Uh . . .

I warned you recently the day was coming when BGA would go dormant until there was something to report. Welcome to that day.

That said, if you take a peek over there to the right you will see something new at the top of the column.

No, Dartmouth hasn't "released" its 2026 schedule. Maybe it's still being held captive. ;-)

Whatever. The new addition offers a peek at what next season will bring. Times will be added when they are available and watch for at least one of the games to be shifted to a Friday night for TV purposes.

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EXTRA POINT
It's only about a mile and a half to our tiny, one-room post office and each morning Griff the Wonder Dog and I hop in the car and head up the road to see what new junk mail has been tucked into our PO box.

The radio in the car always kicks on when I start the car, and because I'm beyond weary of the news out of Washington, my station of choice for the past few months has been Vermont classical.

It doesn't work with every station, but for this public station the car radio shows the title of the music it is playing. Maybe it's been the rotten weather we've had lately, but I found myself entranced by a piece called The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and was able to pull up a recording of it to listen to when I got back home. If you are curious, you can hear it for yourself HERE.

In Good Company

Screenshot from an ESPN piece headlined 2026 NFL draft Big Board rankings: Mel Kiper's top prospects (LINK):

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And this from a Pro Football Focus story headlined PFF Senior Bowl Grades: Grading standouts from one-on-one and team drills (LINK):

Outside of a single snap at right guard back in 2022, Delby Lemieux had never played anywhere other than tackle during his four-year career at Dartmouth. Despite that, Lemieux kicked inside to center for the week and more than held his own in team drills. He did have one errant snap, but he wasn’t downgraded once in pass protection and looked stout against interior defenders in the run game.

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From a New York Times story headlined Meet Miles Teodecki, the QB recruit who chose the Ivy League over the Power 4 (LINK):

Teodecki, who ranks No. 710 overall and the No. 41 quarterback in the 247Sports Composite, is Penn’s highest-rated recruit of the modern era (since 2000) and the school’s only top-1,000 signee in the last 10 years.

And this:

“My dad is my biggest role model, and my goal is to be as much like him as possible. He’s a great man,” Teodecki said of his father, Steve, who played quarterback for the Quakers in the 1990s. “If (the NFL) doesn’t pan out, then the dream is to be an NFL general manager. I want to do business, and being in the business side of football sounds like the most fun form of business to do. If not (that), the goal is to be financially free and hopefully be able to retire by the time I’m 50 and spend time with my wife and kids in the future. … I can control my destiny more towards those goals at Penn.” 

Teodecki is a three-star prospect who originally singed with Kansas State. He also held offers from BYU, Cincinnati and Colorado State among others. Brown, Cornell, Fordham, Harvard, Princeton and Yale reportedly also offered.

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Regarding Clemson coach Dabo Swinney's complaints about another coach tampering with his roster, the always entertaining Steve Spurrier had this to say (LINK):

"I thought by now, somebody would've told Dabo, 'Dabo, there ain't no rules anymore.'"

It would seem that's true. After an ESPN story noted Montana LB Tuliaupupu granted 9th year of eligibility by NCAA (LINK) this post went viral:

🚨🚨THIS IS INSANE🚨🚨

Montana linebacker Solomon Tuliaupupu is returning for his 9TH YEAR playing college football.

Tuliaupupu was in the same high school recruiting class as Micah Parsons.

Parsons is an All-Pro and been in the #NFL for five seasons already.

Ridiculous 🤯 pic.twitter.com/BuXbWGqwRI

— MLFootball (@MLFootball) February 10, 2026

In case you just scanned that post, here's the money part:

Tuliaupupu was in the same high school recruiting class as Micah Parsons.

Parsons is an All-Pro and been in the #NFL for five seasons already. 

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EXTRA POINT
This is an oldie, but a goodie. With the Winter Olympics in full force and a lot of people watching short track speed skating, we bring to you today a 15-second video from way back when That Certain Nittany Lion '16 did a pretty fair imitation of eight-time medalist Apolo Anton Ohno's "It's all about the experience." That Certain Dartmouth '14, who was interviewing him, lost it when the Ohno impressionist's trademark facial hair came off.

Striking Gold

Quiet times in the Dartmouth football-sphere so . . .

NEF IS GOLDEN.🥇@DartmouthSkiing’s Tanguy Nef claimed gold in the Alpine Skiing Men’s Team Combined for Switzerland 🇨🇭. 🌿⛷️ pic.twitter.com/S9zQg9mBHs

— Ivy League (@IvyLeague) February 9, 2026

Tanguy Nef '20, who earned four All-America honors in his three years competing for Dartmouth, posted the fastest time in the slalom to help Team Switzerland win the inaugural men's team combined.

