Don't look for a huge crowd in the stands tomorrow, but the Dartmouth-UNH "Granite Bowl" game is getting a lot of game-week ink (or maybe I should say bytes ;-)
Seacoast Online has a story by Allen Lessels that includes this about the Wildcats' motivation (LINK):
“This is a huge game, for sure,” said junior linebacker Bryce Shaw in UNH’s weekly press conference. “It’s not a conference game, but it’s a state game. They kicked our butts last year. It would be nice to get a little revenge.”
A note from the story reminds us why Shaw is eager for payback:
Last year, Dartmouth rolled up 604 yards of total offense, 263 yards rushing and 341 yards passing in its efficient two-quarterback system.
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The local Valley News has a story from the Dartmouth angle headlined Pass defense still an area of Big Green attention. Secondary coach Sammy McCorkle in that story (LINK):
"We’ve got to get (offenses) off the field. We do have some inexperienced guys on the defensive side of the field, and sometimes it takes seeing it live and seeing it fast to realize what we have to continue to improve on.”
And this from head coach Buddy Teevens:
“The bottom line is (how) people have attacked us, UNH will do the same type of thing. We’d better have an answer for that, but the simple answer is get off blocks, make tackles and play it more aggressively in the back end.”
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If you couldn't access the Manchester Union Leader story yesterday, Yahoo has posted it under the headline UNH-Dartmouth football: Big Green look for balance in intrastate battle HERE.
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For a look at UNH's highlights (and lowlights) from the win over Stony Brook last week, click HERE.
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Dartmouth's game notes are available HERE and the New Hampshire notes HERE.
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BGA Premium subscribers who haven't clicked through to the site the past couple of days missed a Wednesday story with Ivy League Rookie of the Week Sean Williams, a corner, and a Thursday story with junior quarterback Dylan Cadwallader. In the second story, Cadwallader explains why he's occasionally heckled by a Dartmouth teammate.
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Here's the weekly Teevens Teleteaser:
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There are better looking trophies than the Granite Bowl (THIS is most assuredly not one of them) but not many that could weigh more:
We might have made it look light last year but it’s 28.4 pounds!!!#TheWoods https://t.co/CKv9IFUhK7 pic.twitter.com/PKBFi2b9UT
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) October 13, 2022
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Interestingly, the Wise Guys have 1-3 Dartmouth favored by seven over 4-2 New Hampshire.
Green Alert Take: It wasn't all that long ago when a winless New Hampshire team would have be favored over an unbeaten Dartmouth team by at least that much. Times have changed.
Elsewhere this week . . .
Princeton is a 20 1/2-point favorite at home against Brown
Penn is favored by seven at home against Columbia
Cornell is favored by 8 1/2 at home against Lehigh
Harvard is a 16 1/2-point favorite at Howard
Yale is a 26-point favorite at home against Bucknell
And . . .
Sacred Heart is a 16 1/2-point favorite at home against Stonehill
Valparaiso is a 7-point home favorite against Butler.
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Craig Haley at The Analyst has a story headlined Ranking Which Unbeaten FCS Teams Will Stay That Way. (LINK)
Craig has Holy Cross the most likely of the eight remaining unbeaten teams to run the regular-season table. Two Ivies still have a clean slate and Haley has them both in the middle of the pack with regard to the chance they'll escape the season unscathed. He writes:
4. Princeton (4-0)
Remaining Schedule: Brown, at Harvard, Cornell, Dartmouth, at Yale, Penn
Predicted First Regular-Season Loss: Harvard
And . . .
5. Penn (4-0)
Remaining Schedule: Columbia, Yale, at Brown, at Cornell, Harvard, at Princeton
Predicted First Regular-Season Loss: Yale
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I'm feeling a little less vox clamantis in deserto today thanks to several readers who answered the call yesterday. Thank you.
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EXTRA POINT
Not that you need any more photos in this space but I had hoped to shoot a quick video of the road I drive from here to the trailhead for my daily hike. In the right light during foliage season it's the most gorgeous tunnel of gold, russet and red leaves you could imagine.
Unfortunately, I waited too long for the reds to finally pop. The combination of a drenching rain and just enough wind last night has stripped many of the leaves from the trees in these parts, much to the chagrin of the leaf-peeping pensioners and the tour bus operators who have invaded New England this week.
Speaking of which, I still laugh every time I think about the fellow in the country store up by the wonderfully named Kankamagus Highway asking me when I dropped in to buy a cold drink, "You here to look at the leafs?"
I dunno. Maybe he was a fan of the NHL team from Toronto.
