Thursday, September 09, 2021

Take A Look

Highlights from the last undefeated Dartmouth football team:

 

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Dartmouth defensive line coach Duane Brooks figures prominently in a Sports Illustrated story about New York Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham. The story includes this anecdote from a time when Brooks went off on him (italics are mine):

“I’m never going to be like that,” (Graham) thinks, meaning a coach capable of such rage. He believes his future lies in the CIA, with reasonable bosses.

But then Brooks puts him back in, and he plays beyond his capabilities, making tackles, dropping a back behind the line. He dislocates his shoulder the same day, unfortunately. But that is how, in the same afternoon, he registers both the apex and end of his college career, despite—and because of—one very angry, soon-to-be lifelong mentor. What a trifecta. He figures football has ended for him that day on that field.

But Brooks will float a silly notion, one that makes him laugh.

“You’re going to be a coach.”

Find the full SI story HERE.

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How much has football changed since the inception of the Ivy League in 1956? The 1994 Penn team is a unicorn in the list of the 10 stingiest defenses in conference history.

LOWEST POINTS AGAINST IN IVY LEAGUE HISTORY

1970

Dartmouth

9-0

42

4.7

1964

Princeton

9-0

53

5.9

1962

Dartmouth

9-0

57

6.3

1966

Harvard

8-1

60

6.7

1965

Harvard

8-1

62

6.9

1960

Dartmouth

6-3

66

7.3

1974

Yale

6-1

67

7.4

1994

Penn

9-0

68

7.6

1965

Dartmouth

9-0

71

7.9

1959

Penn

7-0-1

73

8.1

1960

Yale

9-0

73

8.1


By way of contrast, the 1992 Dartmouth team is the unicorn in a list of the 10 highest-scoring teams in conference history:

HIGHEST SCORING IN IVY LEAGUE HISTORY

2018

Princeton

10-0

470

47.0

2013

Princeton

8-2

437

43.7

2014

Yale

8-2

411

41.1

2012

Harvard

8-2

394

39.4

2019

Yale

9-1

387

38.7

2000

Brown 

7-3

375

37.5

2011

Harvard

9-1

374

37.4

2013

Harvard

9-1

371

37.1

2005

Brown 

9-1

368

36.8

1992

Dartmouth

8-2

364

36.4

2015

Harvard

9-1

364

36.4

 
Green Alert Take: You didn't need these charts to know offense is the name of the game these days, but the numbers are pretty stark, aren't they?

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EXTRA POINT
With the second Dartmouth intrasquad scrimmage at 10 this morning I had to head to the mountain earlier than normal for my daily hike and found it was still pitch black when I got to the trailhead. Last evening Mrs. BGA and I grabbed a bite at a food truck in the little town just south of here and by the time we finished eating it was dark.

Football season is a reminder that the season is changing, but it's not the only one.