Thursday, October 17, 2024

This And That

No game notes up for either Central Connecticut or Dartmouth as of Thursday morning, but the Bristol Press has a general preview of Saturday's game from the Central Connecticut perspective HERE.

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Dartmouth social media reports the Big Green will be wearing black-over-black on Saturday:

Green Alert Take: You didn't ask, but I'll give you my grades on Dartmouth uniform combinations anyway. Once again, your mileage can (and will) vary:

• Green shirts/white pants: A+
• White shirts/white pants: A
• White shirts/black pants: C-
• Green shirts/black pants: D
• Black shirts/black pants: D-

The thankfully retired green pants garnered an F married up with green shirts, but at least green is the school color. Black is not.

Green Alert Take II: The players like the black-on-black. I get it. They wear them. I just come from a place that lives by the motto: "Black Shoes. Basic Blues. No Names. All Game."

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If you want to sneak a look at the Central Connecticut team and don't have ESPN+ you can check out last week's win over Mercyhurst on the NEC Front Row archives free of charge HERE.

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The Sagarin Ratings have Dartmouth as a 15-point favorite over Central Connecticut Saturday. Here's where Sagarin sees Ivy League teams among the 263 schools classified as Division I:

148 Harvard
160 Dartmouth
171 Penn
173 Yale
186 Columbia
199 Brown
205 Princeton
223 Cornell 

As for Dartmouth's non-league opponents, the venerable computer ranking looks like this:

216 Merrimack
225 Central Connecticut 
238 Fordham 

For the record, Sagarin has Texas at No. 1 and  Mississippi Valley State as No. 263.

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Jake Novak down at the Columbia Roar Lions 2024 blog has his Power Ratings up and they look like this (LINK):

1 Dartmouth
2 Harvard
3 Columbia
4 Penn
5 Brown
6 Yale
7 Cornell
8 Princeton 

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Harvard Magazine has a story in the current issue headlined, The End of the Ivy League? How changes in college sports affect the Crimson. Of note from the story (LINK):

Some Harvardians see NIL as an opportunity to deemphasize athletics. Now that Harvard’s national competition is acting differently, Holman professor of business administration Paul Gompers would explore dropping down to Division III (the lowest NCAA tier). There, member-institutions tend to have NIL policies more in line with Harvard’s. Leaving Division I, he says, would reduce pressure on coaches to compete with NIL-laden programs and reaffirm the importance of student-athletes’ academic work.

And . . .

As other schools adapt more radically to the new athletic landscape, does Harvard still have a place within Division I, the most competitive of the NCAA’s three tiers? (Athletic Director Erin) McDermott believes so. She does not envision Harvard leaving the division “unless there are some really exclusionary things that happen that we are not anticipating,” such as mandatory revenue sharing, or power conferences like the Big Ten or SEC splintering off from the NCAA.

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By now you've probably heard how Oregon used a loophole in the rules to run a few critically important seconds off the clock in the final minute of its win over Ohio State by drawing a penalty for having a 12th player on the field. Much to the chagrin of the Buckeyes, the NCAA is closing the loophole after the fact. From an AP story (LINK):

Steve Shaw, NCAA coordinator of football officials, said in a statement that a “guiding principle of the NCAA Football Rules Committee is that there should be no benefit when a team commits a penalty.”

And . . . 

“After the Two-Minute Timeout in either half, if the defense commits a substitution foul and 12 or more players are on the field and participate in a down, officials will penalize the defense for the foul and at the option of the offended team, reset the game clock back to the time displayed at the snap,” the guidance said.

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It's been some time since there was a field hockey note on this site – if ever – but leave it to the always interesting TigerBlog to come up with something that deserves a mention. In advance of Princeton's Saturday game at Harvard, TB writes (LINK):

Since the start of the 2017 season, the Princeton and Harvard field hockey teams are a combined 77-1 against the rest of the Ivy League.

Green Alert Take: Wow! But I have a question. Who was the 1? 

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EXTRA POINT
Although the so-called experts expected one, this hasn't been the most dramatic of foliage seasons. The "reds" just haven't popped. We're actually a little past "peak" by now but the view off our front porch was pretty nice yesterday afternoon:

Click the pic for a better look.


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Wednesday, October 16, 2024

About That Probability . . .

Kudos to Dartmouth social media for resurrecting this from the fourth quarter of Saturday's win over Yale (LINK):


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There's also this:

Green Alert Take: Look, I think Delby Lemieux is a terrific player and deserves every honor he's going to get – and there will be a lot of them before he's through. But mid-season All-America teams are kind of jumping the gun a bit, and Phil Steele going four deep at mid-season is silly. But hey, if you are curious, here it is:

Click the chart to enlarge it.

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Recognize the guy on the right?


That's Dartmouth grad transfer Nick Howard alongside 5-foot-7 Reagan Andrew, the Butler sophomore quarterback who is sharing time with Howard this fall.

