That Time Of Year

The thought here is that there won't be any head coaching openings in the Ivy League this year but the same can't be said for the Ancient Eight's onetime scheduling partner.

Lafayette of the Patriot League has parted ways with Frank Tavani after a 17-year run that saw the Leopards go 1-10 a year ago and 2-9 this fall. While Lafayette advanced to the 2013 NCAA playoffs, it hasn't had a winning overall record since 2009, going 24-54 since. Tavani finishes with an 84-107 overall record and a 48-55 Patriot League mark.

After a loss to archrival Lehigh at season's end, Tavani was quoted saying this about his job prospects in Lehighvalleylive (LINK):

 "We're not that far off. The vultures can circle, but there's no dead meat here -- and that includes me." Tavani said. "That stuff that people put out there, I got news for them: they owe me a lot of money.

Given the relationship between the Patriot League and the Ivy League it is a safe bet that there will be Ivy assistants in the mix in Easton.

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From a story about the senior quarterback from Shawnee Mission North High School in Overland Park, Kan. (LINK):

While (Will) Schneider has not visited Dartmouth yet, he acknowledged that Big Green head coach Buddy Teevens has reached out to him more than most of his other suitors.

Schneider passed for 3,035 yards and 31 touchdowns with seven interceptions this year. He also ran for 608 yards and 12 TDs. Along the way the four-year starter broke the state record for passing yards with 8,901.

According to the newspaper, Northern Illinois, South Dakota State and Kansas are also courting him.

Flo A Finalist

Folarin "Flo" Orimolade was announced today as a finalist for the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as Ivy League defensive player of the year.

From a Dartmouth release (LINK):

HANOVER, N.H. — The Ivy League unveiled its offensive and defensive finalists for the Asa S. Bushnell Cup this afternoon, and Dartmouth linebacker Folarin Orimolade was one of the two chosen on defense. He was joined by Princeton defensive lineman Kurt Holuba, while the offensive finalists consisted of Penn wide receiver Justin Watson for a second straight year and Princeton running back John Lovett.

A preseason All-American, Orimolade did not disappoint in his senior season, leading the Big Green with 83 tackles, 14.5 for a loss with nine sacks, and five forced fumbles. He is among the nation’s leaders on a per game basis in each of those categories, topping the FCS with 0.5 forced fumbles per game and ranking 12th with 0.9 sacks per game, both of which lead the Ivy League. His 1.45 tackles for a loss per game also place him second in the conference and 22nd nationally.

And The Finalists Will Be . . . Announced Today

From last week's Ivy League release:

The finalists for 2016 Asa S. Bushnell Cup, which recognizes the Ivy League's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, will be unveiled on Tuesday, Nov. 29 on IvyLeagueSports.com. The Bushnell Cup will be presented on Monday, Dec. 5, the day before the 59th National Football Foundation (NFF) Annual Awards Dinner, at a special press conference and reception presented by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses in the Vanderbilt Room of the famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Two thoughts:

1) Dartmouth linebacker Flo Orimolade deserves to be one of the finalists after finishing first in the Ivy League with nine sacks, first in fumbles forced, tied for second in tackles for loss and tied for fifth in the conference with 8.3 tackles per game on a defense that was .3 points from being second in the league for fewest points allowed per game.

2) The irony of a bowl game helping sponsor an award for a league that apparently does not believe in postseason play continues to amuse.

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Asa S. Bushnell Cup Winners
1970 Jim Chasey, QB, Dartmouth & Ed Marinaro, RB, Cornell
1971 Ed Marinaro, RB, Cornell
1972 Dick Jauron, RB, Yale
1973 Jim Stoeckel, QB, Harvard
1974 Walt Snickenberger, RB, Princeton
1975 Doug Jackson, RB, Columbia
1976 John Pagliaro, RB, Yale
1977 John Pagliaro, RB, Yale
1978 Buddy Teevens, QB, Dartmouth
1979 Tim Tumpane, LB, Yale
1980 Kevin Czinger, MG, Yale
1981 Rich Diana, RB, Yale
1982 John Witkowski, QB, Columbia
1983 Derrick Harmon, RB, Cornell
1984 Tim Chambers, DB, Penn
1985 Tom Gilmore, DT, Penn
1986 Rich Comizio, RB, Penn
1987 Kelly Ryan, QB, Yale
1988 Jason Garrett, QB, Princeton
1989 Judd Garrett, RB, Princeton
1990 Shon Page, RB, Dartmouth
1991 Al Rosier, RB, Dartmouth
1992 Jay Fiedler, QB, Dartmouth
1993 Keith Elias, RB, Princeton
1994 Pat Goodwillie, LB, Penn
1995 Dave Patterson, LB, Princeton
1996 Chad Levitt, RB, Cornell
1997 Sean Morey, WR, Brown
1998 Jim Finn, RB, Penn
1999 James Perry, QB, Brown
2000 Gavin Hoffman, QB, Penn
2001 Carl Morris, WR, Harvard
2002 Carl Morris, WR, Harvard
2003 Mike Mitchell, QB, Penn
2004 Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Harvard
2005 Nick Hartigan, RB, Brown
2006 Jeff Terrell, QB, Princeton
2007 Mike McLeod, RB, Yale
2008 Chris Pizzotti, QB, Harvard
2009 Buddy Farnham, WR, Brown & Jake Lewko, LB, Penn
2010 Nick Schwieger, RB, Dartmouth & Gino Gordon, RB, Harvard

Since 2011 the Bushnell has been awarded for offense and defense
2011 Jeff Matthews, QB, Cornell/Josue Ortiz, DL, Harvard
2012 Colton Chapple, QB, Harvard/Mike Catapano, DL, Princeton
2013 Quinn Epperly, QB, Princeton/Zach Hodges, DE, Harvard
2014 Tyler Varga, RB, Yale/Zach Hodges, DE, Harvard & Mike Zeuli, LB, Princeton
2015 Scott Hosch, QB, Harvard/Tyler Drake, LB, Penn

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Here's the trailer for the HBO Real Sports show featuring Dartmouth's Mobile Virtual Player and coach Buddy Teevens:

Rumored Changes Confirmed

Click to enlarge.

In the notes at the end of Sunday's Valley News story about the Dartmouth men's basketball team losing to Marist was confirmation about a rumored coaching change for the Big Green football program.

Here's the text from the screen shot above (highlighting added):

The Dartmouth football coaching staff experienced upheaval this week. Keith Clark, formerly the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, will now focus on the latter job only. Quarterback coach and passing game coordinator Chris Rorke, running backs coach Chad Nice and tight ends coach Kyle Metzler were fired a year after the Big Green shared the Ivy League title. The team was 4-6 overall and 1-6 in league play this season.

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It seemed like quite a coup when defensive lineman Jerry Tillery took a recruiting visit to Dartmouth after committing to Notre Dame a couple of years ago. When he not only saw action but started three games as a true freshman there might have been a "What if" feeling around the Dartmouth football offices.

After what happened Saturday you can bet the feeling has changed. Tillery made headlines all over the place including this one on the Fox Sports College Football page:

Notre Dame lineman put two despicable cheap shots on USC in blowout loss 

Deadspin:

Notre Dame's Jerry Tillery Kicks Head Of Player Who Just Suffered Brain Injury

The Washington Post story and videos can be found HERE.

