Statistically Speaking III

Returning Ivy League Special Teams Leaders

Field Goals (total)
1. Alexander Norocea, Brown, 15-21, .714
2. Patrick Jacob, Princeton, 14-18, .778
T-3. David Mothander, Harvard, 9-15, .600
5. Foley Schmidt, Dartmouth, 7-11, .636
6. Luke Eddy, Columbia, 6-9, .667

Field Goals (long)
2. Luke Eddy, Columbia, 48
4. Foley Schmidt, Dartmouth, 45
5. Alexander Norocea, Brown, 43
T-6. David Mothander, Harvard, 43
T-6. Patrick Jacob, Princeton, 43
8. Phillippe Panico, Yale, 39

Punting
1. Joe Cloud, Princeton, 42.74
2. Daniel Barstein, Dartmouth, 37.60
4. Greg Guttas, Columbia, 37.23
5. Jacob Dombrowski, Harvard, 36.36
(Nota bene: Brown's Nate Lovett would be second in the Ivies with a 42.1 average but his 33 punts are three short of the minimum needed for NCAA ranking.)

Kickoff Returns
1. Chris Smith, Yale, 27.11, 2 TD
3. Shawn Abuhoff, Dartmouth, 26.36
4. Mark Kachmer, Brown, 25.56, 2 TD
5. AJ Cruz, Brown, 22.69
7. Rashad Campbell, Columbia, 22.50
8. Matthew Hanson, Harvard, 21.00
10. Ivan Charbonneau, Princeton, 18.53

Punt Returns
1. Shawn Abuhoff, Dartmouth, 17.22, 3 TD
2. *Gio Christodoulou, Yale, 11.50
4. Luke Trasker, Cornell, 7.35
5. Emory Polley, Brown, 6.81
* Anticipated 5th-year senior

Kickoffs
3. Patrick Jacobs, Yale, 62.9 O TB
4. David Mothander, Harvard 61.3, 5 TB
5. Greg Guttas, Columbia, 60.3, 2 TB
6. Phillippe Panico, Yale, 59.4, 2 TB
7. Scott Lopano, Penn, 58.1, 4 TB
8. Alexander Norocea, Brown, 50.1, 1 TB

*

Because the NCAA apparently doesn't keep the stat, I didn't discover until now that Dartmouth's Don Kephart led the Ivies with 64.4 yards per kickoff and six touchbacks.

*

True story. I know of an offensive lineman whose parents factored the Dartmouth meal plan into his decision to take a scholarship at an FBS school over coming to Hanover. Given that their son was about 300 pounds and had to eat a lot more than his fair share to keep up his weight, they felt paying for second- and third-helpings would be prohibitively expensive on top of Dartmouth's other costs. Starting next year, however, that won't be a problem for Big Green athletes. A Daily Dartmouth story about upcoming changes in the meal plan actually quotes a football player:

Anthony Diblasi ’12, a member of the varsity football team, said that having the buffet-style option would be “amazing” because “you could eat as much as you want.”

*

From The Sports Network:

A NCAA committee has recommended the non- scholarship Pioneer Football League go without an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I playoffs again in 2011.

There are 20 berths in the playoffs with 10 awarded to league champions and 10 to automatic qualifiers at large teams. A total of 11 schools petitioned for the 10 league champion "automatic qualifiers," and the Pioneer was the odd league out.

The Southwestern Athletic Conference does not bid for a playoff spot and the Great West Football Conference has only five members, not enough to qualify.

Oh yeah, and the Ivy League, like the SWAC, chooses not to join the party. Which means, of course, that when next year's playoffs begin, the Ivy League will be ...

... wait for it ...

... just watching.

*

The Daily Dartmouth has a story about 25-year-old Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vt., expected to begin classes in the spring. From the story:

Kearney will not compete for the Dartmouth ski team, because the Big Green does not offer competition in mogul events.

Yeah, there is that. But there's also the fact that she happens to be a professional skier.

*

Of course, even if you are professional in a different sport – one the NCAA doesn't offer – the Ivy League will not allow you to play any sport. The silliest example of that rule was when the Ivies wouldn't allow Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek to play sprint (lightweight) football. (link)