Howard currently leads the 5-1 Bulldogs with 348 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the ground. He's enjoying success throwing the ball as well, completing 26-of-36 passes (72.2 percent) for 363 yards with five touchdowns.

Howard knows a little something about sharing quarterbacking duties of course. From the story (LINK):

(W)hile Andrew may have had the inside scoop on The Butler Way, Howard is still the seasoned veteran when it comes to football experience. During his tenure at Dartmouth, he even had the opportunity to play in an offense with more than one quarterback.

“It was a lot of what we did when I was playing at Dartmouth, so it’s nothing out of the ordinary for me,” Howard said. “Bringing that here has been really good for our team. We utilize both of our skill sets to the maximum.”

Howard’s maturity and play style have provided ample opportunities for Andrew to learn, the same way Howard relied on him for help with his adjustment to Butler.

“(Howard has) had a historic college career and it’s been awesome to learn from him, get some new perspective on things and play alongside him,” Andrew said. “It’s been a blessing in disguise; I’ve loved every second of it.”

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Speaking of grad transfers, yesterday's note on this page had an update on former Dartmouth defensive linemen making their mark at the FBS level. Two more grads are doing their thing behind the defensive line, both at UMass.

Macklin Ayers has 16 tackles at linebacker for the Minutemen while Leonard St. Gourdin has 14 stops with two pass breakups as well as half a sack from his spot in the secondary. St. Gourdin had four tackles including his half sack against No. 21 Missouri last week. Ayers had three stops in the game, played in front of 16,102 in Amherst.

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Missed this last week. From a Reuters story headlined US judge dismisses Ivy Leaguers lawsuit over sport scholarship bans (LINK):

The eight U.S. universities known as the Ivy League on Thursday won dismissal of a prospective class action by current and former student athletes challenging the schools’ bans on sport scholarships and other compensation for their athletes.

And . . .

The lawsuit sought unspecified monetary damages and an injunction to open up scholarships to student athletes.

The students called the Ivy League "big business" and said its sports conference "comprises eight of the wealthiest commercial organizations in America" with collective endowments of more than $170 billion.

The schools countered that they have power to set their own rules for financial aid and compensation for student athletes. The schools also said the sports scholarship ban is meant to "foster campus cultures that do not prioritize athletics."

Green Alert Take: Ivy League coaches must love that last line. Here it is with the part coaches recruiting against the Ivy League will use:

"The schools also said the sports scholarship ban is meant to 'foster campus cultures that do not prioritize athletics.'

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Now this is funny. First, a Penn State alum spends $1,800 (plus the price of his ticket) to take part in a "special pregame VIP experience" of running on the Coliseum field behind the USC team just prior to Saturday's kickoff between the Trojans and the Nittany Lions in LA. Now the twist: The fan in question ia wearing a blue Penn State hat, a sleeveless shirt with a large Penn State logo splashed across his chest and Penn State gym shorts as he leaves the tunnel.

This is the funny part. A couple of days later this coda has suddenly been added to the page inviting fans to fork over money for the VIP experience:

“All participants must be in USC apparel to partake in Game Day Experiences. USC Athletics reserves the right to remove individuals who are not compliant.”

Find a story explaining what happened with a look at the video the PSU fan shot of his hilarious run onto the field HERE. 

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EXTRA POINT
I was on my way down the mountain yesterday when I said hello to a couple of women still on their way up. When I got to the trailhead 20 minutes later there were two cars in the small, gravel parking lot. One was mine. The other was a silver Miata convertible.

The temperature never got out of the 40s yesterday and just when I got to my car it started raining. Oh yeah. Did I mention the Miata's top was down?

I hope the women enjoyed their hike because I'm pretty sure they didn't enjoy the ride back home.

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Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Nationally Ranked

From Dartmouth social media:

Here are the full polls:

Stats Perform

W-L

Pts

Prev

1

South Dakota State (38)

5-1

1374

1

2

North Dakota State (8)

6-1

1337

2

3

Montana State (10)