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Should have posted a link Sunday to New Hampshire's 64-21 win over Lehigh in the FCS playoffs. Kind of makes the Dartmouth win over the Wildcats even more impressive.

Similar Feeling

As was the case at the Dartmouth-Brown football game a year ago when Penn's victory over Harvard opened the door for the Big Green to win the Ivy League championship, the fans knew the good news before the players at Penn State yesterday.

As word spread that Ohio State had defeated Michigan in two overtimes, a roar erupted in Beaver Stadium Saturday, and with it the players and coaches realized that they could clinch a win in the Big Ten championship game with a win over Michigan State. Mission accomplished.

We actually saw *three* fire trucks and two repurposed ambulances in the Penn State tailgating lots.

The littlest lion awaits the arrival of the team.

Flo A Finalist

Dartmouth linebacker Flo Orimolade has been named one of 25 finalists for the Buck Buchanan Award (link) which honors the FCS defensive player of the year. He is the only Ivy Leaguer among the finalists.

From a Dartmouth release:

A preseason All-American, Orimolade certainly lived up to his billing by leading the Ivy League with nine sacks and five forced fumbles, while ranking second with 14.5 tackles for a loss and fifth with 83 total tackles. On a per game basis, the senior from Burtonsville, Maryland, leads the nation in forced fumbles (0.5), plus ranks 11th in sacks (0.9) and 22nd in tackles for a loss (1.45).

Catch You In A Few

We are headed to Boston Friday morning to drop That Certain '14 off for an 8:10 a.m. flight back to Bozeman, Mont., and her winter in Yellowstone. (Yeah, it's a pretty early wake-up call.)

From Logan we are heading straight to Happy Valley for the Penn State-Michigan State football game Saturday afternoon. For those of you keeping score, an Ohio State win over Michigan combined with a Penn State win over Michigan State would send the Nittany Lions to the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.

I left the decision on bringing That Certain Nittany Lion '16 out to the game up to Mrs. BGA and she voted to make the long drive out. For what it's worth, she estimates we have been to at least 200 football games together and have sat together five times (four Penn State games and one UConn). I'm always in the press box and she's always in the stands. This will be our sixth game together in the stands. Should be fun.

Catch you in a few,
-bw-

Enjoy

Looking Ahead

2017 Dartmouth Schedule
Sept. 16 at Stetson
Sept. 23 Holy Cross
Sept. 30 at Penn
Oct. 7 Yale
Oct. 14 at Sacred Heart
Oct. 21 Columbia
Oct. 28 at Harvard
Nov. 4 Cornell
Nov. 11 at Brown
Nov. 18 Princeton

RETURNING ALL-IVY LEAGUE
First Team
None
Second Team
WR Hunter Hagdorn
DL Nick Tomkins
Honorable Mention
OL Matt Kaskey
RB Miles Smith
LB Eric Meile

All-Ivy League Named

Ivy League Release

COACH OF THE YEAR
*Bob Surace, Princeton

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Hunter Hagdorn, Dartmouth (Fr., WR/RS – Manvel, Texas)

FIRST-TEAM ALL-IVY
Offense
Larry Allen, Jr., Harvard (Jr., OL – Danville, Calif.)
*Nick Demes, Penn (Sr., OL – Western Springs, Ill.)
Dave Morrison, Dartmouth (Sr., OL – Latham, N.Y.)
Max Rich, Harvard (Sr., OL – Portland, Ore.)
Mitchell Sweigart, Princeton (Jr., OL – Washington Boro, Pa.)
*Alek Torgersen, Penn (Sr., QB – Huntington Beach, Calif.)
*John Lovett, Princeton (Jr., RB – Wantagh, N.Y.)
*Tre Solomon, Penn (Jr., RB – Brooklyn, N.Y.)
Chris Walker, Cornell (So., RB – Lewisburg, Tenn.)
Alexander Jette, Brown (Sr., WR/RS – North Attleboro, Mass.)
*Justice Shelton-Mosely, Harvard (So., WR – Sacramento, Calif.)
*Justin Watson, Penn (Jr., WR – Bridgeville, Pa.)
Anthony Firkser, Harvard (Sr., TE/HB – Manalapan, N.J.)

Defense
*James Duberg, Harvard (Sr., DT – Chula Vista, Calif.)
Kurt Holuba, Princeton (Jr., DL – Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.)
Richard Jarvis, Brown (Sr., DE – Watertown, Mass.)
Louis Vecchio, Penn (Jr., DE – Orange, Calif.)
Luke Catarius, Princeton (Sr., LB – Sandwich, Mass.)
Folarin Orimolade, Dartmouth (Sr., LB – Burtonsville, Md.)
Gianmarco Rea, Columbia (Sr., LB – Birmingham, Mich.)
William Twyman, Brown (Sr., ILB – Sudbury, Mass.)
James Gales, Princeton (Sr., DB – New York)
*Nick Gesualdi, Cornell (Jr., S – Sykesville, Md.)
Mason Williams, Penn (So., DB – Pasadena, Calif.)
Dorian Williams, Princeton (Sr., DB – Streetsboro, Ohio)

Special Teams
*Oren Milstein, Columbia (Fr., PK – Boca Raton, Fla.)
Chris Fraser, Cornell (Sr., P – Potomac, Md.)
Alexander Jette, Brown (Sr., WR/RS – North Attleboro, Mass.)

SECOND-TEAM ALL-IVY
Offense
Dakota Girard, Brown (Sr., OL – Wellfleet, Mass.)
Matthew Girard, Brown (Sr., OL – Holyoke, Mass.)
Kendall Pace, Columbia (Sr., OL – Suitland, Md.)
Daniel Poulus, Penn (Sr., OL – Park Ridge, Ill.)
Eric Ramirez, Princeton (Jr., OL – York, Pa.)
Chad Kanoff, Princeton (Sr., QB – Pacific Palisades, Calif.)
Alan Lamar, Yale (Fr., RB – Olive Branch, Miss.)
Joe Rhattigan, Princeton (Sr., RB – Naperville, Ill.)
Alan Watson, Columbia (Sr., RB – New Albany, Ohio)
Hunter Hagdorn, Dartmouth (Fr., WR/RS – Manvel, Texas)
Christian Pearson, Penn (So., WR – Northridge, Calif.)
Scott Carpenter, Princeton (Sr., TE – Vienna, Va.)
Matt Sullivan, Cornell (Sr., TE – Pittsford, N.Y.)

Defense
D.J. Bailey, Harvard (So., DE – San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Lord Hyeamang, Columbia (Jr., DL – Lakeville, Minn.)
Henry Schlossberg, Princeton (Sr., DL – Los Angeles)
Nick Tomkins, Dartmouth (Jr., DL – Matawan, N.J.)
Luke Hutton, Harvard (Jr., LB – Austin, Texas)
Rohan Hylton, Princeton (Sr., LB – Orlando, Fla.)
Nick Miller, Penn (So., LB – New Market, Md.)
Colton Moskal, Penn (Jr., LB – Lake Zurich, Ill.)
Brock Kenyon, Columbia (Sr., DB – Austin, Texas)
Raishaun McGhee, Harvard (Sr., CB – Windsor, Conn.)
Charlie Miller, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Shoreview, Minn.)
Sam Philippi, Penn (So., DB – Coto De Caza, Calif.)
Cameron Roane, Columbia (Jr., DB – Durham, N.C.)

