting HERE.

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On the eve of a huge game a writer from the Harvard Crimson calls for the school to drop the sport of football. (LINK) He writes that . . .

. . . by maintaining a football team, Harvard is not simply risking the health of its players on a weekly basis, but threatening players’ mental and physical well being for the rest of their lives.

It’s time for the administration to disband Harvard Football.

Dartmouth-Harvard Notes

Dartmouth corner and NFL prospect Vernon Harris talks about the Harvard game and the support the Big Green has received this year in his latest Ivy on Vine missive.

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The Harvard Crimson has a column spun out of Saturday's 42-7 win over Princeton in what Crimson coach Tim Murphy had anticipated would his team's first real test of the season. (LINK)

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A few interesting tidbits taken directly from the Ivy League and Harvard releases for this week:

• "Streaks will be broken in the Dartmouth-Harvard game. Harvard has won 20 in a row (second- longest winning streak in NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl Subdivision) and a program-record 14 consecutive conference games. Dartmouth has won nine straight overall and seven straight on the road (second in the FCS in both behind Harvard)."

• "Over the last four weeks, Harvard has held opponents to a total of 10 points. This marks the best defensive effort in four-straight games since the end of the 1933 and beginning of 1934 seasons (12 points in four games)."

• "Dartmouth has lost 11 straight games and 17 of 18 against Harvard heading into this week’s showdown in Cambridge. The lone victory did come in 2003 at Harvard Stadium, the site of this year’s contest."

• "Harvard has won at least a share of the last two Ivy League titles and is seeking to become the first team to capture three consecutive Ancient Eight titles since Dartmouth (1990-92)."

• "Since 2000, Harvard is 31-1 (.969) when it does not fumble and 31-0 when not committing a turnover."

• "Harvard is the only school in Division I Football Championship Subdivision that has registered three unbeaten, untied seasons since 1995. The Crimson was 9-0 in the 2001 season before going 10-0 in 2004 and 10-0 in 2014."

• "Since the start of the 2010 season, the Crimson is 26-2 (.929) in the friendly confines of Harvard Stadium."

• "Harvard leads the nation in first downs allowed (83), blocked kicks allowed (zero), redzone defense (.545) and scoring defense (7.8). The Crimson also stands second in total defense (265.3) and rushing defense (69.7) and is fifth in scoring offense (43.8)."

Top Winning Percentage in the Nation Since 2001: 
.828  Harvard (120-25)
.779 North Dakota State (116-33)
.772 Montana (152-45)

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The Portal 31 blog reports that Yale has lost 12 players for the season. From the note: "(T)he most notable are DB Foye Oluokun, TE Sebastian Little and RB Candler Rich. Oluokun and Rich are expected to apply for a medical hardship waiver and get an additional year of eligibility."

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Princeton, likewise, has been hard-hit by injuries. Check out the "lede" from the Princeton-Harvard game story from Princeton Tigers Football.

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The University of New Hampshire is doing something novel with a Town Hall to keep students updated on the stadium project over in Durham. UNH Insider reports. There's a photo of the steelwork in place for the stadium on the site.

For renderings of the UNH project, CLICK HERE.

A New Name

It's one thing when a Twitter account – even from a reputable organization – Tweets a college commitment. It's another thing when the subject of that news  re-Tweets it, which is exactly what long snapper Grant Jaffe did (LINK) when "Rubio Long Snapping" reported he has committed to Dartmouth.

Jaffe is a 6-foot-5, 225-pound senior at Santa Margarita High School in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. Here's what longsnapping guru Chris Rubio has written of him (LINK):

He has incredible size and passes an eyeball test immediately. Kid is massive and look like D1 athlete right now. Ball is smooth and very catchable.

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Speaking of special teams standouts, Dartmouth punter Ben Kepley was selected as the Ivy League special teams player of the week by the conference office. (LINK) From the release:

Dartmouth junior punter Ben Kepley (Charlotte, N.C.) played a huge role in keeping the Big Green undefeated in a 13-9 win over Columbia. In a game that hinged on field position, Kepley was called upon a career-high 11 times to boot the ball, averaging 38.5 yards per punt, while dropping four inside the 20-yard line. His  first three punts all came from his own end zone, two of which he launched 50 or more yards with a total of seven (return) yards on the three kicks. Of his 11 punts (one shy of the school record), seven were high enough to warrant a fair catch and only one was returned at all. 

Named to the honor roll were Cody Fullerton Fulleton and Dalyn Williams. (Sometimes I hate spell check ;-)

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The Wise Guys have installed Harvard as a 7.5 point favorite over Dartmouth.
Elsewhere, they like:

Brown at home by 1 over Penn
Yale at home by 10.5 over Columbia
Princeton at home by 23 over Cornell

