A contributor to the Ivy League sports message board has compiled a ranking of every Ivy League football team since 2000 using the Sagarin Ratings. (LINK) The undefeated 2014 Harvard team comes in first, and the winless 2013 Columbia team that gave up more points in its first two games combined than it scored all season, comes in last. Here are the top-five Dartmouth teams and where they were ranked:
11th – 2014 (8-2, 6-1)
15th – 2019 (9-1, 6-1)
17th – 2015 (9-1, 6-1)
18th – 2018 (9-1, 6-1)
56th – 2013 (6-4, 5-2)
The winless 2008 Big Green was ranked 153rd of the 160 teams.
Green Alert Take: Sagarin ratings are a good place to start a debate like this. The key word in that sentence is start.
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Harvard Magazine reprises the 1966 Dartmouth-Harvard game, played before 40,000 in Cambridge. From near the top of the story (LINK):
This one featured a game-winning, fourth-quarter drive for the ages, one that stands among the most heroic in Crimson annals. It covered 80 yards, took 16 plays, and consumed more than seven nerve-wracking minutes before Harvard quarterback Ric Zimmerman ’68 plunged over the goal to give the then-unbeaten Crimson a 19-14 win and snap the 10-game Ivy winning streak of the Indians. (Yes, that was the Dartmouth mascot in those politically incorrect times). Unforgettable as it was, the drive was followed by an equally indelible and literally breathtaking play. Some believe this was perhaps the most continually pulsating game, start to finish, the Stadium has witnessed.
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From the Associated Press (LINK):
The NFL is recommending that players on the sidelines who are not participating in a game or about to go on the field wear protective masks.
Green Alert Take: Good luck with that. There's a huge difference between recommending and requiring.
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Find a release about today's 1:30 p.m. Woods Watch stream of the 2015 Dartmouth-Yale game featuring commentary from wide receiver Ryan McManus and linebacker Will McNamara HERE . To watch the game CLICK HERE.
As is the case each week, here's the BGA Premium preview as it appeared on the day before the game:
Battle With Bulldogs Is A Biggie
BGA, Oct. 9, 2015
How big is the Dartmouth-Yale game? Consider this:
It’s the first time the Big Green and Bulldogs have brought unbeaten records into their matchup since Dartmouth team handed the Bulldogs a 10-0 loss in New Haven on Oct. 31, 1970. The Big Green went on to finish that magical season ranked 14th in the AP poll, one slot ahead of USC. Yeah, that USC.
Neither Dartmouth nor Yale is going to finish ahead of USC this year, even if the Trojans lose the rest of their games. And while there’s a chance of a sellout in Hanover there won’t even be one fifth as many people at Memorial Field as there were when a crowd of 60,820 turned out at Yale Bowl 45 years ago.
Still, it’s huge game. Just ask Buddy Teevens, who knows what it means to the Big Green’s quest for its first Ivy League title since 1996.
“The way the Ivy schedule goes, every game is a playoff game,” the Dartmouth coach said. “You get one loss in this league and you are pretty much out of it. You lose control of your destiny and have to rely someone else.
“It’s a one-game season. That one game is against Yale.”
The Bulldogs come into the game off a 27-12 win over Lehigh in which they took a 13-0 lead and were never really challenged. Their first two wins, however, were nail biters.
Trailing Colgate, 28-14, as the midway point of the fourth quarter of their opener approached they put together 74- and 61-yard drives to pull out a dramatic 29-28 road win.
One week later the Bulldogs were down 10 points to start the fourth quarter and used drives of 64 yards and 71 yards in the final two minutes to rally past Cornell at the Bowl, 33-26.
“They have demonstrated the ability to come from behind in two of their three ballgames,” said Teevens. “They had to make up a bunch of points late and they did it.”
The trigger man for the fast-paced Yale offense is quarterback Morgan Roberts, a senior transfer from Clemson. Roberts got a lot of recruiting interest from Dartmouth as a high school senior in Charlotte, N.C., where he was a teammate of Big Green punter Ben Kepley and placekicker Alex Gakenheimer.
The Yale quarterback is completing 60.8 percent of his passes for 305 yards per game with seven touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s thrown at least 40 passes in every game and while he doesn’t have much to show for it statistically, he’s also a capable runner.
Against Dartmouth last year he completed 25-of-41 passes for 302 yards with one touchdown but three interceptions as the Big Green posted a 38-31 come-from-behind win. He also ran for two short touchdowns and wrapped up the year making the All-Ivy League second team.
The graduation of Tyler Varga left a huge void in the Yale backfield but the Bulldogs have not one, but two tailbacks on the roster who have 200-yard rushing games on their resumes. Junior Candler Rich carried 17 times for 202 yards against Columbia last year. With Rich out last week because of a leg injury suffered against Cornell, sophomore Deshawn Salter made the most of his first start, carrying 19 times for 233 yards and two touchdowns against Lehigh. Rich is listed on the depth chart as the starter this week but time will tell if he’s actually ready.
Yale graduated two first-team All-Ivy receivers but it turns out the cupboard was hardly bare. Sophomore Michael Siragusa, a big target at 6-foot-3, caught two touchdown passes against Colgate, including the winner, and had three grabs for 77 yards against Cornell. He’s tied with Robert Clemons for the team lead with 14 catches. The most intriguing receiver is sophomore transfer Bo Hines, who caught 45 passes for North Carolina State last year. He had six grabs at Colgate but has been limited by injury and while he’s listed second on the depth chart his status, like that of Rich, will be known only at gametime.