Special Teams
Jake McIntyre, Harvard (Fr., PK – Orlando, Fla.)
Cameron Nizialek, Columbia (Sr., P/PK – Chantilly, Va.)
Jason Alessi, Yale (Jr., RS/DB – Bloomfield Hills, Mich.)

HONORABLE MENTION
Offense
John Foster, Cornell (Sr., OL – Scituate, Mass.)
Mason Friedline, Yale (Sr., OL – Seattle)
Matt Kaskey, Dartmouth (So., OL – Winnetka, Ill.)
Nathan Kirchmier, Penn (Jr., OL – Pembroke Pines, Fla.)
Karl Marback, Yale (Jr., OL – Birmingham, Mich.)
Reily Radosevich, Princeton (Fr., OL – Manalapan, N.J.)
Dalton Banks, Cornell (So., QB – San Antonio)
Miles Smith, Dartmouth (So., RB – Alpharetta, Ga.)
Isaiah Barnes, Princeton (Sr., WR – Freeport, N.Y.)
Jesper Horsted, Princeton (So., WR – Shoreview, Minn.)
Ben Rogers, Cornell (Sr., WR – Geneva, Ill.)
Adam Scott, Harvard (So., WR – Denton, Texas)

Defense
Brandon Cooper, Dartmouth (Sr., DE – Grand Prairie, Texas)
Zach Husain, Dartmouth (Sr., DL – Evanston, Ill.)
Marty Moesta, Yale (Sr., DE – Grosse Pointe, Mich.)
Kyle Mullen, Yale (So., DE – Manalapan, N.J.)
Birk Olson, Princeton (Sr., LB – Monticello, Minn.)
Langston Ward, Harvard (Sr., DE – Spokane, Wash.)
Connor Jangro, Penn (Fr., LB – Jessup, Md.)
Darius Manora, Yale (Sr., LB – Alexandria, Va.)
Eric Meile, Dartmouth (Jr., LB – Ramsey, N.J.)
Matt Oplinger, Yale (Jr., OLB – Summitt, N.J.)
Jackson Weber, Cornell (Sr., OLB – Whitefish Bay, Wis.)
Max Tylki, Brown (Sr., ILB – Wethersfield, Conn.)
Sean Ahern, Harvard (Sr., CB – Cincinnati)
Lucas Bavaro, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Boxford, Mass.)
Dale Harris, Yale (Sr., DB/RB – Brooklandville, Md.)
Tanner Lee, Harvard (Jr., S – Spanish Fort, Ala.)

Special Teams
Hunter Kelly, Penn (Jr., P – Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Tyler Roth, Princeton (Sr., P – Pittsburgh)
Trevor Osborne, Princeton (Sr., WR – Peoria, Ariz.)

*-Unanimous selection

More From Saturday, All-Ivy On Tap

From the Dartmouth football office:

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Ivy League honor roll for the final week of the season:

Jack Heneghan, Dartmouth (Jr., QB – Atherton, Calif.)
30-46-2, 314 Yds., 65.2 Completion %, 1 TD; 8 Rushes, 27 Yds., 3.4 Avg., 1 TD

Eric Meile, Dartmouth (Jr., LB – Ramsey, N.J.)
8 Tckls., 9 Asst., 17 Total

Holy Moly, in the Saturday crush I overlooked the tackle totals and they were impressive. Meile's 17 in his home state was off the charts. Flo Orimolade closed out his career with 13 and Colin Boit chipped in 10.

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Find a column on the game from the Princeton angle on TigerBlog.

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We don't get HBO but if you do, tune in at 10 tonight for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, which includes film from a Dartmouth practice and a talk with coach Buddy Teevens regarding head injuries in youth football.

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Football All-Ivy League selections will be released this afternoon. Check back later today.

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From a Dartmouth press release:

The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that GE Chairman & CEO Jeff Immelt, a member of the Dartmouth Class of 1978, will be recognized with the 2016 NFF Legacy Award during the 59th NFF Annual Awards Dinner Dec. 6 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. The NFF Legacy Award, established in 2007, honors individuals and organizations who have made extraordinary contributions to the NFF and/or embody its mission.

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Speaking of Immelt, he and Olympic runner Abbey D’Agostino ’14 were two of the four recipients of New Englander of the Year awards earlier this month. Also honored were R. Nicholas Burns, Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School who has served on the National Security Council staff under two presidents, and Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island's first woman governor. Find a story on the Dartmouth recipients HERE.

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The Mobile Virtual Player drew rave reviews at a high school in Massachusetts. From a story in the Worcester Telegram:

Each dummy, called a Mobile Virtual Player Drive or a MVP for short, stands about 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighs a little more than 180 pounds. They’re the world’s only motorized, self-righting, mobile training dummy. 

MVPs travel 18 miles an hour and can cover 40 yards in five seconds. Ryan McManus, MVP director of marketing, said the dummies are actually a bit slower than the original prototype, which was a bit too fast. 

Injuries have reduced the Holy Name roster from 40 players to only 28 so coach Jim Romeo invited McManus and MVP president and CEO John Currier to demonstrate two dummies at practice. Romeo was quickly convinced that he wanted to order at least one dummy despite the $8,000 price tag.

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You may have been disappointed by Dartmouth's season, but be glad you are not a Rutgers fan. As we were battling snow on the drive away from the Penn State-Rutgers game Saturday, That Certain '14 pulled up a stat on her phone that was hard to believe. The Scarlet Knights not only have been shut out, 303-0, in their four games against Penn State, Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan, but they have been outgained 2,258 yards to 382 by the four schools, all in their division.

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And finally, here's what Griff The Wonder Dog and I spotted this morning down the driveway from here on the shoulder of Moose Mountain. This one is worth clicking to see larger ;-) The ski area disappearing into the clouds on the right is Killington-Pico. Also visible this morning were trails on Okemo, Ascutney and even Stratton Mountain.

Click photo to enlarge.

And Another Year Comes To An End . . .

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Princeton coach Bob Surace, quoted in the Princeton Alumni Weekly, talking about the Tigers' slow start against Dartmouth:

"... I felt like our minds were elsewhere and Dartmouth was attacking us in areas where we struggle and how do I get our guys snapped back and locked in and get them ready to play. The big picture is we were either going to have a great banquet tomorrow, or it was going to be really depressing. A 7-3 season should not be depressing, but it was going to be really depressing (if Princeton lost to Dartmouth). I don’t even know what I’d say.”

The Princeton press conference:

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Click graphic to enlarge.

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 Sagarin DI Ratings (Last week)

128 Princeton (133)

147 New Hampshire (148)

157 Penn (169)

175 Harvard (164)

186 Towson (181)

191 Dartmouth (192)

211 Holy Cross (209)

213 Yale (217)

214 Columbia (220)

215 Cornell (214)

218 Brown (211)

Massey FCS Ratings (Last week)

29 Princeton (36)

38 New Hampshire (45)

47 Penn (52)

63 Harvard (56)

70 Towson (68)

80 Dartmouth (76)

84 Yale (94)

86 Holy Cross (85)

89 Cornell (84)

91 Brown (87)

92 Columbia (97)

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It was a big day for football Saturday and our car was ready as the Big Green and the Nittany Lions played 20 or so miles apart. Thanks to some exceptional generosity we were able to take in the Penn State-Rutgers nightcap in New Brunswick after spending the day in Princeton.

