It's now official. Dartmouth's three nonconference games next fall will be against Lehigh, Monmouth and Merrimack. Dates for those games have not yet been announced.
Here's what we know of the schedule:
Sept. 19 at Lehigh
Sept. 26 TBA (Monmouth or Merrimack)
Oct. 3 vs. Penn
Oct. 10 at Yale
Oct. 17 TBA (Monmouth or Merrimack)
Oct. 24 at Columbia
Oct. 31 Harvard
Nov. 7 at Princeton
Nov. 14 at Cornell
Nov. 21 Brown
With just three home Ivy League games (Penn, Harvard and Brown) the expectation is two of the three nonconference games will be at Buddy Teevens Stadium.
Lehigh's visit to Hanover in 2023 suggests the Big Green will be returning the favor and playing the Mountain Hawks in Bethlehem, Pa. That game will be either the Sept. 20 opener or Sept. 27 given that Lehigh has a scheduled game against Cornell on Oct. 17.
With games at Columbia, at Princeton, at Cornell and likely at Lehigh the Big Green will be putting in a lot of miles regardless of who the final road game is against.
Here's a little background on each of the nonconference opponents:
Lehigh is currently 12-0 and ranked third in the country by the FCS Coaches Poll and fourth by Stats Perform. The Mountain Hawks had a bye in the first round of the playoffs and host Villanova Saturday. The Patriot League champions are 21-4 over the last two years. The most recent meeting with Dartmouth was in 2023 when the Big Green came away with a 34-17 victory.
Monmouth finished this season with a 9-3 record that included a 51-33 win over Villanova and a late-season 34-13 loss to New Hampshire. The Hawks are 15-9 over the past two seasons. They are ranked 16th in the Coaches poll and 21st by Stats Perform. They won their first eight FCS games this fall. Dartmouth and Monmouth have never played.
Merrimack went 4-8 this year with a 16-14 win over Central Connecticut and a 31-7 loss at Harvard. The Warriors played a competitive schedule that featured a 21-17 loss at FBS Kent State, a 27-13 loss at 9-3 Kennesaw State and a one-score loss to Maine. The Big Green used a 32-yard field goal with three seconds left to earn a 16-14 win at Merrimack in 2024.
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| Dartmouth athletics graphic |
Tight end Chris Corbo, offensive tackle Delby Lemieux and running back DJ Crowther have been named to the All-New England team chosen by the New England Football Writers Association. Find a Dartmouth release HERE.
Other Ivy Leaguers named to the team on offense were Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig, Yale tailback Josh Pitsenberger, Yale receiver Nico Brown and Yale offensive lineman Michael Bennett.
Named to the team on defense were defensive linemen Alex DeGreick of Harvard and Ezekiel Larry of Yale, and defensive backs Tr\y Bartrum of Harvard and Abu Kamara of Yale.
Yale's Joshua Tarver was named the kick return specialist.
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EXTRA POINT
Watching the news last night the ticker across the bottom of the screen announced that a bunch of local schools would be closed today because of impending snow. I suppose it's a sign of how much better forecasting has become that school systems will go out on a limb and make the call the night before. At it turns out, the forecast was right and the show has been falling all morning.
But I've got to say, I'm glad schools didn't announce they would be closed like that when I was a kid. There was nothing, and I mean nothing, as exciting as sitting by the radio with fingers crossed in the morning while the announcer went through a long list of closings and finally hearing your school would be one of them. It was the absolute best!