7-0

1320

3

4

South Dakota

5-1

1224

4

5

Villanova

5-1

1148

5

6

UC Davis

6-1

1117

6

7

Mercer

6-0

1050

8

8

Southeast Missouri

6-1

945

11

9

North Dakota

4-2

927

9

10

Tarleton State

6-1

835

13

11

Montana

5-2

791

14

12

Central Arkansas

5-2

790

12

13

Idaho

4-3

778

7

14

UIW

4-2

754

15

15

William & Mary

4-2

547

17

16

Rhode Island

5-1

525

19

17

Abilene Chrstian

4-3

491

10

18

Richmond

4-2

387

21

19

Chattanooga

3-3

341

23

20

North Carolina Central

5-2

212

25

21

Illinois State

4-3

193

16

22

DARTMOUTH

4-0

158

NR

23

ETSU

4-3

117

NR

24

New Hampshire

4-2

100

NR

T-25

Florida A&M

3-2

81

NR


Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Western Carolina (3-3, 2-0 SoCon), 75; Tennessee State (5-2, 3-1 Big South-OVC), 71; Duquesne (4-2, 2-0 NEC), 57; Sacramento State (2-4, 0-2 Big Sky), 57; Stephen F. Austin (4-2, 2-1 Southland), 43; Stony Brook (4-2, 1-1 CAA), 41; Northern Arizona (3-4, 1-2 Big Sky), 36; McNeese (4-3, 1-1 Southland), 33; Weber State (3-4, 2-1 Big Sky), 26; HARVARD (3-1, 1-1 Ivy), 25; Towson (3-3, 1-1 CAA), 24; Drake (4-1, 3-0 Pioneer), 14;Monmouth (3-3, 1-1 CAA), 13;  Lamar (3-3, 0-1 Southland), 11; Southeastern Louisiana (3-4, 2-0 Southland) 7; Southern Utah (3-4, 2-1 UAC), 7; Dayton (4-1, 2-0 Pioneer), 2





FCS Coaches

W-L

Pts

Prev

1

South Dakota State (21)

5-1

644

1

2

North Dakota State (2)

6-1

621

2

3

Montana State (3)

7-0

603

3

4

South Dakota

5-1

572

4

5

Villanova

5-1

535

5

6

UC Davis

6-1

514

6

7

Mercer

6-0

491

7

8

Southeast Missouri State

6-1

455

9

9

Tarleton State

6-1

418

11

10

North Dakota

4-2

403

10

11

Montana

5-2

367

14

12

Central Arkansas

5-2

342

13

13

UIW

4-2

325

15

14

Idaho

4-3

309

8

15

Richmond

4-2

255

17

16

William & Mary

4-2

249

18

17

Rhode Island

5-1

219

21

18

Florida A&M

3-2

157

19

19

New Hampshire

4-2

126

22

20

Missouri State

4-2

131

25

T21

ACU

4-3

127

12

T21

North Carolina Central

5-2

127

24

23

Illinois State

4-3

92

16

24

DARTMOUTH

4-0

84

NR

25

Jackson State

4-2

37

NR


Others Receiving Votes:  Stony Brook, 36; Duquesne, 35; Chattanooga, 30; East Tennessee St., 28; UT Martin, 22; McNeese, 17; Monmouth (N.J.), 11; Sacramento St., 11; Western Carolina, 11; Drake, 8; COLUMBIA, 6; Stephen F. Austin, 5; Tennessee St., 5; Weber St., 4; Butler, 2; Northern Arizona, 2; Georgetown (D.C.), 1; Indiana St., 1; Lafayette, 1; Lamar, 1.





For a Dartmouth story about the national ranking, click HERE.

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The Big Green doesn't get that kind of national attention without a remarkable game by sophomore quarterback Grayson Saunier, named the Ivy League offensive player of the week. 

Big Green kicker Owen Zalc and linebacker Micah Green were chosen honorable mention.

Find a Dartmouth story about Saunier's honor HERE, and the Ivy League release announcing the weekly recognition HERE.

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From a week seven wrap by Brian McLaughlin of HERO Sports (LINK):
In the Ivy League, Dartmouth has clearly emerged being the only 4-0 team, but Harvard is legit and let’s not forget – Harvard’s lone loss was to Brown (by 3). The truth is, the Ivy League looks like it is as competitive as it has been in years, with some new blood. Don’t forget Columbia, either. One other worthy mention is that Princeton fell by a ton against the SoCon’s top team so far, Mercer. That was a signature win for the Georgia school, knocking off an Ivy League blueblood.

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The usual Monday Six-Pack (Plus One) of thoughts and analysis as well as notes and quotes went up on BGA Overtime last night. Check the posting out HERE.

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The Yale Football Blog takes a look at last week's game from the Bulldogs' perspective and offers some good analysis including this:

Yale’s defense held strong for the first two and half quarters before completely melting down. McDonough was cited for a targeting penalty that forced him out of the contest, while Yang was injured and did not return. With half of the starting defensive line out, Dartmouth was able to run and pass at will in the second half and overtime. The defensive line was manhandled while linebackers could not get off blocks or provide support on cutbacks often leaving a lone safety to make a touchdown saving tackle.

Find the analysis HERE. 

Among the comments posted at the end of the story:

Unless you count the last game of 1968 as a defeat, this was the worst loss in Yale football history.

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An update on three former defensive linemen for the Big Green now playing at the FBS level:

• Grad transfer Charlie Looes is having a strong season at Rice. He's third on the team with 27 tackles including 4.5 for a loss and 1½ sacks for eight yards. He was a fifth-year senior at Dartmouth last fall.

• In his second season at Colorado, Shane Cokes has 14 tackles with 2.5 for a loss, one sack for four years and one forced fumble.

• At Northwestern, Hank Knez has played in two games and recorded one tackle. Like Looes, he finished his Big Green eligibility last fall as a fifth-year senior.

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EXTRA POINT
Missed this yesterday but happy Thanksgiving to our friends north of the border. Canadians celebrate the holiday on the second Monday in October. Do you think there's poutine on the menu, eh?

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