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STATS FCS Poll
1. Jacksonville State (6-1)
2 Coastal Carolina (7-0)
3. Illinois State (6-1)
4. Chattanooga (6-1)
5 Eastern Washington (5-2)
6. Richmond (6-1)
7. North Dakota State (5-2)
8 Sam Houston State (5-2)
9. James Madison (7-1)
10. McNeese State (7-0)
11. Fordham (7-1)
12. Portland State (6-1)
13. Eastern Kentucky (5-2)
14. South Dakota State (5-2)
15. Harvard (6-0)
16. William & Mary (5-2)
17. Montana (4-3)
18. UNI (3-4)
19. Montana State (4-3)
20. North Carolina A&T (6-1)
21. Indiana State (4-3)
22. Dartmouth (6-0)
23. Western Illinois (4-3)
24. Charleston Southern (6-1)
25. Youngstown State (3-4)
Others Receiving Votes: Southern Utah (354) , Grambling State (147) , South Dakota (117) , Southeastern Louisiana (92) , Bethune-Cookman (65) , Alcorn State (63) , UT Martin (61) , Citadel (60) , Eastern Illinois (33) , Villanova (32) , Southern Illinois (26) , New Hampshire (26) , Western Carolina (19) , Liberty (18) , Towson (15) , Central Arkansas (14) , Dayton (12) , Cal Poly (10) , North Dakota (9) , Northern Arizona (6) , Prairie View A&M (5) , Southern University (4) , Jacksonville (4) , Furman (2) , Kennesaw State (2) , Penn (1) , South Carolina State (1) , Bryant (1)

FCS Coaches Poll
1. Coastal Carolina (7-0)
2.  Jacksonville State (6-1)
3. Illinois State (6-1)
4. Chattanooga (6-1)
5 Eastern Washington (5-2)
6. North Dakota State (5-2)
7. McNeese State (7-0)
8. Richmond (6-1)
9. James Madison (7-1)
10 Sam Houston State (5-2)
11. Fordham (7-1)
12. Portland State (6-1)
13. South Dakota State (5-2)
14. Eastern Kentucky (5-2)
15. William & Mary (5-2)
16. Harvard (6-0)
17. Montana (4-3)
18. Montana State (4-3)
19. Charleston Southern (6-1)
20. North Carolina A&T (6-1)
21.UNI (3-4)
22. Dartmouth (6-0)
23. Indiana State (4-3)
24/t. Southern Utah (5-2)
24/t. Youngstown State (3-4)
Others Receiving Votes: The Citadel 50, Western Illinois 46, Grambling State 29, Southeastern Louisiana 18, Bethune-Cookman 14, Towson 11, Villanova 9, South Dakota 8, Eastern Illinois 7, Liberty 7, New Hampshire 4, Delaware 3, Alcorn State 3, Central Arkansas 2, UT Martin 1

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Worried about Harvard tickets for Friday night?

You can check HERE and see there are p-l-e-n-t-y available. Click through to a section and it will show you exactly what seats have been sold and what's left.

Teevens And Murphy

Thanks to a BGA loyalist for a link to a story by longtime Boston Herald writer John Connolly on the Buddy Teevens-Tim Murphy Showdown in Beantown. Find the story HERE.

Practice Today

A reminder that I needed myself – With the Harvard game on Friday night the practice chedule has been pushed up. The team will be on the field today at 4:15.

Check BGA Premium tonight for what figures to be an interesting report (if I say so myself ;-).

Also on tap is The Optimist and The Pessimist, which could be interesting as well . . .

Harvard Week Begins

The Dartmouth school paper has the Columbia game story HERE.

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The Harvard Crimson game story on a 42-7 thrashing of Princeton in which Harvard accumulated 647 yards of total offense can be found HERE.

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Here are the Sagarin Ratings for this week. The sequence of three numbers is preseason, consecutive weeks, and this week in bold.

Ivy League
Harvard 142, 140, 141, 128, 123, 107, 88, 94, 85
Dartmouth 172, 177, 174, 130, 124, 105, 108, 120
Princeton 198, 202, 203, 157, 147, 164, 153, 165, 168
Penn 212, 213, 211, 221, 195, 202, 190, 181, 172
Yale 182, 185, 187, 184, 181, 171, 178, 166, 174
Brown  196, 198, 201, 201, 204, 203, 189, 180, 175
Columbia 240, 242, 239, 233, 237, 228, 220, 232, 227
Cornell 234, 233, 234, 231, 229, 225, 230, 234, 237
(253 ranked)

Nonconference Opponents
Georgetown  225, 234, 225, 225, 221, 222, 209, 215, 208
Sacred Heart 200, 203, 167, 200, 216, 214, 202, 196, 217
Central Connecticut 224, 224, 232, 224, 235, 235, 231, 228, 225

Last This Week
Davidson 253

Massey National Ratings
(FCS only)
1. Harvard
2. Illinois State
3. Dartmouth
4. North Dakota State
5. South Dakota State

27. Princeton
30. Yale
31. Penn
34. Brown
80. Columbia
107. Cornell

59. Georgetown
78. Central Connecticut
82. Sacred Heart

125. Mississippi Valley State

Massey Chances of Winning:

Dartmouth
at Harvard 21 percent
Cornell 99 percent
at Brown 80 percent
Princeton 83 percent

Harvard
Dartmouth 79 percent
at Columbia 99 percent
Penn 95 percent
at Yale 93 percent

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In case you missed it . . .

Do check out the Valley News story on Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams. The shame is that it ran in Sunday's paper after so many alums had left town. Having worked at the paper, I understand the reasons – but that doesn't mean it's not a shame. Find the story HERE.

There was also a sidebar that told the story of Williams' recruitment. Find that story HERE.

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Also, because Mondays draw the most readers to this site, and because this information was well-received, it's worth repeating that a former Dartmouth captain has discovered that the old CW Pack collection of Dartmouth photos for all but three years between 1977 and 2007 is now available for sale. Find more information on the previous BGA Daily post HERE.

