The Dartmouth has a follow on Friday night's loss to Columbia. If you watched the game or read BGA over the weekend there's nothing new, but you can check it out for yourself HERE.
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From a STATs Perform column on The Analyst page headlined Week 8 Takeaways (LINK):
After eye-catching weekend, Princeton is lone Ivy unbeaten
The Ivy League entered the weekend with three 5-0 teams for the first time since 1968, but only one unbeaten remained after No. 25 Dartmouth fell 19-0 to Columbia and No. 22 Princeton outlasted Harvard 18-16 in five overtimes. Dartmouth (5-1, 2-1) hadn’t been shut out since 2011, but Columbia (5-1, 2-1) posted one of the signature wins of the Al Bagnoli era – its first shutout since 2009 while limiting the Big Green to their second fewest offensive yards (262) in 42 games. Princeton (6-0, 3-0) survived in the fifth OT on Jacob Birmelin’s two-point catch from Cole Smith followed by the Crimson (5-1, 2-1) throwing an incompletion on their attempt.
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From the Ivy League office regarding the blown call that tarnished Princeton's five-overtime win against Harvard (LINK):
Statement on Yesterday's Harvard-Princeton Football Game:
In the third overtime, Harvard threw a pass for a successful two-point conversion. After the play, the replay booth stopped the game for an official review. While the review did determine that the Princeton head coach called for timeout before the ball was snapped, the officiating crew made a procedural error as a timeout can only be recognized and granted prior to the snap by an on-field official and is not reviewable. Therefore, the timeout should not have been granted and the play should have resulted in a successful two-point conversion.
The outcome of the game will stand as a win for Princeton
The league office will address the error with the officials.
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Question: If the officials had not seen Murphy call time out and someone on the Princeton sideline did, could the Tigers have asked for a replay to see if he had called time? Talk about slippery slopes.
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Old friend Tiger Blog gives his take on the game and the controversy HERE.
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There was no need for a "league office" to get involved another time the officials made a mistake.
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Harvard Magazine has a recap of the Princeton game that issues a warning about the hornets nest Dartmouth will be walking into this weekend. It also points out something that most of the stories about the Princeton-Harvard controversy fail to mention. Another time out call cost Harvard the opportunity to prolong the game when the officials did see Crimson coach Tim Murphy signal for time just as his team was snapping the ball at first was signaled a successful touchdown pass. After that play was nullified Harvard tried another pass and the incompletion that cost the Crimson the chance to extend the game. From the story (LINK):
There will be no letup. Dartmouth comes next, in a game crucial to Ivy title hopes. Previously unbeaten, the Big Green was shocked (to say nothing of shut out) by surprisingly 5-1 Columbia, Harvard’s foe in two weeks. “Our kids are going to bring a locked-in, 100 percent, all-in unbelievable effort,” said Murphy. “That’s what you’re going to see against Dartmouth. That’s the only thing they know. That’s the only thing we do.”
Finally, in overtime no. 5, Cole Smith flipped a pass to the back of the end zone on which wideout Jacob Birmelin made a sensational leaping catch. Harvard responded with Smith tossing to senior tight end Adam West. Good! But wait…the Crimson had called timeout. On the next play, Smith threw an incompletion.
Green Alert Take: There will be a lot of opinions about what should or should not have happened in the Harvard-Princeton game. Having watched another game earlier in the day go to nine overtimes and then the Ivy Leaguers go to five extra periods, it's clear the NCAA will have to adjust its new rule making the third and subsequent OTs two-point conversions. It's an atrocious way to end a game. And that's my opinion.
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EXTRA POINT
I was sitting at the keyboard here in the BGA World Headquarters working on BGA Premium a little before 1 p.m. yesterday when a glimpse at the weekly weather forecast showed a lot of rain on the way and a glimpse out the window was showing a lot of blue. That was enough to send me scurrying downstairs, collecting Mrs. BGA and Griffin the Wonder Dog and heading out for a Sunday afternoon drive through the hilly lower reaches of what is called Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Work could wait.
Wandering mostly dirt roads, wondering what's over the next hill or around the next curve was a lazy pleasure on a late October Sunday afternoon. We saw sagging farmhouses from the late 1700s, fabulous new weekend hideaways for escapees from Connecticut and glorious views of the Green and White Mountains. We stumbled across a sweet little pond and even discovered a hole-in-the-wall restaurant with towering burgers that looked a little like a Jenga game. We settled for take-out fries and soft drinks.
With rain falling today and winter knocking on the door it was a stolen Sunday to savor.
