A Final Look Back

From Dartmouth social media, a look back at the Merrimack game:

#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods https://t.co/CeE33zFz3w

— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) October 18, 2026

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With Columbia next on tap, Roar Lions podcast Jake Novak has the Big Green and the Lions back-to-back in his weekly power rankings (LINK):

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

From the transcript of Jake's podcast:

I really thought Dartmouth was the best team in the league. But right now, there are just so many questions of consistency with that ballclub also. Suddenly, their offense isn't as strong as it looked in the beginning of the season. Their defense looked better, but didn't have the greatest game either on Saturday.

They won the game in a comeback against Merrimack. I don't know what to make of Dartmouth right now. It's very, very hard to assess them at this point. But I've got them, you know, sort of in the middle of the pack towards the back.

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Saturday is Homecoming at Columbia and the Lions have not fared well in those games overall in recent years, or against Dartmouth in Homecoming games. The Columbia Spectator has a piece headlined Numbers game: a data-driven dive into Homecoming’s history. (LINK)

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Nice honors for members of both teams that will square off Saturday. Dartmouth safety Harrison Keith won the New England Football Writers Gold Helmet after recording the second-most pass breakups in an FCS game this year and making nine tackles:

Courtesy Dartmouth social media

Columbia wide receiver Bryce Coleman, who has eight touchdown receptions in five games, has been named to the watch list for the Jerry Rice Award as the nation's top freshman at the FCS level. (LINK)

Courtesy Columbia social media

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The FCS playoff selection committee has announced its first top 10 ranking and, interestingly, Harvard comes in at No. 10 and Lehigh is one of three teams "receiving votes." The Analyst takes a look at the 10 teams in the ranking and includes this:

• Best Two Wins: Colgate (20-17), at Cornell (41-29)

• Remaining Opponents: Princeton, at Dartmouth, Columbia, at Penn, Yale

• Remaining Opponents’ Combined Record: 15-10 (.600)

The good news? The remaining opponents have a good record. The bad news? The best two wins are against teams that are each one game over .500 (Colgate is 4-3, Cornell is 3-2.)

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Curious about the closed road in front of Buddy Teevens Stadium and when it will be open again? Not until July . . . hopefully. Find out what they are doing and what the holdup is HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
Those of you who have been following along learned in the Sept. 21 PAT about the saga of our new kitchen range. The Reader's Digest version is that the old one went kaput and because that range was an odd size, the granite surround cutout was about a quarter of an inch too small to fit virtually any replacement range on the market, including the one we bought. We didn't learn that until this one was delivered.

Here is how it sat until late last week when a granite cutter came and trimmed about 1/8th of an inch off each side of the granite opening. This looks a lot better:

Two things we learned. First, granite cutters don't come cheap. And second, you would not believe how much dust cutting the granite in place created. The original installers will be back Friday to complete the installation.

Tuesday News Day

BGA Overtime last night had takes on Noah Trigueros stepping in for an injured Grayson Saunier and leading the Big Green to a win last week, the value of Luke Rives bringing back the opening kickoff n that game, Owen Zalc doing Owen Zalc things, Merrimack going for two after its first TD, scheduling, the Big Green's standing in the Ivy League race, and honoring the 10-0 team of 1996. Check it all out HERE.

And tonight Statler and Waldorf The Optimist and The Pessimist are in the house.

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From Dartmouth social media:

Find a brief story HERE.

Linebacker JJ Bolz, wide receiver James Elliott and safety Harrison Keith were named to the Ivy League honor roll. (LINK)

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In advance of Saturday's game at Columbia, Roar Lions podcaster Jake Novak has an audio program headlined, Trying to get a realistic assessment of how strong a contender Columbia might be isn’t easy HERE. (If like me, you'd prefer to scan a written transcript for points of interest that's available.) From the transcript:

It does at least seem, from what we've seen this year, that this would be probably the weakest Dartmouth team Columbia has taken on since maybe 2022. And that was not a very weak Dartmouth team, by the way. But it was still a team and a game that Columbia very much probably should have won in 2022. 

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For your scouting report on the Lions, here's a look at highlights from Columbia's win at Penn on Friday night:

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Like a lot of services, Sagarin gives three points to the home team and that being the case, the ratings system has Columbia as a 2-point favorite in its Homecoming game Saturday.

