Monday Musings

Have to admit, this caught me by surprise.

Dartmouth has won the most Ivy League championships but is under .500 all-time against the first five teams on next fall's schedule. Here's the Big Green's all-time record against its 2023 opponents:

Sept. 16 - at New Hampshire 19-20-2
Sept.23 - Lehigh 2-5

Sept. 30 - at Penn 38-49-2

Oct 7 - Yale 44-55-6

Oct. 14 - at Colgate 7-18-1

Oct. 21 - Columbia 71-20-1

Oct. 28 - at Harvard 48-72-5

Nov. 4 - Princeton 51-46-4

Nov. 11 - Cornell 62-41-1

Nov. 18 - at Brown 63-32-4 

Editor's Note: The schedule is subject to change as TV may shift at least one of the Ivy League games to a Friday night. 

#

Speaking of that opener at New Hampshire, expectations are high across the state. Here's what head coach Ricky Santos said this spring (LINK):

 "I've told these guys before we've been fortunate to be part of a team when we were No. 1 in the country as a player and as an assistant coach. I think these guys have the ability to be that type of team. We can be a Top 10 team. We can compete for a national championship and that's our goal. It's lofty expectations for sure, but I think we have the ability to do that."

#

Dartmouth will face Craig Haley's fourth-most impactful FCS defensive player in the nation this fall (New Hampshire DE Josiah Silver) and another played who rates almost as highly among the nation's defensive linemen (Harvard's Thor Griffith). Here's what Haley wrote in his rankings of the two (LINK):

4. Josiah Silver, New Hampshire, DE, Jr., 6-2, 243
Silver’s combined line of 135 tackles, 37.5 TFLs, 21 sacks and eight forced fumbles over the last two seasons is jaw-dropping.

6. Thor Griffith, Harvard, DT, Sr., 6-2, 305
Opponents know he’s coming through the middle of the line, but there’s little stopping the big man with 22.5 TFLs and 10 sacks in 20 career games. 

In Dartmouth's 14-0 loss to New Hampshire last year, Silver had just one tackle, but it was a six-yard sack. He also was credited with a forced fumble.

In a 28-13 loss to Harvard, Griffith was credited with two assisted tackles with neither behind the line.

#

This isn't particularly well done and some of the photos should have been updated, but it's another look at Ivy League football stadiums. (Both the capacity and the year Memorial Field opened are incorrect.)

In case you missed it, BGA previously linked to a better, albeit tongue-in-cheek, look at Ivy League facilities a year ago. Find that video HERE. 

#

Several emailers shared links to Los Angeles Times stories regarding the resignation of the USC athletic director. A blistering Bill Plaschke column is headlined: How did this happen again? USC and Carol Folt are responsible for the Mike Bohn mess. (LINK)

Why is that of local interest? Because Folt served as Dartmouth's interim president for a year between Jim Yong Kim stepping down and Phil Hanlon taking over as president in 2013. (LINK)

Between Dartmouth and USC Folt served for 5½ years as chancellor at North Carolina when the university was in the midst of a huge investigation regarding academic fraud in the athletic department.

#

EXTRA POINT
Spring has sprung here in our little corner of Vermont and that means our "quintessential New England village" is even prettier than usual. The story we've been told is that as a fund-raiser years ago, children in our town's lone school sold seedlings for flowering trees. Like those children, the trees have long since grown up and today make the drive down our main street a glorious celebration of the season. Here's a one-minute glimpse of what it looks like: