It's Time

The Harvard and Yale previews went up on BGA Overtime last night. Check out the whole series of previews today, and come back tonight for a story out of the first day of Dartmouth fall camp, where I'm spending the morning. Find it all on BGA Overtime.

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If you told me last year at this time that Sean Williams '26 would be in the news this week I would have guessed he made an interception in a preseason NFL game, or something along those lines. I would never have predicted he would be in a headline on the Arkansas Razorbacks On SI page:

The story begins this way:

A new court ruling in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday could lead to two Arkansas defensive backs not suiting up this season.

After a previous court ruling allowed NCAA athletes from the Class of 2022 to retain a year of eligibility, even if they had exhausted their four years, safety Caleb Wooden and Dartmouth transfer DB Sean Williams were both given a new lease on life, at least in regard to their eligiblity for the 2026 season. Wooden officially joined the Razorbacks on Aug. 16, one day before the start of the fall semester at the University of Arkansas, while Williams committed to Arkansas on Aug. 18.

Click HERE to read the full piece. 

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Dartmouth has announced its promotional lineup for the football season (LINK):

Sept. 26  Monmouth – Family Weekend
Oct. 3 Penn – Homecoming
Oct. 17 Merrimack – Eduicator Day
Oct. 30 Harvard – Staff Health Care Appreciation Day
Nov. 21 Brown – Senior Day/Youth Day

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FCS Football Central on SI carries a piece headlined Ranking The Best FCS Offenses From Every Conference In 2025; Will these top FCS offenses be able to find the same success in 2026? The column judges the offenses by yards per play in conference action. Here are the numbers it worked up for the Ivy League:

Harvard (6.3)
Yale (6.0)
Penn (5.6)
Brown (5.3)
Dartmouth (5.3)

From the story (LINK):

Harvard will have to replace star quarterback Jaden Craig, but the Crimson will have plenty of returning weapons around whoever wins the QB1 job. Dante Reno will look to take the next step at Yale, but the Bulldogs are going to need to find a new workhorse to replace Josh Pitsenberger.

The same story lists Dartmouth week-one opponent Lehigh first in the Patriot League with 7.1 yards per play, and week-two opponent Monmouth second in the CAA at 6.8.

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A HERO Sports piece headlined Top 25 Returning FCS Defensive Ends In 2026 has three Ivy Leaguers in its ranking:

8. Ike Odimegwu, Brown
16. Zairion Jackson-Bass, Yale
18. Jack Middleton, Brown

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Finally, with less than a week until the first FCS game, the uniform number countdown is at six, and the best player in the nation wearing that number will be across the field from Dartmouth on Sept. 19. Here's the HERO writeup (LINK):

The best returning No. 6 is Lehigh RB Luke Yoder
-2026 Sr
-5’11” 205 lbs
-2024: 1,014 rush yards, 10 TDs
-2024 All-Patriot 2nd Team
-2025: 1,409 rush yards, 7.1 YPC, 15 TDs
-2025 Patriot League OPOY
-2025 3x FCS All-American

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EXTRA POINT
If you've been following along you know about our beloved '84 VW Vanagon pop top camper bus, which we take every July (except this one when it was on the disabled list) to a jamboree in southern Vermont. The final count is in, and here's the census from this year's event:

A total of 103 Volkswagens turned up. Of that number there were 63 Vanagons (1980-81), 22 "bay window" models (1967-79), eight "splitties" (1950-67), four Eurovans (1992-2003), two Rialto's (1995-2005) and one lonely Beetle. I hoped to see an electric VW Buzz, but not this year.

Here's an aerial view showing just a few of the VWs.

Big Is Big

Princeton and Penn previews went up last night on BGA Overtime. The series wraps up tonight with a look at Harvard and Yale before kicking off 2026 preseason coverage tomorrow. Be sure to bookmark BGA Overtime here.

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Depending on what source you check, a high school senior who intends to play offensive line at Dartmouth is either 6-foot-6 or 6-7, and weighs 305, 315 or 330 pounds. Whatever the official numbers, one thing is certain. This is one big fella.

