In The Running

Harvard's dramatic win over Penn Saturday eliminated Dartmouth from the Ivy League race but the Big Green is solidly in the running for a berth in the FCS playoffs. Here's where Dartmouth's stands per three outlets.

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FCS Football Central (LINK)

Last Four In:

Lamar

Northern Arizona

Southeastern Louisiana

Dartmouth

First Four Out:

South Dakota State

New Hampshire

Gardner-Webb

William & Mary

Interestingly, look who FCS Football Central has Dartmouth playing if it advances! 

Click bracket to enlarge it.

From the accompanying story:

Dartmouth is the final team in the field in these projections, finishing 8-2 overall. They will have the head-to-head win over New Hampshire, which is also on the bubble, along with a win over Central Connecticut State, which is in the field as the NEC champion. If I were the committee, I would take an 8-win Dartmouth over a 7-5 SDSU on a five-game losing streak.

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HERO Sports put Dartmouth in the second group (LINK).

First Four Out:

Ordered from the best chance to make the bracket out of this group to the worst chance.

25. South Dakota State

26. Dartmouth

27. New Hampshire

28. Southern Utah

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From Football Scoop (LINK)

Ivy League

The 141st Game between Harvard and Yale will decide the 69th Ivy League championship and the grand old conference's first FCS playoff bid. It would be better for the conference's hopes of advancing if Harvard won; the Crimson are 9-0 and in line for a top-16 seed, which means a home game in the first round and perhaps even the second depending on what happens elsewhere this weekend. Yale is 7-2 and, due to the Ivy's lack of general schedule strength, not on the radar for an at-large bid. Problem is: Yale has won three straight and six of the last eight, including a 34-29 upset in Cambridge that cost the Crimson an outright Ivy League title. Dartmouth, with a win over likely NEC champ Central Connecticut and 7-4 New Hampshire, has a better shot at an at-large than Yale. 

Champ: Harvard/Yale winner

At-large: Harvard (if it loses to Yale)

On the Bubble: Dartmouth

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A posting out of Dartmouth:

The writing at the bottom is small so here's a little help. The last time Dartmouth had two players with 10 or more touchdowns in the same season it was tailback Greg Smith and quarterback Jon Aljancic, who each had 10 while helping the Big Green go 10-0 in 1996.

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At the end of yesterday's posting about the Ivy Leaguer player of the week honors, I wrote the following in regard to the conference offering absolutely no information on what the players accomplished to earn the honor:

Green Alert Take: As usual this fall, the Ivy League release offered no information on what each of the players of the week did to earn the distinction. Sorry, but that's a failure by the league office.

That came to mind this morning when my "in box" included something about a former Dartmouth player being named the offensive player of the week at his current school. While the Ivy League office couldn't be bothered to do anything more than list names, here's how the Division III Middle Atlantic Conference office recognizes its players of the week:

Logan Klitsch (Lebanon Valley / Jr., QB / Robesonia, Pa.) accounted for all five touchdowns in Lebanon Valley’s 38–35 rivalry win at Albright, securing the Dutchmen a berth in the Bowl Series. The junior threw for a career-high 321 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 78 yards and another score. He then engineered a 10-play, 71-yard drive in the final 1:34 to set up the game-winning 25-yard field goal as time expired.

Green Alert Take: The Ivy League needs to do better.

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This week's Sagarin Ratings among all DI teams, with last week's rating in

parentheses:

104 Harvard (98)

141 Yale (138)

157 Dartmouth (157)

188 Princeton (186)

190 Penn (198)

203 Cornell (199)

211 Brown (213)

232 Columbia (231)

144 New Hampshire (153)

199 Central Connecticut (196)

252 Fordham (250)

Sagarin has Dartmouth favored over Brown by 6 points. The service has Harvard as a 2½-point favorite at Yale.

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Massey Ratings of only FCS teams with last week's rating in parentheses:

7 Harvard (7)

24 Yale (29)

28 Dartmouth (30)

47 Penn (51)

62 Princeton (54)

66 Cornell (68)

67 Brown (74)

90 Columbia (87)

Massey has Dartmouth winning at Brown, 31-24, with 70 percent confidence. And Massey has Harvard winning at Yale, 30-27, with 60 percent confidence.

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Do not think winning isn't important at Dartmouth or in the Ivy League. Something like this doesn't happen nearly as often as it does in big-time schools, but the Big Green is making a "leadership change" in the men's soccer program. The college has announced that coach Bo Oshoniyi is being let go after posting a 34-55-20 overall record and a 17-25-7 Ivy mark over seven years at the helm.

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EXTRA POINT

I received an email yesterday informing me that the book I borrowed from the Vermont state library on my Kindle is due in a couple of days. Given that today is the only day of the week when I don't post to BGA Overtime, I'll probably have time to finish it today. If not, I'll turn off wifi on the Kindle and the book will still be available until I turn the wifi back on, at which point it will disappear. I wasn't sure that was OK when I learned the trick several years ago before I found this online about what happens at the due date:

"The license automatically expires on the library’s servers and the loan is considered returned when the due date hits. The book is returned to the next person in line immediately — regardless of whether your Kindle is connected to wifi. Your Kindle will still show the book until it reconnects, but the file is basically a 'dead' copy."