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An NBC Sports story from before the Games began, headlined The Ivy League school that’s intertwined with the Winter Olympics, notes that . . .

"Dartmouth is the lone college or university to have at least one current or former student on every U.S. Winter Olympic team dating to the first Winter Games in 1924 in Chamonix, France."

Find the story HERE.

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Coming into the '26 games Dartmouth had won 12 gold medals, nine silver and five bronze medals. Nine of the gold medals have been won in women's hockey.

Gold Medal Winners
John Shea 1932 Speedskating (2)
Peter Kirby 1964 Bobsled (Canada)
Gretchen Ulion 1998 Hockey
Sara Tueting 1998 Hockey
Cherie Piper 2002 Hockey (Canada)
Gillian Apps 2006 Hockey (Canada)
Cherie Piper 2006 Hockey (Canada)
Katherine Weatherston, Hockey (Canada)
Gillian Apps 2010 Hockey (Canada)
Cherie Piper 2010 Hockey (Canada)
Gilliam Apps 2014 Hockey (Canada)
Laura Stacey 2022 Hockey (Canada)
Tanguy Nef 2026 Skiing (Switzerland)

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EXTRA POINT
Because about the only thing we get this time of year is junk mail, I decided last week I would hop in the car and check our PO Box only every other day. My resolve lasted just one day.

I can claim that I weakened only because it's a much-appreciated daily car ride for Griff the Wonder Dog, which it is. But the truth is, there's always the hope that something good is going to come in the mail. Unfortunately, that usually happens only before birthday, around Christmas, and the start of the football season when I hear from BGA readers.

That's all for now folks. Griff and I have to get to the post office before the window closes. ;-)

Doug Floren

Dartmouth football has lost a generous and devoted friend with the passing a week ago of Doug Floren, whose gift made Floren Varsity House possible. From the Greenwich Free Press:

Doug was devoted to Dartmouth football. He was instrumental in bringing revered football coach Buddy Teevens back to Dartmouth and worked side by side with him to build the Floren Varsity House, designed to support all Dartmouth student-athletes.

Read about Doug Floren's life in the Greenwich Free Press HERE. 

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Former Dartmouth captain Mike Bobo's '92 son Jake is a Super Bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks. The website Go Long tells the full story behind the phrase "More Bobo," coined by Seattle running backs coach Chad Morton, who like Bobo, has a Dartmouth connection. From the story (LINK):

“It started as less a compliment to me and more of a dig at the defense,” Bobo says. “Like, ‘You’re going to let the skinny white boy run around on you guys, dude?’ Chad is a very loud individual. I love him to death. Thankful for even coming up with that. But it was more of a shot at the defense than it was a compliment.”

Seattle’s veterans on defense got sick of being embarrassed. Bobo started to dread those calls for “More Bobo!” because they put a target on his back. (“I’m like, ‘Chad, you’re killing me! These guys are coming from my head now!' ”)

Green Alert Take: Here's what the story fails to mention. Chad Morton is the younger the brother of former Big Green wide receiver Eric Morton '97, who caught 55 passes with four touchdowns in his Dartmouth career.

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EXTRA POINT
With the installation of fiber internet last month we switched our phone service from a traditional "landline" to VoIP. I asked AI if we would still be considered to have a landline and got this response:

"Technically: No. Once your phone service is VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), it’s not a traditional landline anymore. Classic landlines are POTS lines (Plain Old Telephone Service) that run over copper wires from the phone company and carry their own power.

"In everyday language: Most people would still call it a landline. It’s a phone that stays in the house, rings on a base, and isn’t a cellphone—so socially and conversationally, 'landline' still fits."

Either way, for the first time we have "caller ID," and I've learned that all those calls about our fictional "extended car warranty" running out, the problems with our Windows PC (we are a Mac family) and the delay in satisfying a personal injury claim for an accident we never had, are routed through numbers here in Vermont. Somehow that makes those calls feel even more sleazy.

One Take On Today's Game

Former Dartmouth offensive lineman Jacob Flores '16 – who signed with the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent and spent time on the team's practice squad – today runs the TriadNIL agency with brothers John Paul '22 and Michael '23, themselves former Big Green linemen. The brothers also operate Trench University DFW, offering training for young offensive linemen in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Here's Jacob Flores' on the Trench social media platform giving his take on today's game, not surprisingly stressing the importance of the play up front:

Super Bowl Breakdown 🏈

Seahawks OL vs Patriots DL

Coach Jacob breaks down the trenches: Can Seattle's line protect against New England's pass rush?