Nolan McIntyre is a senior at St. Annes-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va. He chose Dartmouth over offers from Penn and Davidson, as well as Ferrum, Hampden-Sydney and Wheeling. His announcement runs the list of public commitments to attend Dartmouth to 16.

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Dartmouth's freshmen have reported for duty. Click directly on the photo in this Xweet and then on the arrows to see more, courtesy of Dartmouth's social media.

Class of ’30 Reporting In! #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/z2nvs7n3Yr

— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) August 20, 2026

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Here's how Craig Haley at Stats Perform sees the Ivy League race shaping up (LINK):

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

Before sharing what Craig wrote about Dartmouth, the posting explains the capsules accompanying the story . . . 

. . . (Pit) FCS senior editor Craig Haley’s predicted order up against the Opta projection model. The supercomputer, if you will, incorporates TRACR (Team Rating Adjusted for Conference and Roster) and other factors while running thousands of simulations to determine an average number of wins and losses per team.

Got that? Me neither. But here's what the post has about Dartmouth anyway:

• 2025 Record: 7-3, 4-3 (T-3rd)

• Preseason TRACR Rank (Ivy Rank): 72 (4)

• Opta Average Projected Wins: 5.0 (10 Games)

•  Circle the Date: Oct. 30 vs. Harvard

Dartmouth has won the most Ivy League football titles (22). Grayson Saunier is a running QB (413 yards, 11 TDs) who took a big step as a passer last season, while safety Harrison Keith had a breakout with 46 tackles and four interceptions. There’s no easing into the schedule with games against nationally ranked Lehigh and Monmouth. 

Green Alert Take: Before that 5.0 "Projected Wins" thing gets you in a huff, know that it has Yale with 6.7 and Harvard with 6.4.

The story also includes this:

Five Players to Watch
DB -Damien Henderson, Harvard, Sr., 6-0, 180
DB - Abu Kamara, Yale, Sr., 6-1, 208
TE - Ryder Kurtz, Cornell, Sr., 6-5, 233
DL -Ike Odimegwu, Brown, Sr., 6-3, 235
QB -Dante Reno, Vale, Jr., 6-2, 205

Green Alert Take: I guess I'm a little surprised Dartmouth safety Harrison Keith isn't one of the five, but who are you going to take off?

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Grad transfer Max Wentz '26 is projected to be the starting center at Ball State, where teammate Sean Ward '26 is a tight end. From a story in the Ball State Daily (LINK):

Redshirt fifth-year Maxwell Wentz comes in from Dartmouth, where he was a standout player and was awarded preseason All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors.

Green Alert Take: That's a lot of respect for an Ivy Leaguer who hasn't yet played a game at that level.

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There are two familiar names in a Dartmouth College news release headlined Saying Goodbye to Retiring Faculty and Staff. Former defensive coordinator Don Dobes and retired defensive line coach Duane Brooks get a nod along with a bunch of academics and the like. (LINK)

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EXTRA POINT
We had a contractor here at our Vermont hillside home yesterday taking measurements for a repair project he'll be starting in a few weeks, and he told us that on the drive here from Hanover he was telling his brother/partner about our beautiful views. He was right, as this shot when the sun was setting a few hours later reveals. And yes, the colors are accurate. It really did look like someone spilled Welch's grape juice in the clouds.

The Grad Transfer Landscape And AI

Previews of Brown, Columbia and Cornell went up on BGA Overtime last night. Come back tonight for a look at Penn and Princeton. The series will finish with previews of Harvard and Yale tomorrow. 

Preseason coverage starts on Saturday so be sure to bookmark BGA Overtime to follow Dartmouth throughout camp and the 2026 season.

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A good friend of BGA turned to AI to produce a list of grad transfers from around the Ivy League. While readily conceding that AI can make mistakes (which it did) and that the information may not be complete or up-to-date, here's what he shared for Dartmouth.

