Saturday, August 31, 2024

Saturday Stuff

There are probably at least few Dartmouth fans who were watching a game on TV last night and sighed heavily when this score went across the bottom of the screen: Lehigh 7, Army 7 after one quarter.

The Big Green, of course, was supposed to play at West Point in Week Two of the season only to have the game canceled after Army was required to clear most of – but not all of – its schedule to make way for American Athletic Conference opponents.

Lehigh survived the schedule purge but not its FBS opponent. The Cadets took a 21-7 lead into the half and went on to post an unsurprising 42-7 win over the Mountain Hawks, widely expected to be one of the Patriot League also-rans this fall.

A Friday night crowd of 23,760 turned up for the game at historic Michie Stadium. In place of the game at Army Dartmouth will travel to Merrimack to play in 3,500-seat Duane Stadium.

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The Analyst has a posting about FCS players on NFL opening-day rosters and as you might expect, HYP is well represented. The list includes players on practice squads, on injured reserve or physically unable to perform. Here are the three Ivies with the most players listed (LINK):

Yale (5): Kiran Amegadjie, OL (Bears); Nick Gargiulo, OL (Broncos); Foyesade Oluokun, LB (Jaguars); Rodney Thomas II, S (Colts); Mason Tipton, WR (Saints)

Harvard (4): Truman Jones, DE (Chiefs); Kyle Juszczyk, FB (49ers); Tyler Ott, LS (Commanders); Chris Smith, DT (Lions)

Princeton (3): Henry Byrd, OL (Vikings); Stephen Carlson, TE (Bears); Andrei Iosivas, WR (Bengals) 

Because the list stops at three players, Dartmouth was not included but if it had been . . .

Dartmouth (2): Niko Lalos, DE (Saints); Isaiah Johnson, CB (Dolphins)

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Schools can have only one nominee for the William V. Campbell Trophy, often referred to as the Heisman of academics, but Dartmouth has two this fall. How can that be? Read on.

And Dartmouth's second nominee? Gannon McCorkle '24, the former Big Green defensive lineman who won't play his first-ever game as a grad transfer at Marist for another week:

Green Alert Take: Given the well-respected academics in the Ivy League and the number of former Big Green players on rosters elsewhere this fall, it wouldn't be a surprise if Dartmouth ends up having at least one more Campbell nominee.

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For the life of me I will never understand why Princeton let Don Dobes go 16 seasons ago. Not only is he an absurdly gifted defensive coordinator, but he's an unmatched recruiter and as this piece from Dartmouth's social media shows, he's a player's coach. (And to complete the picture, he's pure gold for the media.)

Find Dobes' bio from Dartmouth HERE. 

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EXTRA POINT
Back on the electric tractor yesterday mowing the ever-growing grass next to some shrubbery. Apparently I got too close and one of the bees living in a hive in the bush took offense. Just like that, I felt (literally) a stinging pain on the inside of my forearm. . . .

And just like that, I hit the accelerator instead of the brake on the little tractor. . . .

And just like that the hose that we use to water flowers near the bush and which hadn't been properly stowed yet now has a gash in the side of it.

Oh yeah, if you are keeping score it's now Bees 2, BW 0 and I have a red and very itchy two-inch circular patch of skin in a tender place on my arm as I head out to mow again this morning . . . far from the shrubbery in question.

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