Not Pretty

It is hardly news that the Dartmouth athletic program has been struggling to find its competitive footing the past few years and so the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings just released probably should not be a surprise.

For the uninitiated, this description of the standings is from the Director's Cup website:

"The Learfield Directors' Cup was developed as a joint effort between the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and USA Today. Points are awarded based on each institution's finish in NCAA Championships."

Keeping in mind the Learfield standings are hardly a true barometer of anything other than the Learfield standings – they are the best thing we’ve got at this point to compare one Ivy League program against another.

With that out of the way, here's how Ivy League schools stacked up in this year's final standings, with their national ranking listed first:

23. Princeton 799 points

39. Harvard 578.75

63. Cornell 363

64. Penn 359.6

75. Yale 273

79. Columbia 241.5

116. Brown 147

183. Dartmouth 75

Find the full standings HERE. 

Dartmouth's only points were provided by the ski team. Notably, the Big Green program was the only Ivy League school not to score a single Learfield point in the spring. It was also the only Ivy not to score a point in the fall.

The Dartmouth struggles aren't new. Here's how the Learfield numbers came out a year ago:

18. Princeton 868.25
39. Harvard 615
56. Yale 434.5
60. Penn 406.5
75. Columbia 283.5
83. Cornell 237.5
95. Brown 198
218. Dartmouth 57

Surprise, again the Big Green's only points came from the ski program.

Green Alert Take: Athletic Director Mike Harrity and new Dartmouth President Sian Beilock have their work cut out for them.

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From the Way Too Early department, DraftScout has put out its Top 15 potential FCS draft picks next spring and Dartmouth will face three of those players this fall. They are:

• Princeton offensive tackle Jalen Travis (6th round)
• Harvard defensive tackler Thor Griffith (6th or 7th round)
• New Hampshire running back Dylan Laube (7th or priority free agent)

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The Analyst has a piece headlined Rating 10 Potential Freak-Out Factors Among Some of the Higher-Ranked FCS Teams that includes this (LINK):

The Scenario: Florida A&M and Yale have proven there is life after season-opening losses to Jackson State and Holy Cross, respectively – FAMU rallied to make the 2021 FCS playoffs and Yale came back to capture the 2022 Ivy League title – but to have a particularly special campaign this year, each needs to beat its higher-ranked rival. Without a win, a feeling of “missed opportunity” may hover over the remainder of the season.

and . . .

Yale’s biggest game is Harvard, and Princeton is second, but with the defending Ivy champion returning 13 players who earned a form of all-league honors, the Bulldogs are eyeing a 10-0 season, and it can only happen with a win over Holy Cross.

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EXTRA POINT
Remember the PAT in this spot a few days back about the international presence among visitors here at Bryce Canyon National Park? Mrs. BGA and I hiked a few hours into the park's eerie and amazing hoodoos yesterday and on the shuttle back to That Certain Dartmouth 14's park housing we agreed that a good 75 percent or more of the people we met or overheard on the trail appeared to be from overseas. Perhaps that changes a bit with schools now out, but TCD'14 wasn't at all surprised when we talked with her about what we'd found.

Fortunately when the skies dumped serious rain and even a little hail before our hike we were still at the park's general store. When the storm subsided we checked the radar and headed down into the canyon. The sky started to threaten again as we climbed the switchbacks out of the canyon and, luckily again, we were back up at the rim when a light rain started to fall for a few minutes.

Here's a shot I took on the way back up that should give you an idea about the canyon as well as the weather: