Tuesday, November 25, 2025

In The News

Their Ivy League eligibility expired, two of Dartmouth's standout players are looking at grad transferring. There will be more to come.

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BGA Overtime had some season-ending thoughts and observations last night in the weekly Your Mileage May Vary column HERE. Spoiler alert – here is the way the piece ends:

If you follow Dartmouth, it's totally understandable that you are disappointed with how this season finished. But take a step back and think about this: You know your program is in a very, very good place when the team you cheer for finishes the year 7-3 and you are disappointed.

Editor's Note: A final BGA Overtime note will go up tonight.  

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Jake Novak has an insightful look at the Ivy League season from the Columbia angle in his Jakes Takes podcast HERE.

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Big news out of Philadelphia where Ray Priore is stepping down at Penn after spending 38 years on staff with the Quakers, including serving as head coach since 2015. He finishes with a 58-42 overall record and a 37-32 Ivy League mark including championships in his first two seasons. Over his final three years Penn finished tied for fifth, tied for sixth and tied for third this year. 

Find stories in the Daily Pennsylvania HERE, USA Today HERE and on the Penn website HERE.

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Speaking of Priore, he's featured prominently in part one of a USA Today series on "Getting Recruited." From the series introduction (LINK):

USA TODAY Sports was granted behind-the-scenes access by the football staff at the University of Pennsylvania, a Division I program that offers a high academic profile but no Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) money or scholarships. This week: How does a kid get started?

This outtake from the story is particularly revealing:

“Our quick process has to be, ‘Is he a A-level player?’ ” Priore tells USA TODAY Sports. “D, don't recruit. C, bring him to camp. A and B, they’re in the mix. And then quickly get their transcript, get their address, type into Zillow, ‘What's that house worth? What does mom and dad do for work?’ You're trying to pull it all together in a really short period of time.”

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HERO Sports did the football pulling together home attendance figures in the FCS (LINK). Here's how the Ivy League and Dartmouth's nonconference opponents stacked up. (Yale is listed twice – with the Harvard game and in italics the Bulldogs' five home games not counting Harvard.)  

Yale 12,398

Harvard 9,636

Cornell 5,415

Columbia 5,286

Princeton 4,951

Penn 4,634

Dartmouth 4,548

Yale 4,379

Brown 3,031


New Hampshire 7,243

Fordham 3,094

Central Connecticut 3,084

Leading New England? Holy Cross at 13,931. 

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STATS Perform has a breakdown of the won-loss records for the competition faced by teams that are in the FCS playoffs. Here are those of interest for Dartmouth and Ivy League followers (LINK):

Yale: 55-51 (.519)

New Hampshire: 70-70 (.500)

Central Connecticut State: 58-71 (.450) – also one sub-FCS opponent

Harvard: 45-61 (.425)

The strongest nonconference schedule in the playoff field by record: Montana State: 80-62 (.563).

The weakest: Southeastern Louisiana: 52-89 (.369).

And because I know you are curious, Dartmouth's nonconference opponents were 54-52 (.509).

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Dartmouth still gets a little love in one of the final regular-season polls:


FCS Coaches

W-L

Pts

Prev

1

North Dakota State (24)

12-0

623

1

2

Montana State (1)

10-2

597

3

3

Lehigh

12-0

557

4

4

Montana

11-1

554

2

5

Tarleton State

11-1

534

5

6

Villanova

9-2

470

7

7

Tennessee Tech

11-1

455

8

8

Mercer

9-2

444

6

9

Rhode Island

10-2

430

9

10

Stephen F. Austin

10-2

392

13

11

UC Davis

8-3

348

14

12

Jackson State

9-2

309

15

13

Youngstown State

8-4

294

17

14

Abilene Christian

8-4

265

18

15

Southeastern Louisiana

9-3

247

20

16

Monmouth

9-3

208

T-11

17

Illinois State

8-4

199

T-11

18

South Dakota State

8-4

182

22

19

Harvard

9-1

175

10

20

South Dakota

8-4

173

21

21

Yale

8-2

136

25

22

West Georgia

8-3

108

23

23

North Dakota

7-5

96

16

24

Lamar

8-4

61

19

25

Southern Illinois

7-5

58

NR


Dropped Out:  Lafayette (24)





Others Receiving Votes: Alabama State, 52; Lafayette, 40; UT Rio Grande Valley, 31; New Hampshire, 15; Gardner-Webb, 14; South Carolina State, 12; Presbyterian, 11; Sacramento State, 8; Austin Peay, 7; Richmond, 6; ETSU, 4; Southern Utah, 4; Dartmouth, 3; Central Connecticut State, 1; Drake, 1; North Carolina Central, 1.





Stats Perform

W-L

Pts

Prev

1

North Dakota State (56)

12-0

1,400

1

2

Montana State

10-2

1,340

3

3

Montana State

11-1

1,270

2

4

Lehigh

12-0

1,206

4

5

Tarleton State

11-1

1,193

5

6

Tennessee Tech

11-1

1,086

6

7

Mercer

9-2

1,032

7

8

Rhode Island

10-2

933

10

9

Villanova

9-2

914

9

10

Stephen F. Austin

10-2

890

14

11

UC Davis

8-3

849

15

12

South Dakota

8-4

731

16

13

Abilene Christian

8-4

714

17

14

Youngstown State

8-4

625

18

15

Harvard

9-1

519

8

16

South Dakota State

8-4

491

22

T-17

Illinois State

8-4

443

11

T-17

Southeastern Louisiana

9-3

443

21

19

North Dakota

7-5

407

13

20

Jackson State

9-2

297

20

21

Monmouth

9-3

249

12

22

New Hampshire

8-4

248

25

23

Southern Illinois

7-5

243

24

24

Yale

8-2

192

NR

25

Lamar

8-4

168

19


Dropped Out of Top 25: Northern Arizona (23)





Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots):  Alabama State, 64;  South Carolina State, 54; West Georgia, 50; Southern Utah, 29; Austin Peay), 27; Central Connecticut State, 27; Drake, 23; Northern Arizona, 17; Lafayette, 16; UT Rio Grande Valley, 4





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EXTRA POINT

I meant to toss this up on Sunday but forgot. Several of you commented on the posting about heading down to Brown wicked early Saturday to have breakfast at the "Modern Diner." Here's what you see on the wall while waiting for your seat:



I opted for the Philly cheesesteak omelet while Mrs. BGA went with strawberry-stuffed French toast.


We sat in the rounded end of the classic diner:


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