The game is won up front.#SuperBowl #TrenchU #OLvsDL #Seahawks #Patriots pic.twitter.com/8iiQwtYY5G

— Trench University DFW (@TrenchUDFW) February 7, 2026

EXTRA POINT
“There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” That saying originated in Scandinavia, where they know a thing or two about cold weather.

I found myself thinking about that yesterday when it was 2 degrees and windy during my daily hike up the mountain and 0 degrees when I got down. Because I knew what was coming, I avoided "bad" clothing, and at no time was remotely uncomfortable.

I have to laugh when I watch the news and people are complaining about it being 25 degrees outside. They shouldn't be complaining about the weather.

They should be complaining about their clothes.

In The News

Utah's Park Record has a Signing Day story about three athletes headed to college sports, including Dartmouth-bound kicker/punter Tanner Pidwell. The Utah all-state second-team punter told the paper (LINK)

“I have a strong interest in academics and wanted to go to a strong school. Football gave me a clear path to a great school that I am super excited to attend.”

More from the story:

Pidwell added that he wanted to see the field early in his college career. He has seen players before choose a bigger school only to sit on the bench for much of their careers. 

“I am likely to be the starter for three-plus years,” he added. “So that also helped me make the decision.”

And . . .

The kicker hopes to grab his Ivy League undergraduate degree in four years and play a fifth season of college football at a bigger program, where he’d do graduate school.

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On the subject of the current recruiting classes, HERO Sports compiled the top-10 FCS classes per the 247Sports Composite Rating (LINK). Take these with more than a grain of salt:

1  Idaho
2 Northern Arizona
3 Sacramento State
4 Cal Poly
5 UC Davis
6 North Dakota State
7 Harvard
8 Eastern Washington
9 Montana State
10 Portland State

Here's why that list is pretty much meaningless. For some reason, although Harvard has already formally announced 21 incoming members of this recruiting class (LINK), 247Sports includes only 12 of those recruits in its ranking.

The 247Sports Ivy League recruiting ranking (below) is even more suspect. It includes just 10 of the 28 players BGA has identified as headed to Dartmouth and just five recruits for Penn and Yale. Here's the 247Sports Ivy League recruiting ranking:

	No.	5★	4★	3★	Avg.	Pts
Harvard	12	0	0	8	84.69	106.82
Columbia	9	0	0	4	83.25	51.95
Brown	6	0	0	3	83.33	39.60
Princeton	11	0	0	2	82.00	35.70
Pennsylvania	5	0	0	1	83.50	26.94
Cornell	8	0	0	2	82.00	23.93
Dartmouth	10	0	0	1	84.00	14.00
Yale	5	0	0	1	83.00	13.00

For the record, here are the only Dartmouth players 247Sports identified:

LB George Duggins
LB Jarritt Bolz
OL Brody McLeod
DE August Dupree
LB Parker Maiers
DL Gavin King
WR Blake Betette
OL Mikey McMahon
LB/DB Emory Jones
S James Rush

Duggins is Dartmouth's only listed three-star recruit in the 247Sports rankings. 

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Wish you could finally get to a Super Bowl? Three men have never missed one per a story under the headline, They will have been to all 60 Super Bowls. This year is possibly their last. Find the story HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
I've been working on a project that has me digging through my files, and in doing so I came across something timely. Here are tickets from when I covered the opening ceremony of the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics as a wet-behind-the-ears reporter:

Two things. First, $39.20 for the opening ceremonies and $22.40 to watch the luge? Not bad.

And second, I covered the Opening Ceremony not with press credentials, but sitting in the grandstand. Here's the amazing part that tells you how much things have changed. No one even checked my ticket for the Opening Ceremony, which was held outdoors in a small stadium. That's right. I walked right in. (Sure wish the stub of the opening ceremony ticket hadn't fallen off at some point. An intact ticket might be worth something on eBay. ;-)

When the ceremony was over, by the way, I walked out of the stadium directly behind the team from the USSR.

To get an idea of just how different things were in 1980, check out a picture of the Lake Placid stadium during the ceremony HERE.

The D Catches Up With Dobes And Brooks

The Dartmouth has a Q&A headlined Long-time Dartmouth football assistant coaches retire; Veteran Ivy League coaches Duane Brooks and Don Dobes and longtime colleagues of Buddy Teevens ’79 retire after over a decade at Dartmouth.

