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SB Nation has a story and fun graphic under the headline, Meet college football’s Team of 2018 for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Not surprisingly given a 9-1 season, Dartmouth is the pick in New Hampshire. But . . . before you start bragging too much at the water-cooler, consider that, among others, MIT won the honor in Massachusetts, Salve Regina won it in Rhode Island and Mary Hardin-Baylor took the honors in Texas. (LINK)
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Harvard's all-world return specialist/receiver Justice Shelton-Mosley won't be tormenting Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivy League anymore. Injured this season, he will use his final year of eligibility at Vanderbilt. (LINK)Shelton-Mosley becomes the third Ivy Leaguer to finish his career at Vandy in two years, following in the footsteps of Penn defensive lineman Louis Vecchio and Columbia punter Parker Thome.
Graduating Harvard quarterback Tom Stewart is heading home to Texas to complete his eligibility at Rice per his Twitter account (LINK).
Green Alert Take: The graduate transfer route is becoming a more popular alternative for Ivy Leaguers who didn't see action as freshmen or were hurt during their careers. Columbia punter Cameron Nizialek finished his career at Georgia a couple of years ago. Teammate and fellow punter Matthew Panton wound up at Kentucky. Yale basketball standout Makai Mason is finishing his career at Baylor much as Cornell's Shonn Miller and David Onuorah completed their eligibility on the hardwood at Connecticut. Barring a change in the grad transfer rules, don't be surprised if more Ivy Leaguers forgo their final year in the Ancient Eight to grab a taste of the big time and get their postgraduate studies started on scholarship.
Green Alert Take II: Dartmouth's Evan Boudreaux is currently hampered by injury but got off to a fast start on the Purdue basketball team. While he's a different case, the D-Plan trimester system makes it easier for Big Green football players to return for a medical redshirt season because they need only take one term off to remain eligible whereas players at the other Ivies must take a half year off.
Green Alert Take III: There's a discussion of the grad transfer trend on the Ivy League message board and I had to laugh at one commentator suggesting this scenario when a basketball coach tries to send in a player who hadn't seen much time as a freshman and could be thinking about protecting that fifth year with a Power Five school: "Jones, get up to the scorer's table, you're going in for Smith." The player just might say, "No thanks, bro, I'm good right here on the bench." Could it happen?
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When you don't have a real mascot or a team nickname that's more than a color people are going to take occasional shots at you, even if they are just trying to be funny. A YouTube video under the title Guess that College Team Name has the subhead, The Dartmouth College Mascot Is What?! It's pretty sophomoric stuff, but there you have it.