After watching Dartmouth in  ± 70-degree sunshine first rain and then ice pellets fell on us at the Penn State game. That Certain Dartmouth '14, who spent last winter in the Everglades, enjoyed creating this little feller after we returned to New Hampshire.

And finally . . .

Where do I start? How do I thank all the people who allowed me to spend yet another season essentially embedded with the Dartmouth football program from the first day of the preseason until the final whistle?

I'm not going to name a bunch of names but it starts with head coach Buddy Teevens, Joey McIntyre, Dino Cauteruccio and the coaching staff, who without hesitation always answer my silly questions and put up with me constantly nosing around the program. Ditto for Steve and Ernie and the trainers. The players? I couldn't ask for a more helpful and more polite group, even this fall when I had to ask some tough questions. What I do wouldn't be possible without Sports Publicity Director Rick Bender and his office, as well as Drew Galbraith, Sam Hopkins and an athletic administration trusting that in an age of citizen blogging, I'm going to do what I do in a fair and professional manner. Ditto for the SIDs around the Ivy League.

A huge thank you to the football parents for your friendship and kind words, and especially the BGA subscribers, some of whom took a chance a long time ago and have been with me from the outset. It hasn't worked out quite the way I hoped it would – Nittany Lion Alert for a fan base that can fill a 108,000-seat stadium might have been a better idea ;-) – but just enough freelance assignments are steered this way to keep me going, and for that I am incredibly  appreciative.

What can I say about Mrs. BGA, who gave me the OK to try this crazy idea and has been along for the ride the whole way? You may have passed us on the Interstate coming back on a road trip, she at the wheel, me in the back of the car with the computer glowing trying to make sense of what we just watched. She's up there in the stands every game, home or away, rain or shine. Dinner at 10 after I post my practice story? No problem. Her patience knows no bounds.

Thanks all of you for taking me along on this ride. As they say, I don't buy green bananas anymore but barring something strange happening I expect we'll be back here next spring and fall. Same bat time, same bat channel.

bw

Shocking Saturday

All that stuff about how teams from the second tier of the Ivy League standings don't beat teams above them? It went out the window on the final Saturday of the season.

Yale 21, Harvard 14
In an absolute shocker, Yale not only defeated Harvard for the first time since 2006 and just the second time since 2000, but also denied its arch-rival a share of its fourth consecutive Ivy League championship in a game played at Harvard Stadium. The Bulldogs, who played the Crimson to a statistical dead heat, broke a 14-all tie on a three-yard Kurt Rawlings touchdown pass to Reed Klubnik with 4:14 left in the game. Records: Harvard (7-3, 5-2 Ivy), Yale (3-7, 3-4 Ivy)

Penn 42, Cornell 20
Penn claimed a share of the Ivy League title along with Princeton aided by two rushing touchdowns apiece from quarterback Alek Torgersen and Tre Solomon. Torgersen also tossed a touchdown pass. Solomon ran for 173 yards while Torgersen completed 24-of-31 throws for 284 yards and a touchdown. The Quakers intercepted Dalton Banks three times and limited Cornell to 39 yards rushing. Records: Pennsylvania (7-3, 6-1 Ivy), Cornell (4-6, 2-5 Ivy)

Columbia 31, Brown 13
Anders Hill found freshman Josh Wainwright four times for 129 yards and a pair of touchdowns before halftime alone as the Lions sprinted out to a 21-6 lead and cruised to the win. Alan Watson ran for 158 yards and a touchdown and Columbia picked off two passes while holding Brown to just 2-of-15 on third down. Records: Columbia (4-7, 2-5 Ivy), Brown (4-6, 3-4 Ivy)

New Hampshire 24, Maine 21
Morgan Ellman capped a 64-yard drive with a 21-yard field goal with seven seconds left to lift the Wildcats to the win and keep their slim playoff hopes alive. Dalton Crossan ran for 163 yards as New Hampshire lost its starting quarterback to injury in the first quarter but kept possession of the Brice-Cowell Musket for the sixth year in a row. UNH had a "pick six" for its nation's best seventh defensive touchdown of the year. Records: New Hampshire (7-4, 6-2 CAA), Maine (6-5, 5-3 CAA)

Towson 32, Rhode Island 31
Aidan O'Neill's 55-yard field goal as time expired capped a dramatic comeback for the Tigers. Morgan Mahalak, the Tigers' transfer quarterback from Oregon, drove them 80 yards in 55 seconds for a touchdown that made it 31-29 with 1:57 left. The two-point conversion to tie failed. Rhode Island recovered the ensuing onside kick and when the Rams failed to gain a first down they punted to the Towson 9 with 52 seconds left. Mahalak then hit passes of 18, 15 and 25 yards to set up the winning field goal. Records: Towson (4-7, 3-5 CAA), Rhode Island (2-9, 1-7 CAA)

Gorgeous Game Day In The Garden State

The forecast for kickoff here in New Jersey is 67 degrees and sunny with a gentle breeze. On Nov. 19, you can't ask for anything more.

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The game will be televised on the ONE World Sports Network, which produced a capsule preview.

Fortunately, there's a "channel finder" that *may* help you discover if your system carries ONE World. Unfortunately not many do. To find out if yours does, CLICK HERE.

Not sure what to make of the following Tweet, which suggests you may be able to get the game online for free:

🏈 @IvyLeague football LIVE on Facebook!

Catch @DartFootball vs. @PUTigerFootball at 1:30pm ET tomorrow

via @ONEWorldSports pic.twitter.com/LGPAK9YHiS

— Whistle Sports (@WhistleSports) November 18, 2016

All very confusing.

If you have the Ivy League Digital Network you are in luck because the game will be carried there.

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The Valley News preview begins with a look at former Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams' involvement with the football program this fall . . . helping the Big Green trainers as a student assistant.

As he said in an earlier BGA Premium piece Williams isn't interested in giving pro football another shot after being released before the start of camp by the Chicago Bears. This time, however, if he didn't leave the door open to the possibility of a return a little light might have slid underneath it. He told the paper of the chances:

“There’s a fair probability I would get hurt emotionally again, and I don’t think it’s worth it. Maybe I’ll change my mind, but I don’t anticipate that.”

He also told the paper:

“The reason I’m not playing football is because of social constructs that I can’t control.”

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Searching the Harvard and Yale websites I haven't been able to confirm this but the unofficial Ivy League message board is reporting the Harvard junior varsity defeated the Yale junior varsity yesterday by . . . wait for it . . . a 68-0 score. If that's true it won't sit well with Yale alums waiting for their first win over Harvard on the varsity level since 2006, and just their second since 2000.

Looking Ahead

A few notes before heading to New Jersey this afternoon:

Find Dartmouth's game notes for the season finale against Princeton HERE.

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Dartmouth is going with the more traditional look at Princeton:

Princeton, meanwhile, is going with the all-black look:

Green Alert Take: Still hard to believe fashion has become such a big thing. Maybe it's the Penn Stater in me, but I'm just fine with "black shoes, basic blues, no names, all game."

