Setting The Stage

Regardless of how you feel about black uniforms, you have to admit that on a night when they are trying to have a "blackout" at Memorial Field these outfits are somehow appropriate. Here's the Dartmouth uniform combination for Friday's Penn game:

The Daily Pennsylvanian previews the Ivy League opener between Dartmouth and Penn HERE.

From the story:

The Big Green (2-0) lost almost the entirety of their starting lineup, while all of the Quakers’ weapons have returned. In an apparent reversal of expectations, it has been the Hanoverians that have jumped out quick in the beginning of the season, while the Red and Blue are mired in a winless start.

But that ignores the reality of scheduling.

For Penn, opening the year against Lehigh and Fordham is a purposeful test. The Mountain Hawks make a ritual of running through Ivy opponents in their non-conference slate and the Rams boast one of the FCS’ preeminent athletes in star running back Chase Edmonds.

The story refers to a "clash of philosophies" between Dartmouth and Penn regarding scheduling and includes this:

Penn and Dartmouth have chosen differently, and this weekend will provide insight into the success of each method.

Interesting.

Dartmouth scheduled two CAA schools (one with the longest streak of NCAA playoff appearances in the nation and the other an NCAA Championship finalist when this year's seniors were freshmen) and a Patriot League team. Penn scheduled two Patriot League schools and Central Connecticut of the Northeast Conference.

Green Alert Take: Message board posters have taken shots in the past at Dartmouth scheduling teams like Butler, Georgetown and yes, Central Connecticut. Not this year. Coming into the season the case could have been made that Dartmouth and Yale (Colgate, Lehigh and Fordham) had the toughest nonconference schedules – with the Big Green's the toughest of all. Penn, meanwhile, dropped its toughest game against Villanova.

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Dartmouth's game notes have been posted HERE.

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Watch this week's Teevens Teleteaser by clicking HERE.

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CLICK HERE to watch Penn Coach Ray Priore's press conference recorded earlier this week.

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Dartmouth's chances of beating remaining opponents according to Massey:

Penn 85 percentYale 92 percentTowson 84 percentColumbia 95 percentHarvard 59 percentCornell 91 percentBrown  87 percentPrinceton 86 percent

Massey's predictions for this weekend:

Dartmouth 28, Penn 13
Princeton 21, Columbia 17
Harvard 34, Georgetown 14
Brown 34, URI  24
Colgate  27, Cornell 17
Lehigh  35, Yale 28
New Hampshire  28, William & Mary 21
Holy Cross 33, Lafayette  24
Richmond 37, Towson 24

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Voting for the Lambert Cup emblematic of "Eastern supremacy," heading into this weekend:

1. Sacred Heart
2. Albany
3. Dartmouth
4. Harvard
5. Villanova
6. Georgetown
7. Fordham
8. James Madison
9. Wagner
10. Stony Brook
11. Delaware
12. Cornell
13. Richmond
14. Bryant
15. Lehigh
16. Monmouth
17. New Hampshire
18. Duquesne
19. Colgate
20. William & Mary

Green Alert Take: Where do I start?