DARTMOUTH FBS GRAD TRANSFERS
• Chris Corbo '26 — TE — Georgia Tech (ACC)
• Dakota Quiñonez '26 — DT — Duke (ACC)
• Patrick Campbell '26 — DB — Virginia (ACC)
• Vasean Washington '26 — OL — Ohio State (Big Ten)
• Sean Williams '26 — DB — Arkansas (SEC)
• D.J. Crowther '26 — RB — South Florida (American)
• Thaddeus Gianaris '26 — DE — Wyoming (Mountain West)
• Grayson O'Bara '26 — WR — North Texas (American)
• Sean Ward '26 — TE — Ball State (MAC)
• Maxwell Wentz '26 — OL — Ball State (MAC)

DARTMOUTH FCS GRAD TRANSFERS
• Daniel Haughton '26 — WR — Furman (SoCon)
• Micah Green '26 — LB — Merrimack

DARTMOUTH IN NFL CAMPS
• Delby Lemieux '26 — OL/C — Minnesota Vikings
• Josiah Green '25 — DL — Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Tyron Herring '23 — DB — Cleveland

Comparing the results dug up across the Ivy League, here's what the "friend of BGA" found:

Dartmouth totals: 10 FBS, 2 FCS, 3 NFL
Yale totals: 7 FBS, 5 NFL
Penn totals: 7 FBS, 1 NFL
Harvard totals: 5 FBS, 3 NFL
Princeton totals: 4 FBS, 2 FCS, 3 NFL
Cornell totals: 2 FBS
Columbia totals: 1 FBS
Brown totals: 2 NFL

Green Alert Take: Scanning just the Georgia Tech and Duke rosters, I had to add two Yale players and one each from Penn, Princeton and Cornell. There are certainly more, but this should give a general idea of the grad transfer (and NFL preseason) landscape.

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Good news. Dartmouth has its new sports information director Assistant Athletics Director Of Strategic Communications. Elliott Carr comes to Hanover from Princeton, where he was on the athletic communications staff for the better part of seven years.

Carr, who grew up in Australia, played basketball at Iowa's Clarke University and then spent several years as a sports information graduate assistant at North Central College. He also had year-long stints at LIU and North Carolina State. Carr earned a communications degree from Clark and a masters of organizational leadership - sports leadership from North Central. Welcome, Elliott!

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With its new director, the communications office has begin pulling together bios of this year's freshmen. Posted as of this morning were capsule looks at Harlem Taylor, Ayo Adeniyi, Jacob Henry, JJ Bolz, Tre Jones and Blake Betette.

Green Alert Take: As someone who compiled and wrote freshman bios for the communications office in the past, I can tell you that depending on the information supplied (or not supplied) by the players, it can be a tiring process. Given that the new SID director has an entirely new staff this year, and still has another spot to fill, give him some time to get everything up-to-speed.

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Bleacher Report picks up the story of quarterback LaNorris Sellers, whose fall course load at South Carolina mimics Matt Leinhart's ballroom dancing at the other USC. From the story (LINK):

When he's not on a football field this fall, you might find South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers on the range.

According to Hale McGranahan of Gamecock247, Sellers is interning The Par Tee Golf Center in West Columbia, South Carolina. It's the only college coursework he has to worry about for the time being as he has no classes on his academic schedule.

And . . .

His tasks at Par Tee are far more menial. He told McGrahanan he mostly performs "facility management," such as mowing the grass and picking up golf balls.

Green Alert Take: It's not the Ivy League.

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EXTRA POINT
I watched a YouTube video offering helpful instruction yesterday and the intro included a note saying "No AI was used in the production of this video." It's getting to the point, unfortunately, where you almost have to tell people that.

For the record, yes that note above about grad transfers included information from AI, but that's it. I try not to use AI when pulling together BGA, and will always let you know if/when I do. It is never used for posts on BGA Overtime, unless you count spelchek spellcheck.

Closing In On It

Previews for Lehigh, Monmouth and Merrimack are now up on BGA Overtime. Look for previews of Brown, Columbia and Cornell – all returning their starting quarterbacks – tonight. Princeton and Penn will go up tomorrow, with Harvard and Yale on Friday. Then it's on to coverage of Dartmouth's preseason practice.