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The Princeton football blog has a look ahead to Saturday's game that includes this:

“It does not get better than this,” said defensive end Brannon Jones. “To have a chance to play for the championship, at home, against a good Dartmouth team that you haven’t beaten, we could not ask for any more.”

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The Daily Princetonian has a preview of sorts HERE. As for The Dartmouth, well, uh.

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From the Columbia football blog:

Dartmouth +14 1/2 at Princeton 

I think the Big Green has enough fight left in them to make this closer. But the Tigers will still win.

• 

The Valley News has a very nice profile of Folarin "Flo" Orimolade, Dartmouth's pro prospect linebacker and pass rusher extraordinaire HERE.

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Speaking of Orimolade, he won a special award last night:

Senior linebacker Flo Orimolade is presented the Hard-Nose award by head football trainer Mike Derosier after practice last night. 

At the conclusion of the final practice of the year the Dartmouth training staff presents its Hard-Nose Award to that player who has overcome the physical adversity in the best possible fashion to be a significant contributor to the team. While is chosen by the training staff without input from the Dartmouth coaches, Buddy Teevens thinks the trainers made the right choice, telling BGA:

"It’s perfectly fitting. He has made such a difference over the course of the last four years. He misses a lot of practices but he doesn’t miss games. He’s always bumped and bruised.

"We talk a lot about bumps and owwies. In addition to the hip he’s probably had everything known to man. But he continues to come out and rock and roll it. He is a special player and a special person and very deserving of this award.”

All-Time Winners:
2016 – Folarin Orimolade
2015 – Eric Wickham
2014 – AJ Dillione
2013 - Chase Womack
             Elliot Kastner
2012 - Garrett Wymore
2011 - John Gallagher
2010 - Luke Hussey
2009 - Peter Pidermann
2008 - Joe Battaglia
2007 - Taylor Layman
2006 - Joe Gibalski
2005 - Charles Ganske
2004 - Derham Cato
2003 - Lyle Campbell
2002 - Bob Reeves
2001 - Matt Mercer
2000 - Dan Hutchinson
1999 - Tom Reusser
1998 - Kyle Rogers
1997 - Keith Lockwood
1996 - Jeff Schmitt
1995 - Taran Lent
1994 - Josh Bloom
1993 - Chris Umscheid
1992 - Neal Martin
1991 - Al Rosier
1990 - Tom Meier
1989 - Harris Siskind
1988 - David Gazzaniga
1987 - Lance High
1986 - John Randolph
1985 - Slade Schuster
1984 - Harry Bourque
1983 - Mark Pare
1982 - Gary Spiegelman
1981 - John Merriman
1980 - Tom Marek
1979 - John Clark
1978 - Nigel Key
1977 - Dave Casper
1976 - Jim Lucas
1975 - Dan Murphy
1974 - Brian Wroczynski
1973 - Rick Gerardi
1972 - Doug Jaeger
1971 - Brendan O’Neill, Stu Simms
1970 - Giff Foley 

•

Another year in the books . . .

The banners are about to come down for another year.

The Friends tent was being removed Thursday.

Tiger Trailer

From the Dartmouth football office:

OK class, any question about the theme for the week?

•

Putting stock in the the ranking of FCS recruiting classes is silly, plain and simple. The sites do a little better with their lists of players FCS schools are believed to have offered (LINK). For a list of players ESPN reports as considering Dartmouth, click HERE. Your mileage may vary ;-)

While the ESPN site lists only receiver Masaki Aerts as a commit (LINK), a search of Twitter and media reports last month came up with these additional names:

• WR Masaki Aerts, 6-2, 170, St. Peters/Jersey City, NJ

• DE Nathanael Boone, 6-3, 225, Penn HS/Mishawaka, Ind.

• OL Donny Carty ,  6-7, 265, Episcopal HS/Dallas

• OL Sean Dowling, 6-4, 284, St. Stephens/Alexandria, VA

• OL/DL Jake Guidone, 6-4, 275, Xaverian Brothers/Westood, Mass.

• OL Evan Hecimovich, 6-3, 260, Naperville North HS/Naperville, Ill.

• TE Holden Wilmsen, 6-4, 250, Priory HS/St. Louis

•

While it may be nigh on impossible to find ONE World on your TV dial, the network actually does a pretty nice job with its broadcasts. Here is a well-done highlight package from its broadcast of Dartmouth-Brown last week:

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Former Dartmouth assistant Joe Moglia struggled to land a head coaching position after stepping down as CEO of TD Ameritrade. Turns out he's done all right at Coastal Carolina even this year, when he's lost his top handful of quarterbacks. All that and Coastal is still 8-2 with one-point losses to the No. 2 ranked team in the country and in two overtimes to the No. 13 team. From Football Scoop's story:

Coastal Carolina was going to be a pass-first team this season. Then their starting quarterback was lost for the year in training camp. And so was his backup. And so was his backup. It’s gotten to the point where the Chanticleers played their sixth string quarterback last week, but still the parade of injuries at football’s most important position hasn’t stopped Coastal from winning.

•

Dartmouth graduate Kyle Hendricks came in third behind Max Scherzer and Chicago Cubs teammate Jon Lester for the Cy Young Award. The Chicago Tribune writes about the Cy Young HERE. Find the voting breakdown HERE.

•

Dartmouth tied for third in the NCAA's just released Graduation Success Rate for student-athletes who began their college careers in 2009. Find a Dartmouth release HERE.

Dartmouth had a 98 percent graduation rate to finish tied with Brown, Columbia, Princeton and Yale. Harvard graduated 99 percent while Penn graduated 97 percent and Cornell 95. Among other schools tied with Dartmouth and the others at 98 percent were Stanford, Colgate and Davidson. Among schools at 97 percent were Holy Cross, Lafayette, Duke and Northwestern.

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Sharing a moment at the congressional going-away party for Delaware governor-elect John Carney '78 (left) were fellow Dartmouth alums Ann Kuster '78 and Alex Mooney '93. Carney is a former Bob Blackman winner as Dartmouth MVP and a first- team, All-Ivy League defensive back. Mooney turned to rugby after playing freshman football at Dartmouth. Kuster represents New Hampshire in the House and Mooney represents West Virginia. Carney has served in the House since 2011. (Thanks for the photo ;-)

Tiger Time

Princeton's game notes for Saturday have been posted HERE. From the notes:

Saturday's matchup is the exact opposite of the 2015 season finale, when Dartmouth jumped back into a three-way share of first place following a Week 9 Penn win over Harvard. The Big Green hosted a Princeton team that was out of contention, but the Tigers didn't trail until Dartmouth scored a touchdown with 24 seconds remaining to clinch the win and title.

Dartmouth won by a 17-10 score.