The Bulldogs have two returning starters up front with titanic 6-9, 300 pound tackle Beau Iverson one of the new names on the line.
Yale is averaging 458 yards per game, 14th in the nation.
“They are solid offensively,” said Teevens. “Their quarterback can throw the ball. They’ve got good people who can run it and a good core of receivers to go with a seasoned front. It sounds like we are talking about our offense.”
Yale was a middle-of-the-pack defensive team last year. Heading up that side of the ball is junior linebacker Victor Egu, a onetime Cal commit who chose Yale over offers from Nebraska, Notre Dame and Arizona, among others. He has 26 tackles with one sack this fall.
Free safety Foyesade Oluokun and strong safety Cole Champion are steady in the back end with defensive end Marty Moesta and linebacker Matthew Oplinger – the reigning Ivy League defensive player of the week – sharing the team lead with two sacks apiece. Oplinger had 11 tackles against Lehigh.
“From a defensive standpoint they have been stingy,” said Teevens. “They’re physical. They will challenge you. They will pressure the quarterback and they will play a lot of man-to-man coverage.”
The Bulldogs have been terrific at blocking kicks, leading the nation with four (three blocked field goals and one blocked PAT). That’s something of a concern for Dartmouth, which had a PAT blocked against Penn last year and is adjusting its line this week according to Teevens.
NOTES
Dartmouth’s All-Ivy League wide receiver Ryan McManus was in uniform and running patterns this week for the first time since the opener at Georgetown. … All-Ivy tailback Kyle Bramble saw his first action of the season last week and continues to round into form. … The Big Green is 14-2 over its last 16 games. The only losses? Both against nationally ranked teams (No. 4 New Hampshire and No. 18 Harvard).
Dartmouth has scored 121 points through three games, the most by the Big Green since the 1935 team scored 145. … Dartmouth has hit the 40-point mark in five of its last six games, missing the mark only in this year’s opener at Georgetown when it won, 31-10. … Given just one more yard against Sacred Heart the Big Green would have had 500 yards of total offense each of the last two weeks.
Dartmouth has not had a 100-yard rusher yet this fall with Dalyn Williams’ 73 yards on 13 carries at Penn last week marking the most productive single-game rushing total so far.
The Big Green has won the turnover battle in each game this year. On the season Dartmouth has turned the ball over just three times and taken it away 10. … The Big Green did not punt even one time last week at Penn. … With a win over Yale, Dartmouth would tie the series since the start of formal Ivy League play in 1956 at 29-29-2. … The Big Green has won the past three meetings after Yale had won nine in a row.
Williams needs 268 yards through the air today to move into second place on the all-time Dartmouth passing yardage list. He’s currently at 5,645 with Brian Mann’s 5,912 within reach. Jay Fiedler holds the Dartmouth record with 6,684. The Ivy League record is 10,769 set by Cornell’s Jeff Mathews in 2013. … Williams, who has 45 touchdown passes in his career to just eight interceptions, has thrown 181 passes since his last interception. That’s the second-longest streak in school history, behind only the 216 he went before throwing his very first pick. His 1.1 interception ratio leads the entire FCS and his 182.2 passer rating is third in the nation.
Yale’s Roberts is fourth all-time in completions, fifth in passing touchdowns and sixth in passing yards in Bulldog history. … Yale has six road games this fall and just four games at home. … Coach Tony Reno, a former Harvard assistant, is 18-15 in his fourth season in New Haven. … The Bulldogs are off to a 3-0 start for the third year in a row, the first time they can claim that since 1979-81. … Dartmouth has been 3-0 a total of 16 times since the start of formal Ivy League play in 1956. Nine of those times the Big Green ended up winning the title.
Among those on the sidelines at Friday’s walk-through on Memorial Field under battleship gray skies was two-time captain Bronson Green ’14. Between hugs from former teammates, Green was continually asked about the diamond-encrusted surfboard he wore on one finger. Green is site operations manager for the New England Patriots, who awarded him a Super Bowl ring.
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EXTRA POINT
Happy Halloween!
Our first house in Lebanon was in a development and droves of trick-or-treaters would come by at Halloween. Parents would drive their kids to our neighborhood to go house-to-house. One year I stuffed an oversized hoodie with pillows, wrapped a bunch of towels around my legs before somehow pulling sweat pants over them, and topped everything off with a hockey goalie mask over the hood. Then I planted myself against a tree near our front steps and sat without moving each time kids came up the driveway. Group after group of trick-or-treaters tiptoed tentatively toward me, nervously whispering some variation of, "Is it real?" When they got just near enough to me – and some even poked at me – I'd jump up with a roar that was topped only by the screams and then the laughter of the kids.
From Lebanon we moved to rural Hanover where we never had a single trick-or-treater come to the door. Not one. For years when we took the kids into town to ring doorbells I left a basket of candy on our porch with a note to the lucky kids who stopped by to "take it all." It was wishful thinking, of course. I'd return later in the evening and all the candy would still be there. I suppose I had a little bit of Linus in me, Charlie Brown.
While we didn't have any trick-or-treaters on our hill in Vermont last year in a normal year we'd probably have a teeny-weeny bit more of a chance here than we had in Etna. I don't need to tell you this is not a normal year. We won't be stocking up on candy.
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It was 17.3 degrees when I walked Griff this morning. Brrrrr.