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FCS Football Central on SI has a piece headlined Summer Scouting: Top FCS Safety Prospects To Watch In The 2027 NFL Draft and there's a familiar name near the top of the list. Actually, two of them. From the posting (LINK):

• Best Deep Safety: Harrison Keith
• Best Box Safety: Rex Connors
• Best Hybrid Defender: Abu Kamara
• Best Coverage Safety: Harrison Keith
• Best Ball Hawk: Harrison Keith
• Best Run Defender: Rex Connors
• Best Tackler: Rex Connors
• Best Athlete: Abu Kamara
• Best Football IQ: Harrison Keith
• Most Versatile: Abu Kamara
• Most Underrated: Caden Dowler
• Highest Ceiling: Joshua Tarver
• Most NFL-Ready: Abu Kamara

Harrison Keith, of course, is a Dartmouth senior. Abu Kamara is a Yale standout. 

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Speaking of Dartmouth safeties, this is a weird one. Sean Williams, who Harrison Keith referred to during the Ivy League media day as one of his mentors when he was a young player, has been added to the Arkansas roster.

What's that you say? Didn't he participate in a Tennessee Titans regional tryout? Yup.

This is from a lengthy story on 247Sports (LINK):

Williams, 5-9, 190, was a three-time All-Ivy League selection with 11 career interceptions and had a minicamp tryout with the Titans, but the ruling from a Colorado judge allowed him to return to school and transfer to Fayetteville ahead of the upcoming season.

If you can't access that story, you can read more about Williams heading to the Hogs HERE.

Green Alert Take: Just when I start to think the rules about college sports participation can't get any stranger, they get stranger.

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On the subject of grad transfers, this shot of former Dartmouth tight end Chris Corbo is from Georgia Tech's social media with a story headlined, Corbo, Haynes Tabbed As Top-100 2027 NFL Draft Prospects (LINK).

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Dartmouth has announced that NESN (New England Sports Network) will broadcast the Big Green's Oct. 17 football game against Merrimack from Memorial Field. It's part of a three-sport package of Dartmouth broadcasts that includes the women's soccer game against Holy Cross on Sept. 10, and the men's soccer game vs. UMass on Oct. 13. Find a story out of Dartmouth HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
Did I ever tell you that back when it had the gold standard of sports pages, I was offered a job at the Burlington Free Press? For a variety of reasons, I was on the fence about taking the job.

In fact, I was so back-and-forth about the position that, believe it or not, what made up my mind to turn the offer down was learning that I would have to buy a monthly permit to park near the office. I wasn't going to move to Vermont only to have to pay to park like I was in New York City. Not in Vermont!

What made me think about that was reading today that White River Junction is going to have paid parking from now on. With that I realized that depending on how far she is willing to walk, Mrs. BGA is going to have to pay to park when she volunteers as the diabetes educator at the Good Neighbor Health Clinic.

And I wouldn't pay to buy parking for a job that I actually got paid for!

But everything turned out fine, of course. If I'd taken the job up in Burlington, there would have been no BGA, no Mrs. BGA, and you would never have heard of That Certain Dartmouth '14, That Nittany Lion '16 or Griff the Wonder Dog. ;-)

First Previews On Tap Tonight

BGA Overtime will start opponent previews tonight. The tentative plan:

• Tonight: Lehigh, Monmouth, Merrimack

• Tomorrow: Brown, Columbia, Cornell

• Thursday: Penn, Princeton

• Friday: Harvard, Yale

• Saturday: Preseason coverage

If you haven't visited the site or bookmarked it yet, head on over to BGA Overtime today! 

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From Dartmouth social media:

Green Alert Take: While Josiah Green and Delby Lemieux were making their preseason debuts, safety Tyron Herring is '23 is on injured reserve with the Cleveland Browns. Herring was a grad transfer at Delaware for two years after picking up his Dartmouth degree.

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The STATS preseason poll went up earlier this month and now the FCS Coaches Poll is out. Dartmouth is in the Coaches Others Receiving Votes category. Week 1 opponent Lehigh comes in at No. 11 with Yale at 19 and Week 2 opponent Monmouth at 23. Harvard received 14 votes in the poll while Dartmouth garnered eight.