Saturday Wrap

A look at yesterday's games for Dartmouth opponents with a comment or two . . .

Harvard 42, Princeton 7
Par for the course. The Crimson (6-0, 3-0 Ivy League) is averaging 43.8 points per game and giving up 7.8. Harvard's last four scores are ridiculously similar: 45-0, 40-3, 42-0, 42-7. Scott Hosch passed for 437 yards and four touchdowns and Paul Stanton Jr. ran for 119 yards as Harvard exploded all over Princeton (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) after a scoreless first quarter.

Brown 44, Cornell 24
The Bears (4-2, 2-1 Ivy League) jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, starting the scoring just 36 seconds in on a 59-yard pass from Marcus Fuller to Alexander Jette. Fuller finished with 312 yards and Johnny Pena ran for 112 and four touchdowns to keep Cornell (0-6 0-3 Ivy) winless. The only team to score two touchdowns against Harvard, Brown has won four games in a row since losing in Cambridge, 53-27.

Central Connecticut 26, Sacred Heart 10
The Pioneers (3-5, 2-1 NEC) got 272 passing yards from quarterback RJ Noel and 13 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown from receiver Tyler Dube but had trouble finding the end zone. Sacred Heart (4-3, 1-1 NEC) won the battle of first downs, 21-12, outgained the Blue Devils, 443-288, and turned the ball over just one time. And lost.

Georgetown 17, Bucknell 9
Jo'el Kampala ran for 142 yards for the Hoyas (4-4, 2-1 Patriot League), who managed to win giving up yardage not unlike Sacred Heart, being outgained 412-288. Bucknell (3-4, 0-2 Patriot) got 338 yards through the air from quarterback RJ Nitti and had both a 100-yard rusher and 100-yard receiver. And despite winning the turnover battle the Bison lost.

And once more from Friday night . . .

Penn 34, Yale 20
Yale (4-2, 1-2 Ivy League) quarterback Morgan Roberts was intercepted twice in the end zone and once at the Quaker 11. Penn quarterback Alek Torgersen completed 25-of-35 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns and Tre Solomon ran for 121 yards and one touchdown for Penn (3-3, 2-1 Ivy).

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The Columbia Spectator story on the Dartmouth-Columbia game is HERE.

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Not sure if you can access it but there's a very lengthy and detailed profile on Dalyn Williams in the Valley News HERE under the headline: From the Bayou to the Big Green: Dynamic QB Shatters Records, Electrifies Dartmouth Football. It's a must-read.

Week Six Kicks Off

"Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad."

There may be no better illustration of that aphorism than what happened in last night's nationally televised Ivy League game.

Yale quarterback Morgan Roberts was intercepted twice in the end zone and once at the Penn 11, allowing the Quakers to come away with a 34-20 win at Franklin Field before 5,849.

Penn quarterback Alek Torgersen completed 25-of-35 passes for 350 yards and four touchdowns and Tre Solomon ran for 121 yards and one touchdown as Penn improved to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the Ivy League.

Yale, which jumped out to a 10-0 lead and seemed on the verge of going up 17-0 before the first interception, is now 4-2 and 1-2 in the Ivies.

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It might just have been hype for next Friday's nationally televised game between Dartmouth and Harvard but the announcers last night several times referred to comments made by the Penn and Yale coaches about how overpowering the Big Green team is.

Interestingly, though, in flashing the Ivy League standings on the screen the graphic had Harvard atop of Dartmouth. I was always taught that the determination of what team breaks a tie is: 1) league record, then overall record and finally alphabetical order. It doesn't amount to anything but with Dartmouth and Harvard holding the same Ivy League and overall records, the default would usually be alphabetical.

Of course, the only standings that matter a week from now – should both Harvard and Dartmouth hold serve today – is which team still has a "0" in the Ivy League loss column, right?

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Clear skies and 25 degrees up here on the mountain this morning. Temperature is expected to be about 50 degrees with 9 mph breezes and no rain when Dartmouth kicks off against Columbia today at 3 p.m.

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If the federal government can move holidays to Friday Monday there's an excuse for holding Throwback Thursday on a Saturday, right? Here are this week's pictures from the Dartmouth football office:

Columbia On Deck

Dartmouth's game notes for tomorrow's game are HERE.

Find Columbia's game notes for tomorrow HERE.

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The Dartmouth has a story under the headline, "Football seeks to maintain focus against struggling Columbia." (LINK)

Tailback Kyle Bramble told the school newspaper:

"A lot of guys are starting to get excited about the week after against Harvard. But all 10 games count, and we don’t want to screw it up by losing to a team like Columbia.”

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The Columbia Spectator preview is HERE. Coach Al Bagnoli made it clear to the Columbia paper that the Lions need to play a game free of miscues:

"I think it'll be a great challenge for our kids. Hopefully we'll step up and acquit ourselves and put this other game behind us … but if we make another four or five mistakes, we're going to see the same results. We've got to quit shooting ourselves in the foot.”

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The Spec joins the national media in covering Dartmouth's Mobile Virtual Player.  (LINK)

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Between stints at the newspaper I worked in the Dartmouth sports information office and one of my responsibilities was to be the staff photographer. In the days before the digital revolution and fully automated cameras that was a whole lot trickier than it is now and I shot enough out-of-focus, poorly exposed pictures as proof. That's why I so admired a fellow who showed up for one game a year toting an absolutely huge lens and who somehow left with photographs of virtually every player on the roster – whether they got into the action or not. Graduating players most years got posters of their pictures and others would stop by the sports information office to look through the proofs and order a few reprints of their own.

Charlie Pack was from C.W. Pack Sports Photography in Honolulu of all places. This is from his web page:

In 1977 C W Pack Sports was started with the mission of providing action photos to student athletes. We know from our personal experience, the importance of the relationships built during the 4 short years of college athletics, and wanted to preserve a small piece of that for athletes of all divisions.

Along the way, we developed strong relationships with coaches, sports information and athletic directors, and felt a personal committment to provide a service to them as well.

After a 1984 article in Sports Illustrated on us and our misssion, we declined offers to expand to national coverage in order to honor the committment to the core schools we had establsihed relationships with.

One of those schools was Dartmouth. C.W. Pack shot photos of schools from Middlebury to Maryland to Miami:

So why bring this up now?

A former Dartmouth captain has tracked down the C.W. Pack archives, which were sold to a company named GameFace Media. If you played football for Dartmouth between 1977 and 2007 and never got your photo or lost it, you are in luck because GameFace is making high-res copies of the photos available. Dartmouth is the first archives being made available.

I have no stake in what GameFace is doing but I'm here to tell you this is an incredible opportunity.

From the GameFace website:

Gameface is the largest publisher of amateur athletic photos in the United States. Our digital collection includes thousands of Dartmouth Football photos from 1977-2007. Click on the galleries below to discover action pictures of you, your family and your friends. We offer reasonable prices for digital downloads, prints and other keepsakes.

Find the Dartmouth archives here. Click through and see what's there. Christmas is coming, you know ;-)

To see exactly how many different players Charlie managed to capture in one game, check out his coverage of the 1996 undefeated Dartmouth team's game against Yale HERE. He was shooting both teams so there's a ton worth looking at for you Yalies as well ;-)

The Back Story

Harvard Magazine has a terrific feature headlined, "Murphy Time

Harvard's greatest football coach—and one of the best anywhere." The story touches on how Harvard's Tim Murphy and Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens were high school teammates and remain best friends.

It also reminds us that the Ivy League has Teevens partially to blame for Murphy heading up the Harvard juggernaut for the past couple of decades instead of running Proctor & Gamble or Hewlett Packard or some such business.

Murphy told the writer of the story:

"I set a goal that I would be a head coach by the time I was 30, and if not, I was going to go back and get my M.B.A."

While a Teevens assistant at Maine, Murphy had been accepted by Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and the Darden School of Business at Virginia. His deadline to become a head coach by age 30 had passed and he was set to leave football behind and start school at Northwestern when everything changed.

From the story:

Before Murphy could become a business student, Teevens resigned to become head coach at his alma mater. Murphy was offered the Black Bears job. “I’d worked so hard to get into a good school and I was so conflicted,” he says. “I asked Kellogg to defer me for a year and I’ll get this head coaching thing out of my system. Twenty-eight years later, I still haven’t.”

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The Ivy League release for Week 6 has been posted HERE. A couple of observations:

• Dartmouth is the only school not to have a running back in the Ivy League top 10 for yards per game. Conversely, it's the only Ivy League school to have a quarterback in the top 10 in rushing.

Quarterback Dalyn Williams is seventh in the Ivies with 45.6 yards per game rushing. Big Green senior Kyle Bramble would be right ahead of him with 46.0 but having missed two games he doesn't qualify for the stats.

Dartmouth will see the second-leading rusher among quarterbacks Saturday in Columbia's Skyler Mornhinweg, who has run for 29.0 yards per game. Harvard's Scott Hosch is next with 26.2.

• Hosch is second in pass efficiency behind Williams and is right up there with Williams  in terms of protecting the football. The Dartmouth quarterback has 13 touchdown passes with one interception. Hosch has 10 touchdown throws with one interception.

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Speaking of Mornhinweg and Columbia, the Roar Lions football blog has a very complimentary look at Dartmouth in advance of Saturday's game. Find it HERE.

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Columbia's advance story on Saturday's game is HERE and there's a link to the game notes that isn't working as of this morning.

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A column in the Cornell Sun includes this line:

Ivy League football just isn’t very good.

Editor's Note: The columnist might be watching the wrong teams. The 22 NFL scouts who have come through Hanover this fall might beg to differ.

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Buddy Teevens gets a brief mention in a column by onetime Florida Gator Shannon Snell about Steve Spurrier's retirement. (LINK)

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FBS teams cannot count wins over Ivy League teams toward bowl qualification. But BYU will be able to count this Saturday's romp over winless Wagner (yes I just wrote that). Wagner, which lost to Columbia a couple of weeks ago, brings the worst scoring average (13.1 points) and the worst defense (33.3 points against) in the Northeast Conference to Provo. Wagner lost its opener at Rice, 56-16.

Here's a quote from Wagner coach  Jason Houghtaling:

"I've said it a number of times the past couple of days, it's about the student-athlete experience. We want to give them the best possible experience they can have. Taking a charter to Utah and playing in a stadium that big, being on a national stage." 

Editor's Note: An FBS game can be a "best possible experience" but this one?

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Fox Sports had a nice piece on Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks and how he finished up his Dartmouth degree after beginning his pro baseball career. (LINK)

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This was a ridiculously bountiful year for our apple trees here on Moose Mountain but it wasn't the best foliage season. That said, it was still pretty. Check out Dartmouth's photo album of foliage on campus HERE.

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The second Q&A featuring your questions for Buddy Teevens appeared on BGA Premium last night. I'll post it for all to see next week. If you don't want to wait, you can read the Q&A and the whole season's worth of stories by taking advantage of the BGA Premium midseason discount HERE.

More National Attention

Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams was already on the STATS watchlist for the outstanding offensive player in the country at the FCS level. (Find his STATS watchlist page with career and current stats HERE.)

Now Williams is one of 32 players named to the College Football Performances Awards Midseason Watchlist for its national performer of the year. Interestingly, Harvard quarterback Scott Hosch is also on that list. Find the list and more information about the CFPA awards HERE.

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Speaking of Dalyn Williams, the Columbia football blog has a posting about him that calls him . . .

. . . the Big Green's once-in-a-generation, or probably once-in-many-generations player.

The posting includes this:

You don't have to stop being a Columbia fan for even a second to still appreciate Williams and his talents. And something tells me that sometime in the coming years, you won't even have to be an Ivy fan to watch him play every fall weekend.

Find the posting HERE.

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A Harvard Crimson columnist writes (LINK):

The Crimson has taken the field five times in 2015. All five games have been Harvard routs, with an average margin of victory of 36 points. Halfway through its season, the undefeated Crimson hasn’t faced an opponent that can compete with the team for one quarter—let alone an entire game.

While acknowledging that Harvard's game against Princeton this week could be the first competitive game of the year for the Crimson, the columnist is already looking forward to next week's matchup with Dartmouth. From the story:

For the first time, Harvard will face a worthy adversary. Indeed, despite the absence of a championship pedigree for the Big Green in recent years, the Crimson would be wise to look at Dartmouth as an equal.

There's a lot more Dartmouth fans will enjoy reading including this:

If you’re a true Crimson fan, you’ve had this game circled in red on the schedule before the season even began. The championship race in the Ivy League will swing significantly based on the outcome of the heavyweight battle next Friday under the lights of Harvard Stadium.

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Linebacker Will McNamara talks with 60 Minutes.

Last night's BGA Premium report led off with a note about a crew from 60 Minutes coming to Hanover in advance of a story on safety in football. Head coach Buddy Teevens, linebacker Will McNamara, corner Vernon Harris and former defensive tackle Elliot Kastner  – an engineer helping develop the Mobile Virtual Player – all went before the camera.

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Speaking of Teevens and safety in football, the school newspaper The Dartmouth has a lengthy story about how the Dartmouth coach's approach to player safety developed. In the story Teevens talks about what he learned from Steve Spurrier, Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh and current St. Louis Rams coach Jeff Fischer.

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The UNH Insider blog has a piece about the University of New Hampshire football team's streak of appearing in the national top-25 has come to an end after a remarkable 11 years, covering 162 weeks worth of polls.

From the post (italics are mine):

UNH lost 34-18 at then-No. 24 William & Mary last Saturday and fell out of the STATS poll that was announced Monday afternoon. The Wildcats were the first team outside the Top 25, just two points behind undefeated Dartmouth, which had been unranked and moved into the No. 25 spot.

Putting the UNH streak in perspective:

With UNH's streak halted at 162, Montana inherits the record of longest run in the Top 25 at 80 weeks.

For what it's worth, Dartmouth and UNH renew their rivalry in the 2016 season opener on Sept. 17 at Memorial Field.

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The Bradenton, Fla. newspaper writes about Dartmouth offensive lineman Josh Clark (LINK):

Offensive lineman typically get noticed when something wrong happens on the football field, whether it's a missed blocking assignment or a false start penalty.

But for Bradenton Christian alum Josh Clark, he's getting noticed for how his college team is doing this year.

Dartmouth is unbeaten at 5-0, ranked No. 25 in the latest Football Championship Series (Division I-AA) STATS Poll and shares the top spot in the Ivy League with Harvard.

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Last week's Questions For Coach posting on BGA Premium drew so many questions that they've spilled over to another week. Tonight's posting will include Coach Teevens' answers to more of the best questions that you submitted. If you've got a question that is nagging at you there's still time to send it along if you hurry. Once again, I'll choose a representative sampling of what I think are the most interesting questions and present them to the coach after practice today.

Click on the link below and it should address an email to me with the subject line Questions for 
Coach.

Questions For Coach 

The previous Questions For Coach is available to everyone HERE.

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And finally, thanks to those of you who have hopped on the Big Green bandwagon and taken out a midseason subscription to BGA Premium via this special offer. There's still plenty of room for more ;-)

By signing up for BGA Premium you get access to all the full-length stories that have been posted seven days a week since Aug. 16 as well as access to the site until next August. You also help support this page spreading the good word about the Big Green program. So I thank you and others who come by here each day (hopefully) thank you as well.

Pulling Rank

From the official Dartmouth web page:

Find the story about Dartmouth being ranked 25th in the STATs poll HERE.

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The Big Green is just outside the other major FCS poll . . .