Of note: Jake Novak points out in his podcast that Columbia hasn't won a Homecoming game since 2021.

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Massey predicts a 27-24 Dartmouth win with 60 percent confidence.

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Here are this week's polls:

	STATS	W-L*	Pts	Prev*
1	Tarleton State (49)	7-0	1417	2
2	Stephen F. Austin (4)	7-0	1331	3
3	Montana State (3)	6-1	1285	5
4	Youngstown State (1)	6-2	1234	6
5	South Dakota State	5-2	1181	1
6	North Dakota	6-2	1123	11
7	Northern Arizona	6-2	1082	8
8	South Dakota	6-2	1049	9
9	Austin Peay	6-2	916	12
10	Illinois State	5-2	823	13
11	LEHIGH	6-1	809	4
12	Tennessee Tech	6-1	803	15
13	Campbell	6-1	721	16
14	Montana	5-3	682	7
15	HARVARD	5-0	670	17
16	Lamar	5-2	592	10
17	Mercer	6-2	544	18
18	ETSU	5-2	441	20
19	MONMOUTH	5-2	335	23
20	UC Davis	4-3	284	14
21	Northern Iowa	3-3	266	19
22	Weber State	5-3	179	NR
23	Southeastern Louisiana	4-3	118	NR
24	Jackson State	6-1	116	NR
25	Richmond	5-2	106	NR
	Dropped Out:  Idaho State (21), Colgate (22), Morgan State (24), YALE (25)
	Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Abilene Christian (4-4, 3-0 UAC): 86; PRINCETON (4-1, 2-0 Ivy): 62; Idaho State (4-3, 1-3 Big Sky): 57; West Florida (4-2, 2-2 UAC): 45; CORNELL (3-2, 1-1 Ivy): 39; South Carolina State (5-2, 0-0 MEAC): 35; Colgate (4-3, 3-1 Patriot): 18; Houston Christian (4-3, 3-1 Southland): 14; Morgan State (5-2, 0-0 MEAC): 12; Wofford (5-3, 3-2 Southern): 10; Alabama A&M (6-2, 3-1 SWAC): 9; Bryant (5-2, 3-0 CAA) 9; UAlbany (4-3, 2-1 CAA): 5; Rhode Island (4-3, 1-2 CAA): 2

	FCS Coaches	W-L*	Pts	Prev*
1	Tarleton St. (24)	7-0	648	2
2	Stephen F. Austin (2)	7-0	623	3
3	Montana St.	6-1	591	5
4	Youngstown St.	6-2	567	6
5	South Dakota St.	5-2	520	1
6	South Dakota	6-2	491	9
7	Northern Arizona	6-2	482	10
8	North Dakota	6-2	457	15
9	Austin Peay	6-2	452	11
10	Illinois St.	5-2	396	13
11	Tennessee Tech	6-1	380	14
12	LEHIGH	6-1	375	4
13	Mercer	6-2	305	16
14	Montana	5-3	296	7
15	Lamar	5-2	288	8
16	Campbell	6-1	265	18
17	HARVARD	5-0	264	17
18	MONMOUTH	5-2	200	20
19	Richmond	5-2	152	22
20	ETSU	5-2	144	24
21	UC Davis	4-3	124	12
22	Jackson St.	6-1	108	NR
23	West Florida	4-2	57	NR
24	Southeastern Louisiana	4-3	39	NR
25	South Carolina St.	5-2	37	NR
	Dropped Out: Colgate (19), Idaho St. (21), YALE (23), Northern Iowa (25)
	Others Receiving Votes: ACU, 26; Northern Iowa, 24; Colgate, 18; Idaho St., 18; PRINCETON, 17; Bryant, 16; UAlbany, 15; YALE, 13; Weber St., 12; CORNELL (N.Y.), 9; Wofford, 9; Morgan St., 5; Alabama A&M, 2; Southeast Missouri St., 2; Central Connecticut St., 1; Delaware St., 1; Marist, 1.

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A final note: The recruiting list I was going to post today will instead go up tomorrow.

EXTRA POINT
Coming down the mountain on my hike Sunday afternoon I passed three college-aged women who were on their way up. For the better part of the next five minutes I walked through an invisible cloud of perfume. Or maybe it was just heavy makeup. Whatever, the sweet scent of the evergreen forest and fallen leaves was totally overwhelmed by something manmade, and it just seemed so wrong.