Dartmouth-Princeton scores since 2000:
2000 - Dartmouth 43, Princeton 37
2001 - Princeton 35, Dartmouth 14
2002 - Princeton 38, Dartmouth 30
2003 - Dartmouth 21, Princeton 15
2004 - Princeton 17, Dartmouth 10
2005 - Princeton 30, Dartmouth 0
2006 - Princeton 27, Dartmouth 17
2007 - Princeton17, Dartmouth 14 (ot)
2008 - Princeton 28, Dartmouth 10
2009 - Princeton 23, Dartmouth 11
2010 - Dartmouth 31, Princeton 0
2011 - Dartmouth 24, Princeton 17
2012 - Dartmouth 35, Princeton 21
2013 - Dartmouth 28, Princeton 24
2014 - Dartmouth 41, Princeton 10
2015 - Dartmouth 17, Princeton 10

•

Weekly Polls
FCS Coaches
31. New Hampshire
32. Harvard
37. Princeton
39. Penn

STATS
26. New Hampshire
32. Harvard
35. Penn
36. Princeton

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This is the strangest designed play you may see this year. Watch as the Monmouth (Ill.) right guard completes a 33-yard pass in his team's win over Knox in the Bronze Turkey game.

Bavaro, Hagdorn, Heneghan Honored

Dartmouth's Honor Rolls selections copied directly from the Ivy League weekly football release (LINK):

Lucas Bavaro, Dartmouth (Sr., DB – Boxford, Mass.)
5 Tckls., 4 Asst., 9 Total, 1 Sack, 6 Yds., 2 TFL, 13 Yds.

Hunter Hagdorn, Dartmouth (Fr., WR – Manvel, Texas)
13 Rec., 171 Yds., 13.2 Avg.

Jack Heneghan, Dartmouth (Jr., QB – Atherton, Calif.)
37-53-3, 440 Yds., 69.8 Completion %; 10 Rushes, 35 Yds., 1 TD

I Mua

With Dartmouth visiting Princeton on Saturday do take the time to watch this touching seven minute video out of Princeton about the young son of former Tiger receiving great Kevin Guthrie '84. At age 11 Jack Guthrie had a terrible skiing accident that left him in a coma. He fought back with the love and support of his family and friends, the Princeton community and the Tiger football team. If you have a pulse it will bring a tear to your eye when Jack finally smiles in his hospital bed, and when he walks out on the football field at Princeton where his dad starred. The video was pulled together by Princeton's John Bullis.



Jack even got a close-up look at the helicopter that brought him to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after his accident. The "D" looks good on his green shirt, but you can bet he'll be cheering for the team in orange on Saturday and that's wonderful.

I Mua.

•

The wise guys have installed Dartmouth as a 14.5-point underdog against Princeton. Elsewhere . . .

 Harvard is a 12.5-point favorite over Yale
 Penn is a 10.5-point favorite over Cornell
 Brown is a 3.5-point favorite over Columbia

Massey sees Princeton defeating Dartmouth, 24-10, with 86 percent confidence.

Massey also has:

Harvard over Yale, 34-21, with 82 percent confidence
Penn over Cornell, 31-21, with 79 percent confidence
Brown over Columbia, 24-21, with 57 percent confidence

Of course, last week Massey had:

Dartmouth beating Brown, 21-10, with 81 percent confidence
Harvard beating Penn, 24-23, with 52 percent confidence
Princeton beating Yale, 38-21, with 88 percent confidence

•

I tried hard to get a picture of the Super Moon behind Baker Tower last night during a break from writing at Dartmouth's Feldberg Business and Engineering Library, but between the clouds that were collecting moonlight and my general incompetence with the camera, I couldn't get the moon but still managed a couple of dramatic shots.

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And finally, check BGA Premium tonight for the first story from the last week of the season. Tonight's story will be posted later than usual because I'm going to take in the Dartmouth men's basketball game against Fairfield before returning home to write.

Looking Back

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The Brown Daily Herald has a story from Saturday's game HERE.

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The Valley News story on the Brown game is HERE.

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Your call on what to make of a strange football capsule in The Dartmouth.

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Sagarin DI Ratings (Last week)
133 Princeton (138)
148 New Hampshire (143)
161 Penn (169)
164 Harvard (156)
181 Towson (185)
192 Dartmouth (187)
209 Holy Cross (204)
211 Brown (220)
214 Cornell (212)
217 Yale (215)
220 Columbia (219)

Massey FCS Ratings (Last week)
36 Princeton (40)
45 New Hampshire (29)
52 Penn (60)
56 Harvard (48)
68 Towson (70)
76 Dartmouth (72)
84 Cornell (88)
85 Holy Cross (77)
87 Brown (94)
94 Yale (90)
97 Columbia (96)

•

Why did radio broadcasts of Dartmouth sports move from the student radio station to commercial stations? The Dartmouth has a lengthy story with the details HERE.

•

The Dartmouth writes about the Ivy League proposing legislation to limit early recruiting nationally. From the story (LINK):

Currently, coaches are technically barred from talking to athletes until their junior year, but through a variety of technicalities, they may start the recruiting process as early as eighth grade.

And . . .

According to a 2014 study conducted by The New York Times in conjunction with the National Collegiate Scouting Association, 36 percent of women’s lacrosse players, 31 percent of men’s lacrosse players and 24 percent of women’s soccer players gave commitments before they were juniors.

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With a a few freelance deadlines rapidly approaching, I spent most of yesterday (and will spend all of today) in Dartmouth's Feldberg Business and Engineering Library, my go-to place when it's too cold to write in our '84 VW camper and I need to sit at the keyboard without distraction. Alas, there was a huge distraction just as I walked past the periodicals rack. Here's what I spotted:

 

That's  John Currier '79 and his new best friend, MVP, featured on the cover of Business NH magazine. From the story, which notes the 190-pound smart dummy can travel up to 19 mph:

The first time the device was field-tested, at Dartmouth's opening day of football practice on Aug. 26, 2015, MVP posted a 49 second clip on social media. "We were shocked – 200,000 people had seen the video in two hours. By the end of the week, it had a million views," Currier says.

And . . .

MVP has 25 units in the field being tested by a variety of teams including the Baltimore Ravens and St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida. Notre Dame and seven NFL teams, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, bought units. "(Notre Dame) ordered two and within hours called up and said we want to more," Currier says.

And some of the nitty-gritty you'd expect to find in a business magazine:

So far the company has raised $1.5 million in funding to launch the product. The MVP unit retails for $8,000. A more extensive commercial launch is planned for the first quarter of 2017, when MVP will officially be introduced at the American Football Coaches Association conference in January. MVP has partnered with Rogers Athletic Company to license the technology, manufacturing units and sell them. 

Saturday Wrap

(Click to enlarge)

Princeton 31, Yale 3
It is either a measure of how strong the Princeton attack is or how much Yale has struggled on the other side of the ball that the headline out of New Haven for a game in which Princeton scored 31 points is, "Defense Strong, But Tigers Too much." To be sure, Princeton was limited to 332 yards of total offense but utility quarterback John Lovett still had three rushing touchdowns as the Tigers used two fourth-quarter touchdowns to expand a 17-3 lead. Yale was held to 200 yards of total offense. Princeton can guarantee itself at least a share of the Ivy League title with a win over Dartmouth on Saturday. Records: Princeton 7-2, 5-1 Ivy; Yale 2-7, 2-4 Ivy.