Asked what they will miss most in retirement, both coaches cite the people and the family aspect of the Dartmouth program.

Brooks shares a story about Teevens helping him get back into the University of Maine after he was booted in the second semester of his junior year, and Dobes talks about how he and Teevens became roommates as young coaches at DePauw.

Find the story with two of the coaches who helped restore Dartmouth football to the top of the Ivy League HERE.

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If getting one Dartmouth grad transfer is good, getting two must be better, right? Ball State certainly thinks so. From the MAC school's social media:

Find Sean Ward's Dartmouth bio HERE, and Max Wentz' bio HERE.

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On the topic of grad transfers, Northwestern State has a brief capsule of incoming defensive back Jamal Cooper HERE. Find his Dartmouth bio HERE.

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It's behind the paywall, unfortunately, but The Boston Globe has a moving story about Seattle Seahawks' wide receiver Jake Bobo, son of former Dartmouth receiver and captain Mike Bobo '92. From the story (LINK):

Credit belongs to the man who couldn’t live forever, not when the ravages of cancer visited him so swiftly and cruelly almost two years ago.

Mike Bobo, father of Jake and younger brothers Luke and Mac, beloved husband of Casey for 28 years, former Dartmouth football player, longtime business professional, dedicated youth football coach and leader with Lawrence Pop Warner, raised three boys not just to be great athletes, though all of them are. He raised them to be good people, relying on a phrase — “It’s bigger than ball,” that now represents the biggerthanball.net foundation the family founded in his honor.

“We all loved football, but he made sure we knew that football is what you do, not who you are,” Jake said. “And I think that rings so true, especially the situation that I’m in currently. If you let this business kind of consume your personality and who you are as a person, you lose what it’s really all about, and that’s being a great teammate.

“He didn’t give a rat’s tail about how many points we scored, how many touchdowns you had. He cared the most about the person you are, teammate you are, brother you are, son, friend, whatever. All the off-the-field stuff is so much more important. You use football as an avenue to help people.”

And . . .

“He was just so full of energy. He could still beat our [butts],” Jake said Wednesday, sitting at a quiet table at the convention center, taking time to remember his dad. “Just a dude you loved to be around. He was affectionate, big into hugs, which was terrible for us as teenagers but you learn to appreciate it.”

And emulate it.

“He did such a good job raising us,” Jake said, “that when I have kids I want to do the exact same things.”

Green Alert Take: Hard not to root for that kid. 

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EXTRA POINT
Mrs. BGA grabbed this shot of the sky south of the BGA World Headquarters earlier this week. It looks like a windblown contrail from a passing jetliner, but it's actually a weird cloud formation.

Add One

Two Signing Day predictions of sorts came through.

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First, as expected there wasn't a single email with photos of school celebrations or links where to find those Signing Day photos. I'm starting to wonder if BGA is passé. ;-(

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And second, while I didn't exactly predict it, I had a hint this was coming. Dartmouth has a final (?) addition to the recruiting class:

Committed to the Process! Go Big Green 🌲 pic.twitter.com/St8VZMg8Tf

— James Rush (@wavyjames_4x) February 3, 2026

If my research is accurate, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound running back/safety/corner who is expected to play safety at Dartmouth, was originally committed to Princeton. He also had reported offers from Penn, Buffalo, Kent State, Bowling Green and Navy.

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Jim Kenyon, a fellow alum of our local daily, started at my old newspaper as a sportswriter and eventually became a columnist on the news side. Until his retirement last fall he was well known for holding Dartmouth's toes to the fire.

BGA linked last week to a story in The Dartmouth about the college's role in a student's opinion piece about its Evergreen.AI initiative. Now Kenyon has gone nuclear on the issue in a guest opinion piece of his own under the headline Dartmouth Ran a PR Sting on Its Own Students. The column begins this way (LINK):

The College’s website lists 43 people working in the Office of Communications. With an army of in-house flacks at its disposal, why then would the College need to employ a student and secretly work with him on an op-ed hyping Evergreen.AI for The Dartmouth?

Simple.

The independent student newspaper has credibility — an essential commodity, which under the Beilock administration, the College sorely lacks. 

Green Alert Take: To quote the late Dartmouth sports information director Kathy Slattery, "Ouch, babe."

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EXTRA POINT
Not to get political or anything, but how many of us knew the word "tranche" before, let's see, Dec. 19, 2025? I could be wrong, but I'm going to guess many of the commentators using the word these days had to look it up, just as I did.