The FCS Coaches Poll is in and Dartmouth comes in at No. 35, but is the only Ivy League team to garner votes. It is in the STATS poll that the Big Green has its best chance to crack the Top-25.
Green Alert Take: There are some who think the Coaches poll is biased against Ivy League teams because some coaches may believe that if Ivy teams are highly ranked and do not go to the playoffs it devalues those playoffs.
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The Dartmouth covers the Big Green's win over Sacred Heart from afar. (LINK)
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A Cornell Sun Ivy wrap appears under this improbable headline: Around the Ivy League: Columbia, Dartmouth Remain Untouchable. (LINK)
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Mike Kern's story on Columbia's win over Penn in the Philadelphia Inquirer (LINK) ends with this interesting question.It’s not where (Penn) figured to be at the halfway point. Ditto Columbia. So which is the bigger surprise?What's your answer?
I'll go with Columbia by a mile.
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This week's Sagarin Ratings with last week's rating in parentheses:147 - Yale (158)
154 - Princeton (166)
164 - Harvard (164)
175 - Dartmouth
193 - Penn (191)
196 - Columbia (200)
229 - Cornell (222)
241 - Brown (221)
218 - Sacred Heart (218)
250 - Stetson (250)
(254 DI teams rated.)
Sagarin also has something it calls COMBO ratings that it writes are "unbiased, in that they consider only results from the season in question. Starting ratings have no bearing at all." Check the explanation out for yourself HERE.
Sagarin COMBO Ratings
106 - Yale
117 - Dartmouth
123 - Columbia
142 - Princeton
182 - Penn
216 - Harvard
229 - Cornell
241 - Brown
213 - Sacred Heart
244 - Stetson
(254 DI teams rated.)
Green Alert Take: What's important is this year. Wins and losses from last year do not carry over. From here on out, it is the COMBO ratings that will appear here unless someone can explain why the regular Sagarin ratings would be more appropriate.
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Given several losses by Top-25 teams to unranked teams, look for Dartmouth to crack the rankings when they come out. The Big Green was 26th a week ago.
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The Worcester Telegram goes a little deeper into the midseason firing of head coach Tom Gilmore. (LINK) Included is this quote from Athletic Director Nathan Pine:“I can’t tell you exactly what happened over the last four weeks. I think with every decision in every game there are a number of things that go into it, but I will say that I’ve seen our play decline and I have seen energy and enthusiasm also decline, and I think that was no more evident than (Saturday) in the defeat at Yale. I do not want to see that trend continue and I thought it was important to make the change now and give us a chance to rebound down the finish line with four conference games.”
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And finally, That Certain Dartmouth '14 begins another stint today in Yellowstone National Park as an educational ranger. When the park closes down she'll spend the winter driving a snow coach again and then return to her ranger duties when the park reopens. Here's a still taken from a video celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park System of TCD'14 at the park headquarters swearing in a Junior Ranger.