Cornell 42, Columbia 40
Columbia piled up 562 yards of offense and Cornell 559 in a game just about as even as the final score would suggest. Chris Walker carried 22 times for 233 yards and three touchdowns for Cornell, which got 267 yards and two touchdowns passing from Dalton Banks. Columbia got 284 yards and three touchdowns through the air from Anders Hill and 105 rushing yards from Alan Watson. Columbia hurt itself with 11 penalties for 156 yards while Cornell had eight for 72. Cornell took its largest lead of the game, 42-33, with 4:53 remaining but Columbia made it close on a TD with 1:58 left. The Big Red then recovered the onside kick to end the drama. Records: Cornell 4-5, 2-4; Columbia 2-7, 1-5

Penn 27, Harvard 14
Friday night

Fordham 54, Holy Cross 14
With standout tailback Chase Edmonds collecting three of his four touchdowns in the first half, Fordham vaulted out to a 40-7 lead at the break in front of a crowd of 21,375 at Yankee Stadium. The Rams would go on to forge a 608-302 advantage in total offense while holding the Crusaders to minus-five yards rushing. Records: Fordham 7-3, 4-1 Patriot; Holy Cross 4-7, 2-4 Patriot.

Albany 36, New Hampshire 25
New Hampshire's playoff hopes took a big hit as the Great Danes used a 19-3 second half to win in front of 7,012 in Durham. Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks ran for 298 yards and three touchdowns as Albany came from well behind to win going away. No. 21 New Hampshire led 22-0 before Albany finally got on the board with 34 seconds left in the first half. Records: New Hampshire  6-4, 5-2 CAA; Albany 6-4, 3-4 CAA.

Towson 34, William & Mary 24
In a 21-10 hole in the third quarter, Towson got a 70-yard touchdown run from Shane Simpson and an 81-yard kickoff return for a touchdown after a W&M field goal on the way to its second win in a row. Simpson finished with 202 yards rushing. Morgan Mahalak, the Oregon transfer who did not play against Dartmouth, threw for 166 yards and Aidan O'Neill booted two field goals for the Tigers. Records: Towson 3-7, 2-5 CAA; William & Mary 4-6, 2-5 CAA.

•

Perhaps the line of the year comes from Steve Politi of NJ.com. After Rutgers lost Saturday at Michigan State he wrote:

To review, this team has lost to Ohio State 58-0, Michigan 78-0 and now Michigan State 49-0. Add it up, and (Rutgers coach Chris) Ash has lost his first three games against the dominant Big Ten East powers by a combined 185-0 score. The only person to have a harder time with Michigan and Ohio this fall was Hillary Clinton.

Ivy Race Opens Up

Two facts have held true for decades: Dartmouth has won more Ivy League championships than any school in the Ivy League, and every time there have been tri-champions the Big Green has been in on the party.

The first fact will be changing. Penn's 27-14 win over Harvard last night in Philadelphia means at least one of the two schools will win tie Dartmouth with its 18th Ivy League title. If form holds, meaning Harvard defeated Yale and Penn beats Cornell, the schools will share the title and Dartmouth, Penn and Harvard will each have 18 Ivy League championships.

The second fact will change if Harvard and Penn win next week and Princeton defeats Dartmouth. That would mean tri-champions for the second year in a row and for the first time without the Big Green earning a share.

Penn 27, Harvard 14
On a windy night Penn used a 40-yard, Lois Vecchio "pick six" of a screen pass to take a 7-3 halftime lead that the Quakers extended to 14-3 on a 47-yard pass from Alex Torgersen to Christian Pearson 4:30 into the third quarter.

Harvard got a 25-yard Jake McIntyre field goal early in the fourth to make it 14-6, which is how it stay as the clock counted down below six minutes remaining.

A 26-yard punt return by Justice Shelton-Mosley set the Crimson up at the Penn 38 with 5:51 left. Facing a third-and-22 after a holding call, the Crimson got a clutch 15-yard Joe Viviano completion and then a nine-yard Viviano-to-Shelton-Mosley completion to keep the drive going. Viviano, who had three interceptions in the first half, then found Joseph Foster for a 26-yard TD throw that made it 14-12 with 3:23 left.

Needing a two-point play to tie the score, Harvard coach Tim Murphy dug successfully into his bag of tricks. The snap went not to Viviano, but to a back who then handed off to Shelton-Mosley on a left-to-righ reverse. While the defense changed direction to close down on Shelton-Mosley, Viviano drifted into the end zone where Shelton-Mosley hit him with a short toss. The quarterback-turned-receiver took a big hit but held on for the catch that tied the score.

But it didn't end the game.

A Penn offense that was shut out a week earlier against Princeton and hadn't been in very good sync most of the night finally got going as Torgersen hit eight of 10 passes to drive the Quakers 80 yards in 10 plays, the last the game-winning, two-yard TD throw to Justin Watson with 15 seconds left to make it 21-14.

A penalty on the kickoff set Harvard up at its 14 and after an incompletion the Crimson needed a miracle on the final play. But after a short completion an intended lateral bounced into the hands of Tayler Hendrickson, who returned it 18 yards for a Penn touchdown as time expired.

Ivy League Titles (Outright/Shared)
Dartmouth 18 (9/9)
Penn 17 (13/4)
Harvard 17 (8/9)
Yale 14 (6/8)
Princeton 10 (3/7)
Brown  4 (1/3)
Cornell 3 (0/3)
Columbia 1 (0/1)

•

A reminder that the Dartmouth-Brown game can be seen today on ONEWorld Sports at noon. It's not on my system but maybe it's on yours. To see if you can pick up the network, try its Channel Finder HERE.

Home Season Closes With Brown This Year; Every Season Soon

Dartmouth and Brown will play on the penultimate Saturday of the season for the penultimate time tomorrow.

(pəˈnəltəmət| adjective [attributive] last but one in a series of things; second to the last: the penultimate chapter of the book.)

A change in the Ivy League football schedule will see Dartmouth and Brown finishing the season against each other every year starting in 2018.

While the Big Green has closed with either Princeton or Penn since before the start of formal Ivy League play there is a precedent for ending a season against Brown.

Dartmouth finished against the Bears in 1895, every year from 1899 through 1906, and then again in 1917, 1919, 1922 and 1940.

Dartmouth-Brown Scores Since 2000

2000 - Brown 34, Dartmouth 26

2001 - Brown  41, Dartmouth 16

2002 - Brown 21, Dartmouth 18

2003 - Brown  26, Dartmouth 21

2004 - Dartmouth 20, Brown 7

2005 - Brown 24, Dartmouth 14

2006 - Dartmouth 19, Brown 13 (OT)

2007 - Brown  56, Dartmouth 35

2008 - Brown 45, Dartmouth 16

2009 - Brown  14, Dartmouth 7 (OT)

2010 - Brown  35, Dartmouth 28

2011 - Dartmouth 21, Brown  16

2012 - Brown  28, Dartmouth 24

2013 - Dartmouth 24, Brown  20

2014 - Dartmouth 44, Brown  21

2015 - Dartmouth 34, Brown  18

•

Dartmouth's biggest rival? A majority of people will probably say Harvard although there are a good number of folks who will say Princeton. A few will argue for Penn, and Yale might get some votes.

Yale's biggest rival? I know what you are thinking: You've got to be numb to even ask that question.

Turns out legendary Yale coach Carm Cozza has some interesting thoughts on just that. This is from the Sportzedge website:

“When I first came here, the students wanted to beat Dartmouth more than anyone else,” he said, probably to the surprise of most of those in the room.

“For the coaches, of course, a win over Harvard was the one we pointed to,” he added, “although we naturally wanted to win them all.”