FCS Coaches Poll
1. Coastal Carolina (6-0)
2. Jacksonville State (5-1)
3. James Madison (7-0)
4. Illinois State (5-1)
5. Chattanooga (5-1)
6. South Dakota State (5-1)
7. Eastern Washington (4-2)
8. North Dakota State (4-2)
9. McNeese State (6-0)
10. Sam Houston State (4-2)
11. Fordham (6-1)
12. Richmond (5-1)
13. Portland State (5-1)
14. Eastern Kentucky (4-2)
15. Harvard (5-0)
16. William & Mary (4-2)
17. Youngstown State (3-3)
18. Montana (3-3)
19. Montana State (3-3)
20. Charleston Southern (5-1)
21. Indiana State (4-2)
22. Villanova (3-3)
23. Western Illinois (4-2)
24. North Carolina A&T (5-1)
25. Northern Iowa (2-4)

Others Receiving Votes: Dartmouth (5-0), New Hampshire (23), Southeastern Louisiana (22), Cal Poly (20), Liberty (17), Grambling State (16), Southern Utah (14), Jacksonville (14), The Citadel (13), Towson (5), Alcorn State (5), Furman (4), South Dakota (4), Bethune-Cookman (4), North Dakota (2), Weber State (2), Eastern Illinois (1).

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Named to the Ivy League honor roll last week were:

Eric Wickham, Dartmouth (Sr., LB - Richmond, Ga.)
7 tkls. (5 solo), 1.5 Sacks, 2.5 TFL, 1 FF 

Dalyn Williams, Dartmouth (Sr., QB - Corinth, Texas)
23-33-1, 249 yds., 3 TDs, 10 car. for 60 yds. 

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The Wise Guys have spoken and made Dartmouth a 34.5 point favorite over Columbia. Elsewhere it's:

Harvard by 21.5 at home over Princeton
Brown by 11.5 at Cornell
Yale at Penn is a pick 'em.

How did the Wise Guys' early line hold up last week?

• They had Princeton by 7.5 over Brown and Brown won, 38-31.
• They had Columbia within 7 of Penn and the Lions got trounced, 42-7.
• They had Maine by 3 points over Yale and Yale won, 21-10.
• They had Harvard by 32 over Lafayette and the Crimson won, 42-0.
• And finally, they had Dartmouth by 31 over Central Connecticut and the Big Green won by 27.

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There's supposed to be a VERY interesting media presence at Dartmouth football practice today. Check in with BGA Premium tonight to get the skinny.

Speaking of which, a few of you took up the offer to sign up for BGA Premium at a discount rate yesterday. It's always one game at a time, of course, but that Harvard game is coming. Be ready for it by signing up for BGA now. Find the first-ever BGA special offer HERE.

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Dartmouth product Kyle Hendricks will be on the hill for the Chicago Cubs in tonight's National League Championship Series game against the New York Mets. Read what Cubbies manager Joe Maddon thinks and hear what Hendricks has to say HERE. Former Princeton basketball and baseball star Chris Young is throwing for the Kansas City Royals this afternoon. Pretty amazing, huh?

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From the Dartmouth football office:

Dartmouth Replaces UNH In Top 25

From STATS:

Some bragging rights in the Granite State shifted Monday, and the University of New Hampshire Wildcats are not going to be happy about it.

UNH was the first team sitting outside the STATS FCS Top 25 this week, ending the defending CAA champion's run of 162 straight appearances in the national media poll.

The team that snuck into the rankings in front of it? Upstate neighbor Dartmouth, which made its season debut in the poll at No. 25. The Ivy League title hopeful is located in Hanover, about 100 miles northwest of the UNH campus.

1 Jacksonville State (5-1) 3897 (108) 1
2 Coastal Carolina (6-0) 3743 (27) 3
3 Illinois State (5-1) 3628 (6) 4
4 James Madison (7-0) 3594 (18) 5
5 Chattanooga (5-1) 3170 6
6 South Dakota State (5-1) 3120 7
7 Eastern Washington (4-2) 2933 8
8 North Dakota State (4-2) 2777 2
9 Sam Houston State (4-2) 2592 9
10 Fordham (6-1) 2332 10
11 Richmond (5-1) 2279 13
12 McNeese State (6-0) 2224 15
13 Eastern Kentucky (4-2) 2065 14
14 Portland State (5-1) 2052 17
15 Harvard (5-0) 1530 18
16 Youngstown State (3-3) 1321 11
17 William & Mary (4-2) 1252 24
18 Indiana State (4-2) 1181 21
19 Montana (3-3) 1093 20
20 Western Illinois (4-2) 825 NR
21 Montana State (3-3) 766 16
22 UNI (2-4) 631 12
23 Villanova (3-3) 501 25
24 North Carolina A&T (5-1) 491 NR
25 Dartmouth (5-0) 349 NR
Others: New Hampshire (347) , Charleston Southern (210) , Southern Utah (113) , South Dakota (92) , Grambling State (88) , Southeastern Louisiana (83) , Alcorn State (55) , Cal Poly (39) , North Dakota (39) , Bethune-Cookman (35) , UT Martin (33) , Liberty (30) , Weber State (29) , Citadel (26) , Furman (20) , Jacksonville (20) , Southern Illinois (12) , Dayton (12) , Eastern Illinois (8) , Western Carolina (8) , Central Arkansas (8) , Lamar (5) , Princeton (4) , Bryant (3) , Northern Arizona (2) , Prairie View A&M (2) , Monmouth (2) , Kennesaw State (2) , Southern University (1) , Stony Brook (1)

BGA Special Offer

The Dartmouth football team is 5-0 for the first time since 1997 and is bidding for its first Ivy League championship since the year before that.