	FCS Coaches	W-L*	Pts	Prev*
1	Montana St. (25)	14-2	649	1
2	Montana	13-2	605	3
3	South Dakota St. (1)	9-5	591	14
4	Illinois St.	12-5	553	2
5	Tarleton St.	12-2	527	6
6	UC Davis	9-4	498	8
7	Villanova	12-3	448	4
8	Rhode Island	11-3	434฿	10
9	Youngstown St.	8-5	428	17
10	North Dakota	8-6	396	16
11	LEHIGH	12-1	359	9
12	South Dakota	10-5	347	11
13	Stephen F. Austin	11-3	313	7
14	ACU	9-5	295	12
15	Tennessee Tech	11-2	294	15
16	Southern Illinois	7-5	231	NR
17	Mercer	9-3	189	18
18	Austin Peay	7-5	186	NR
19	YALE	9-3	164	13
20	Southeastern Louisiana	9-4	160	19
21	Lamar	8-5	133	21
22	UT Martin	6-6	123	NR
23	MONMOUTH	9-3	105	20
24	Northern Arizona	7-5	67	NR
25	South Carolina St.	10-3	63	25
	* Final 2025 poll
	Others Receiving Votes: Richmond, 31; Southeast Missouri St., 27; Valparaiso, 23; Alabama St., 21; East Tennessee St., 21; Western Carolina, 20; Idaho St., 15; HARVARD, 14; Central Connecticut St., 12; Furman, 12; Jackson St., 11; Chattanooga, 9; Eastern Kentucky, 9; UIW, 9; UT-Rio Grande Valley, 9; DARTMOUTH, 8; Elon, 7; William & Mary, 7; Holy Cross, 6; Wofford, 5; Prairie View A&M, 4; Northern Colorado, 3; St. Thomas (Minn.), 3; New Hampshire, 2; Central Arkansas, 1; McNeese St., 1; San Diego, 1; Stony Brook, 1.

	STATS	W-L*	Pts	Prev*
1	Montana State (57)	14-2	1,425	1
2	Montana	13-2	1,328	3
3	South Dakota State	9-5	1,266	13
4	Illinois State	12-5	1,231	2
5	Tarleton State	12-2	1,100	6
6	UC Davis	9-4	1,063	8
7	Rhode Island	11-3	1,048	11
8	Villanova	12-3	1,008	T4
9	Youngstown State	8-5	946	18
10	North Dakota	8-6	945	14
11	LEHIGH	12-1	826	10
12	South Dakota	10-5	783	9
13	Stephen F. Austin	11-3	773	7
14	Tennessee Tech	11-2	594	16
15	Abilene Christian	9-5	579	12
16	Southern Illinois	7-5	509	25
17	Austin Peay	7-5	440	NR
18	YALE	9-3	418	15
19	Southeastern Louisiana	9-4	392	19
20	Lamar	8-5	380	24
21	Mercer	11-3	306	17
22	MONMOUTH	9-3	200	22
23	UT Martin	6-6	144	NR
24	South Carolina State	10-3	107	21
25	Northern Arizona	7-5	103	NR
	* Final 2025 poll
	Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Idaho State 100; Western Carolina 75; HARVARD 72; New Hampshire 61; Alabama State 59; Jackson State 48; Southern Utah 27; Prairie View A&M 25; West Georgia 25; UTRGV 20; Richmond 15; ETSU 12; Elon 11; Southeast Missouri 10; William & Mary 9; Delaware State 7; Drake 7; Furman 6

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Do with this what you will, but Bill Connelly's College Football SP+ power-rating system is out. It is "based primarily on efficiency, while adjusting for opponent strength and tempo."

Green Alert Take: Huh?

Anyway, here's how it ranks Ivy League teams:

Yale 133

Harvard 146

Dartmouth 164

Penn 186

Brown 213

Princeton 216

Cornell 222

Columbia 235

Find the full rankings HERE. 

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EXTRA POINT
When I first went to the Dartmouth athletics page today I got this message using the Safari browser:

Error 15

dartmouthsports.com

2026-08-18 12:14:32 UTC

What happened?

This request was blocked by our security service

I've been visiting that page every day for the past, oh, 20-plus years, and never saw that before. If I did something to mess things up, I don't know what it was. If I did something to fix things up, I don't know what it is. All I know is it's working again.