The players, however, felt differently. “For them, it was not Dartmouth or Harvard, but Princeton,” even though Harvard has always been The Rival in The Game, and the one win the alumni wanted the most.

•

The Valley News has a story on Dartmouth receiver/tight end Joseph Cook under the headline: Dartmouth Senior a Leader From Sidelines.

•

Headed to Logan Airport in Boston shortly to pick up That Certain Dartmouth '14, who will be home for the first time since Christmas. An earth sciences major with an education minor, she spent last winter as an educational ranger at Everglades National Park and then the summer working with Yellowstone's Youth Conservation Corps. Since late August she has been working as an educational ranger at Yellowstone, where she will spend the winter giving tours on a Snowcoach before resuming her ranger duties.

In quite a coincidence, almost a year after we started a large renovation project in our house the final piece of the project is being finished today with the installation of a new door from our mud room into the garage. The timing with That Certain '14 getting her first look at all the work that has been done on the day that it officially finishes – after nothing has been touched on the project for about four months while the door was on order – is uncanny.

•

And finally, I'm the least political animal you will find but here's something that occurred to me while at Dartmouth football practice yesterday . . .

I was watching a couple of the sophomores and found myself thinking, "Yikes, those guys were untested freshmen just a year ago and in another week they'll be halfway through their college careers."

Translation: Four years isn't as long as you might think it is.

•

Of course, everything is relative. Four years can seem an eternity if you are paying tuition room and board for that long ;-(

Quiet Fun

Dartmouth football does the Mannequin Challenge after Tuesday's practice:

•

Game notes have been posted both for Dartmouth and Brown.

Find the Dartmouth game notes HERE.

Find the Brown game notes HERE.

•

Saturday's game will be televised on ONE World Sports. To see if you can pick up the network, try its Channel Finder HERE.

•

John Carney '78, former Bob Blackman winner as Dartmouth MVP and a first-team, All-Ivy League defensive back, has been elected governor of Delaware. From a story on rollcall.com:

A Delaware native, Carney is one of nine siblings in a family with an athletic bent. He was an All-Ivy League football player at Dartmouth and worked as a sports coach after graduation.

•

Promising concussion detection news out of Western University in London, Ont. (LINK):

Scientists from Children’s Health Research Institute, a program of Lawson Health Research Institute, and Western University have developed a new blood test that identifies with greater than 90 per cent certainty whether or not an adolescent athlete has suffered a concussion. ...

In the relatively inexpensive test, blood is drawn from an individual that may have suffered a concussion as the result of a sudden blow to the head (or from transmitted forces from a sudden blow to the body) within 72 hours of the incident. The scientists measure a panel of metabolites – small molecules that are the products of the body’s metabolism – in the blood to search for distinct patterns that indicate a concussion has occurred.

(Thanks to Mrs. BGA for the news tip ;-)

•

And finally, The Dartmouth reports "Over 300 march in protest of Donald Trump presidency." Dartmouth coach Buddy Teeven gathered his team for an election discussion after yesterday's practice. Read more on BGA Premium.

MVP Gets More Video Publicity

Screen grab from CBS Sports web page

Engineering the Perfect Season, a CBS Sports web series, has three videos featuring the Mobile Virtual Player. Check out the videos HERE.

•

Dartmouth's approach also gets nod from the Chicago Tribune:

The Chicago Tribune commentary features a picture out of Hanover.

A Chicago Tribune commentary on the safety of football written by Ralph Nader "("consumer advocate, lawyer, author and founder of League of Fans") and Kenneth Reed (League of Fans sports policy director) calls for high school football to adopt "the Ivy League's new policy of eliminating full-contact hitting from practices during the regular season, while also putting stringent limits on full-contact hitting during preseason practices."

From the commentary:

The winningest coach in college football history, John Gagliardi, coached Division III St. John's University in Minnesota to four national championships with a "no tackling in practice" policy. Mike Grant, son of former Minnesota Vikings coach Bud Grant and a former player for Gagliardi, has used the same no-tackling policy while winning 10 state high school championships in Minnesota. Dartmouth's Buddy Teevens uses a similar policy and finished in a three-way tie for his league's title in 2015 (before the Ivy League's new policy was implemented). He saw injuries go down and wins go up.

•

Cornell highlights for Flo Orimolade, the Ivy League defensive player of the week:

FB: Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week...@DartFootball Folarin Orimolade! #IvyFootball https://t.co/PutzZJfLrz pic.twitter.com/I7HI2ZrEhg

— The Ivy League (@IvyLeague) November 7, 2016

Cornell Spoils

•

Dartmouth linebacker Flo Orimolade was selected the Ivy League defensive player of the week for his performance against Cornell. It's his second such honor this fall. From a Dartmouth release:

Orimolade registered a pair of sacks that proved essential to keeping Cornell out of the end zone on its first two drives of the game. His first sack went for an eight-yard loss during the game’s opening drive, which stalled at the Dartmouth three, forcing the Big Red to settle for a 20-yard field goal. On the next Cornell possession, Orimolade dropped the quarterback for another sack on 1st-and-goal at the six, leading to another short field goal that kept Dartmouth close.

But Orimolade’s biggest play came in the fourth quarter with the Big Green trailing by a score of 13-10. Cornell had pushed into Dartmouth territory and faced 3rd-and-3 at the 39-yard line, but Orimolade jarred the ball free from a ball carrier, allowing teammate Jake Moen to recover the fumble. Nine plays later, the Big Green scored the go-ahead touchdown to complete a rally from a 10-point, fourth-quarter deficit for the win.

Orimolade finished the game with a team-high six tackles, all solo, to go with his two sacks and forced fumble. The preseason All-American leads the Ivy League in both forced fumbles (4) and sacks (8.0), not to mention third nationally in the former category and fourth in sacks per game (1.0).

Tailback Miles Smith was named to the honor roll  after running 25 times for 119 yards and a touchdown and making two catches for 16 yards.

•

STATS poll
21. New Hampshire
24. Harvard
42. Princeton

FCS Coaches poll
22. Harvard
23. New Hampshire

Athlon Power Ratings
20. New Hampshire
24. Harvard

Hero Sports
21. Harvard
22. Princeton
27. New Hampshire
35. Penn
37. Dartmouth
50. Towson
60. Holy Cross
61. Brown
65. Yale
74. Cornell
85. Columbia

•

For what it's worth, this week Massey has . . .

Dartmouth beating Brown 21-10 with 81 percent confidence
Harvard beating Penn, 24-23, with 52 percent confidence
Princeton beating Yale, 38-21, with 88 percent confidence

Next week Massey sees . . .
Princeton beating Dartmouth, 24-13, with 80 percent confidence
Harvard beating Yale, 35-21, with 84 percent confidence
Penn beating Columbia, 28-21, with 74 percent confidence

As for last week, Massey had Dartmouth winning at Cornell, 21-14, with 70 percent confidence.

•

The offshore wise guys favor Dartmouth by 10.5 over Brown. They also have . . .
Princeton over Yale by 17.5 points
Harvard over Penn by 1.5 points
Cornell over Columbia by 1.5 points

New Hampshire by 7.5 over Albany
Fordham by 6.5 over Holy Cross
William & Mary by 1.5 over Towson