Thursday, October 31, 2024

Crimson And Clover, Over And Over

Craig Haley at STATS Perform has a story headlined, FCS Football Week 10 Preview: Mark the Rankings in Pencil, They’re About to Change that counts Dartmouth-Harvard as one of the games that could turn the Ivy League race into a free-for-all. From the story (LINK):

 With some potentially tight matchups, the Ivy League race could be a lot more jumbled after Saturday’s schedule, but that’s only if Harvard (5-1, 2-1) hands No. 22 Dartmouth (6-0, 3-0) its first loss. Crimson sophomore quarterback Jaden Craig is having a banner season, ranking second in the FCS in pass efficiency rating (185.1) while throwing 17 touchdowns (eight to Ivy TDs leader Cooper Barkate) and just two interceptions. The Crimson have won seven of the last 10 meetings, but eight were decided by eight or fewer points, and the other two were one-possession games until the final nine minutes.

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The strangely named SB Nation site Underdog Dynasty has a story headlined, FCS Football: Week 10 Rapid Rundown that includes four paragraphs on Dartmouth-Harvard beginning this way (LINK):

#22 Dartmouth (6-0, 3-0 Ivy League) is one of the few undefeated FCS squads left out there and has emerged as the odds on favorite to take home the Ivy League crown. Perhaps their biggest challenger is waiting for them this Saturday with Harvard (5-1, 2-1 Ivy League) making a swing through Hanover.

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This is kind of funny. Check out the picture that accompanies Emory Hunt's story on the CBS Sports site:


If you think Dartmouth pulled the block D off its helmets and started putting big-play stickers on them, now has shoulder numbers on its shirts and has switched from Nike to being an Adidas school, think again. The photo is of a quarterback from Dartmouth High School in Massachusetts. Oops.

Alas, that's not the only problem in the piece. Check out this excerpt from the story (LINK):

Now, there is still a lot of season left to play, and the Big Green has their work cut out for them if they want to secure their 29th and second consecutive Ivy League crown, which would be the first time they've done that since the 1991 and 1992 seasons.

For the record Dartmouth is bidding for its 22nd Ivy League title, not its 29th. And no, the Big Green is not trying to win "consecutive Ivy League crowns" for the first time since 1991 and '92. Dartmouth won the 2019 championship, sat out the 2020 season along with the rest of the conference, and made it two-in-a-row by winning again in 2021.

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Speaking of uniforms, Dartmouth is taking no chances at offending returning alumni for Homecoming  with black pants or shirts. Here's the uniform of the day for Saturday:

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This is fun. You may not want to sit through this whole video of the 1988 Dartmouth-Harvard game (although you'll like the 38-7 final and the offensive fireworks if you are a Big Green fan) but do take the time to check out the scene-setting intro with views of the Connecticut River, Dartmouth Hall, the bonfire going up and more.

Better yet, you can see Buddy Teevens on the Dartmouth sidelines at age 31 and a decent crowd in the enormous home stands where Floren Varsity House now sits. 

Finally, doing the play-by-play on the ESPN broadcast before he became a national fixture was a very young Sean McDonough.


Here are several screenshots from that video:


That's Sean McDonough on the right and Jack Corrigan on the left.

Future major league first baseman Mark Johnson completed 20-of-33 passes for 298 yards and four touchdowns in the game with Craig Morton catching seven balls for 190 yards and three TDs for the Big Green. David Clark carried 18 times for 144 yards and one TD with a long run of – get ready for this – 97 yards.

Attendance at the game was listed as 13,015.

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If you are wandering through Hanover this weekend you might want to check out Dartmouth Authentic, a newly opened "brick-and-mortar" retailer selling Dartmouth athletics merchandise a couple of doors away from Lou's. Dartmouth has a release about the new store HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
With Halloween coming, I asked Mrs. BGA a couple of days ago if we should lay in some candy. She pooh poohed the idea. She was right, of course.

In 20-plus years at our house on the shoulder of Moose Mountain in Etna we never had a single trick-or-treater and the same holds true at our hillside home here in Vermont. For kids trudging up a dirt road with houses quite spread out the return on investment simply isn't there.

Buy hey, you can't blame a guy for trying. If no one showed up yet again and we happened to have a few Kit Kats or Nestle's Crunch bars left over, what's the harm, right?
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