There's room on the bandwagon but to climb onboard you need to get up to speed and Big Green Alert Premium can help. For the first time in 11 years of BGA you can sign up for the second half of the season – for less than half the price of a regular subscription.

That’s right, $35 will bring you coverage of EVERY practice and EVERY game, meaning at least nine stories a week. There are full stories seven days a week.

As a bonus, if you sign up now you will have access to the entire index of stories already posted. That’s 73 full-length stories since Aug. 16. But as they say on TV, wait, there’s more. You’ll also have access to the annual early decision recruiting story in December and coverage of EVERY spring practice in 2016.

Why sign up now? Because there’s something that feels pretty historic happening in Hanover and you don’t want to miss it.

CLICK HERE to learn more and/or sign up!

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AS PROMISED LAST WEEK to those of you who submitted questions for Dartmouth Coach Buddy Teevens, you now have access to that BGA Premium story. To read his answers to your questions, CLICK HERE.

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Here are the Sagarin Ratings for this week. The sequence of three numbers is preseason, consecutive weeks, and this week in bold.

Ivy League
Harvard 142, 140, 141, 128, 123, 107, 88, 94
Dartmouth 172, 177, 174, 130, 124, 105, 108
Princeton 198, 202, 203, 157, 147, 164, 153, 165
Yale 182, 185, 187, 184, 181, 171, 178, 166
Brown  196, 198, 201, 201, 204, 203, 189, 180
Penn 212, 213, 211, 221, 195, 202, 190, 181
Columbia 240, 242, 239, 233, 237, 228, 220, 232
Cornell 234, 233, 234, 231, 229, 225, 230, 234
(253 ranked)

Nonconference Opponents
Sacred Heart 200, 203, 167, 200, 216, 214, 202, 196
Georgetown  225, 234, 225, 225, 221, 222, 209, 215
Central Connecticut 224, 224, 232, 224, 235, 235, 231, 228

Last This Week
Davidson 253

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And you are going to love this. Not sure how it will play around the rest of the country, though ;-)

Massey National Ratings
1. Harvard
2. Dartmouth
3. South Dakota State
4. Illinois State
5. North Dakota State
28. Yale
32. Princeton
41. Brown
44. Penn
97. Columbia
101. Cornell

58. Sacred Heart
72. Georgetown
92. Central Connecticut

125. Mississippi Valley State

Weekend Wrap

And then there were two.

With Brown's win over Princeton here are just two undefeated teams – overall and in conference play – left in action.

Harvard and Dartmouth.

Saturday's wrap:

Brown 38, Princeton 31
The Bears (3-2, 1-1) struck early and late against the Tigers (4-1, 1-1). Alexander Jette returned the opening kickoff 99 yards to put Brown up, 7-0, and a hit on Princeton quarterback Chad Kanoff led to an interception in Tiger territory with 1:57 left and the winning Brown touchdown run exactly one minute later – with 57 seconds left. Playing again without leading rusher DiAndre Atwater, Princeton's usually potent running attack managed just 74 yards on the ground.

Penn 42, Columbia 7
The much-anticipated Bagnoli Bowl was a bust as Penn (2-3, 1-1) gave up an early touchdown and then ran off the next 42 points before calling off the dogs against its old coach. The Quakers turned four turnovers into touchdowns and limited Florida transfer Styler Mornhinweg to 56 yards passing on 11 completions. Penn finished with 417 yards of total offense while Columbia (1-4, 0-2) was limited to 199.

Harvard 42, Lafayette 0
Lafayette was held to 18 yards on 19 rushes and was just 2-for-15 on third down as Harvard (5-0, 2-0) cruised to its 19th consecutive victory. Paul Stanton ran for 123 yards as the Crimson won for a school-record 13th time in a row on the road. Harvard finished with a 500-197 advantage in total yards against the Leopards (1-6, 0-2 Patriot), whose only win was against woeful Wagner.

Yale 21, Maine 10
The Bulldogs (4-1, 1-1) bounced back from their humbling in Hanover to win at Maine (2-4, 2-1) with help from 139 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Deshawn Salter. Yale quarterback Morgan Roberts was just 14-for-33 passing with one interception but the Bulldogs did even better against Maine's Daniel Collins, holding him to 19-for-49 and picking him off twice.

Sacred Heart 31, Cornell 6
With Luke Hagy lost to a potential concussion on the second play of the game Cornell (0-5, 0-2) had to play without its most dangerous weapon and it showed. Sacred Heart (4-2) posted five sacks and got 202 receiving yards from Tyler Dube to win going away.

Colgate 17, Georgetown 13
The Raiders (3-4, 2-0 Patriot) jumped out to a 17-0 lead and then had to hold on as Georgetown (3-4, 1-1 Patriot) rallied with 13 points in the final period.

Heading Out Early

There are very few days – except when I get tired of going seven-days-a-week from early August until late November – when I wish I were doing something other than BGA. It's Parents Weekend at Penn State and I'll be working while Mrs. BGA is out in Happy Valley.

It wasn't a problem with Parents Weekend at Dartmouth, obviously. But this is the last one for That Certain Nittany Lion and I've missed 'em all. It's disappointing for both of us but he's a huge football fan so he understands. In fact, he and Mrs. BGA plan on watching the stream of the Dartmouth game today and the PSU-Ohio State game on TV tonight.

By I digress. I'm zipping off to New Britain, Conn., at 0-Dark-30. Hope to be on the road home at 4 and back here on the mountain by 7:45. The game story will come sometime thereafter with a couple more stories out of the contest on Sunday.

Be sure to check in Monday for free access to the first reader Q&A with Coach Buddy Teevens as well as something else that may be of interest.

In the meantime, you can catch FREE streaming video of the game at Central Connecticut  HERE. Please note, the link will become active only five minutes before the noon kickoff.

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If you would rather listen to the Dartmouth call of the the game you can hear it on 99 Rock HERE.

See you tonight.

Gearing Up For Central Connecticut

To watch this week's Teevens TeleTeaser click HERE.

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Central Connecticut's game notes for tomorrow's matchup with Dartmouth have been posted HERE. The notes report that Dartmouth is the first Ivy League team ever to visit Arute Field.

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Dartmouth's game notes have been posted HERE. They begin this way:

The Dartmouth steamroller brings its explosive offense and suffocating defense to New Britain this Saturday to take on a Northeast Conference foe in Central Connecticut State. The Big Green have won seven straight games dating back to last season, all by at least 21 points, and are one of just eight un- beaten teams remaining in the FCS (three of which are in the Ivy League).

The Dartmouth game notes point out that the Big Green is looking for just its second 3-0 nonconference slate since last winning the Ivy League title in 1996. The only other time it happened was in 2010 when Dartmouth beat Bucknell, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross. Ironically, Dartmouth finished 3-4 in the Ivy League that fall.

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Again, you can catch streaming video of the game at Central Connecticut via this LINK, which will become active five minutes before the noon kickoff.

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If you can only listen, the game is on 99 Rock with Wayne Young and Adam Giardino HERE.

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It's just a paragraph but the Dartmouth-Central Connecticut game leads the Boston Globe college football roundup HERE.

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The latest Ivy on Vine posting from Dartmouth corner Vernon Harris gives you his new appreciation for Homecoming as an event, as well as a quick nod to the win over Yale.

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Speaking of Homecoming, check out this short Dartmouth-produced video about first-years freshmen enjoying their first Dartmouth Night.

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Former Dartmouth quarterback Jonathan DiBiaso has completed 4-of-6 passes for 29 yards in his first season at Tufts. Find his Tufts bio HERE. The long-suffering Jumbos are off to a 3-0 start and play host to 3-0 Trinity College tomorrow. When DiBiaso looks across the field he'll see a corner named Hernandez who might look a little familiar. That's because Daniel Hernandez is the younger brother of Dartmouth senior nickel Frankie Hernandez.

Looking Good

A drone's eye look at sold-out Memorial Field for Saturday's Homecoming win over Yale. (Photo courtesy of Dartmouth. Click to enlarge.)

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Want to guess what the No. 1 play of the week was in Ivy League sports last week? You don't have to guess. You can CLICK HERE and watch it.

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Congratulations to Matt Hewitt, the former Arkansas Razorbacks safety now helping out as Dartmouth's quality control defensive assistant. He's being inducted into the Alfred State (NY) Athletic Hall of Fame tomorrow. From the Olean Times Herald:

Hewitt was one of the top defensive playmakers in Alfred State football history. He was a two time All-Northeast Football Conference selection while finishing his career with 190 tackles and seven interceptions.

During his freshmen season, Hewitt led the Pioneers with 103 tackles. 41 of his tackles were solo and six were for a loss. He also intercepted four passes, recovered three fumbles, and forced another fumble.

In 2005, he led Alfred State with 87 tackles despite missing two games. Forty of his tackles were solo and six were for a loss. He intercepted three passes and recovered on fumble.

After Alfred State, Hewitt transferred to the University of Arkansas where he recorded 181 tackles, a sack, two interceptions, and three fumble recoveries. He appeared in the Capital One Bowl and the Cotton Bowl during his team with the Razorbacks.

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So what "look" will the Big Green have on display for Saturday's game at Central Connecticut? Check it out:

A reminder that you can watch, free of charge, streaming video of the game at Central Connecticut via this LINK. Keep in mind that you will be watching the Central Connecticut stream with the Blue Devils' announcing crew.

If you are planning to go to the game, find directions from points north, south, east and west HERE. In case you are wondering, Arute Field is about 15 minutes from Hartford.

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Questions for Coach, the post featuring Buddy Teevens' answers to your questions, was posted on BGA Premium last night for subscribers. It will be freely available Monday with a link that will appear here on BGA Daily. Because so many excellent questions were asked, part two will appear on BGA Premium next Wednesday and will be reprised via a link here several days later.

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It's Throwback Thursday again, thanks to the football office. Enjoy a look back. Click photos to enlarge them:

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And finally, you know that line, "Round the girdled earth they roam?"

I just got an email from a former player who was here Saturday and is now in Moscow. Yesterday I got an email from an alum working in Nairobi. And one of the questions asked of Coach Teevens came from Florence.

Just when I wonder if it's worth the time doing the BGA Daily I hear from people around the world and think yeah, I guess it is ;-)