Different Strokes

From a story in the Daily Progress under the headline Five under-the-radar players that could play big roles for Virginia this season (LINK):

(Dartmouth grad transfer John Paul) Flores started 20 times at left tackle for the Big Green and has the most starting experience of any offensive lineman on UVa’s roster. That experience should make it possible for him — in spite of jumping up in competition level from the Ivy League to the ACC — to impact the squad right away and find a spot on the offensive front.

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While Flores opted to go to a team that had graduated every starter or significant contributor on the offensive line, former Dartmouth teammate Isaiah Johnson chose to grad transfer to a Syracuse team that added to an already loaded secondary during the offseason. From a 247Sports story on the eve of camp opening in Upstate New York (LINK):

SU returns all but one of its contributing cover men from a year ago while adding eight newcomers, including a trio of transfers in Alijah Clark (Rutgers), Bralyn Oliver (Louisville) and Isaiah Johnson (Dartmouth).

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The 4-2 Calgary Stampeders, who have dropped back-to-back CFL games against Winnipeg, will try to turn things back around Friday night at Ottawa. Despite the losses to the undefeated Blue Bombers, there were highlights for Calgary, including one featuring a former Dartmouth standout. From the Calgary Sun (LINK):

Fortunately, the Stampeders d-line showed that it is absolutely capable of making life tough for the Bombers o-line. Folarin Orimolade’s bull-rush on Stanley Bryant should make a lot of end-of-season highlight reels, and even when it didn’t result in a sack, the pressure they put on Collaros was obviously a positive.

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The FCS Football Twitter account (LINK) tossed this up again this morning and you have to know it must stick in the craw of the 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2021 Dartmouth teams that all finished 9-1.

2015: Dartmouth's lone loss was by a 14-13 score at Harvard in a battle of unbeatens that saw the Crimson score two touchdowns in the final seven minutes. A dropped touchdown pass, a late fumble that gave Harvard the possession it needed to take the lead and a desperation drive and field goal attempt to salvage the win that never really had a chance cost the Big Green an undefeated season.

2018: Another gut-wrenching loss was all that marred Dartmouth's schedule once again. This time it was a 14-9 disappointment at Princeton in another battle of the unbeatens. The Big Green carried a 9-7 lead into the midway point of the second half before the Tigers finally went in front.

2019: This one had to sting more than the other three combined. Dartmouth wasn't on the road this time. And it wasn't playing an undefeated team, as it was when the previous two unbeaten seasons went by the wayside. This time it was a home loss to a Cornell team that came into the game with a woeful 2-6 record.

2021: For the second time in as many seasons Dartmouth saw its bid for a perfect record ended on Memorial Field. It wasn't so much Columbia's record that made this one a stunner. The Lions would improve to 5-1 with the victory in the national televised game on their way to a 7-3 record. What made this one really sting was the final 19-0 score, the first time the Big Green had been shut out in 10 years, a span of 91 games.

Green Alert Take: As I've written before, there's a little apples and oranges going on with this chart because other FCS schools are excluded for losing games in the postseason. A more representative chart would featured teams with perfect regular-season records.

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As long as we're looking back with the new season right around the corner, it's as good a time as any to revisit last year's final STATS PERFORM top-25:

	STATS PERFORM	W-L	Pts	Prev
1	North Dakota State (50)	14-1	1,250	3
2	Montana State	12-3	1,173	7
3	James Madison	12-2	1,165	2
4	South Dakota State	11-4	1,051	11
5	Sam Houston State	11-1	1,046	1
6	Montana	10-3	1,008	5
7	Eastern Washington	10-3	924	4
8	Villanova	10-3	919	6
9	East Tennessee State	11-2	879	9
10	Sacramento State	9-3	745	8
11	Kennesaw State	11-2	740	10
12	UIW	10-3	682	13
13	UT Martin	10-3	654	16
14	Missouri State	8-4	531	12
15	Southeastern Louisiana	9-4	522	18
16	Southern Illinois	8-5	504	21
17	UC Davis	8-4	439	14
18	South Dakota	7-5	326	17
19	Holy Cross	10-3	319	24
20	DARTMOUTH	9-1	281	19
21	Stephen F. Austin	8-4	268	20
22	Jackson State	11-2	259	15
23	Northern Iowa	6-6	132	NR
24	PRINCETON	9-1	116	23
25	Florida A&M	9-3	114	22
	Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Mercer 76, South Carolina State 35, Rhode Island 23, Sacred Heart 23, Eastern Kentucky 15, Davidson 12, Harvard 8

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EXTRA POINT
I received an email yesterday from someone interested in buying something I posted on Craigslist. He wrote:

Sent you a text last night, but perhaps I entered the number incorrectly.

I emailed him back and told him that the number I had included in the listing was our landline. He eventually made a voice call and I explained to him that I have chosen not to have a cell phone.

When he said in a wistful voice that he wished he could do the same thing he sounded more than a little like the fellow in the station wagon in the intro to one of my all-time favorite TV shows:

 

By the way, I bicycled across the bridge at the end of this clip ;-)