Keep reading and you'll find out what team finally broke through. In the meantime . . .
Sunday night's Big Green Overtime practice story centers around Dartmouth starting quarterback Grayson Saunier. Find the story HERE, and come back tonight for coverage of this morning's practice.
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The so-called experts forecasting the Minnesota Vikings' regular-season roster think Dartmouth's Delby Lemieux '26 faces tough odds making the team as an undrafted free agent, but this probably didn't hurt his cause. From a story headlined PFF grades from the Vikings preseason loss to the Ravens (LINK):
Best run blocking grades
OT Henry Byrd 68.8
OT Delby Lemieux 65.3
OT Walter Rouse 64
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Courtesy of Dartmouth social media:Rain or Shine We WORK. #GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/TxdwnOI7cX
— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) August 23, 2026
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The Analyst has a ranking of FCS conferences using . . .
. . . "the AI projection model TRACR (Team Rating Adjusted for Competition and Roster), which considers how good a team is relative to the strength of its opponent. The accumulation provides an offensive rating and a defensive rating per 10 drives in a game, and the difference between them gives an overall team rating."
Got that? Me, neither. But no one in the Ancient Eight should be complaining about how the ranking turned out:
1 Missouri Valley
2 Big Sky
3 United Athletic
4 Ivy League
5 CAA
6 Patriot
7 Southern
8 MEAC
9 Southland
10 Ohio Valley
11 NEC
12 SWAC
13 Pioneer
Here's what the piece says about the Ivy League:
The Ancient Eight gained two bids (Yale and Harvard) in its first season of playoff eligibility. Led by those defending co-champs – Yale is 14th and Harvard 17th – six league members are in the top 50 of TRACR, and all eight are in the top 70. The last league in college football to kick off its season (Sept. 19) plays a shorter, 10-game regular season.
And if you are like me and haven't been paying enough attention, the United Athletic Conference formed in 2023 and features Abilene Christian, Austin Peay, Central Arkansas, Eastern Kentucky, North Alabama, Tarleton State, West Florida and West Georgia.
Green Alert Take: Central, Eastern, North, West and West? It's the "directional" FCS conference!
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One more Ivy Leaguer makes the "Best Returning No." with the season starting Thursday:
The best returning No. 4 is Yale DB Abu Kamara
-2026 Sr
-6’0” 208 lbs
-2-year All-Ivy League 1st Team
-2-year All-American
-2024: 84 tackles, 2 INT
-2025: 76 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 2 INT, 13 PBUs
-2025 Ivy League DPOY
The list of Ivy Leaguers who have been so recognized:
96: Yale DT Jaylin Tate
86: Cornell TE Ryder Kurtz
85: Columbia WR Titus Evans
77: Harvard OL Spencer Doan
75: Penn OL Luke Sacchetti
71: Harvard OL Thomas O'Brien
64: Princeton OL Barrett Eddlemon
37: Penn S Ty Cortes
35: Harvard LB Sean Line
29: Harvard K Kieran Corr
27: Princeton CB Evan Haynie
24: Dartmouth S Harrison Keith
19: Harvard WR Brady Blackburn
18: Yale WR Jaxton Santiago
4: Yale DB Abu Kamara
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A Sean Williams '26 update out of Arkansas under the drop headline Fifth year in flux (LINK)
Arkansas added two defensive backs — Caleb Wooden from last year’s roster and Dartmouth transfer Sean Williams — after a federal court ruling earlier this month that gave athletes in the high school class of 2022 the ability to rejoin the teams they played for last year or transfer to new programs if they had previously entered the transfer portal. The high school class of 2022 was not grandfathered when the NCAA Cabinet voted this summer to allow a fifth year of eligibility for all athletes beginning during the 2026-27 school year.
Last week, however, a federal appeals court halted the injunction, casting doubt on the future of athletes trying to get their fifth year.
“I think we’re doing our due diligence, our homework, obviously talking to our compliance department on where the rules stand now,” Silverfield said. “You’re hopeful that if there’s any young men you bring in as part of your roster they have the ability to go out there and compete on Saturdays, but we also have to be smart and say ‘OK, we don’t want to take reps away from this guy because this whole thing could blow up tomorrow.’
“We know it’s been a lot of back and forth, we’re keeping them in the loop. We’re having those conversations. Best thing we can do, if they’re allowed to and compliance allows, can they start learning the playbook? Can they start finding ways to at least do what they need to do [so that] if they’re number’s called, they have the ability to step up?”
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Headline from FootballScoop: The nation's longest losing streak has come to an end after over a decade and 101 games. Columbia Hight School of Huntsville, Ala., finally broke through with a big 41-14 win after 11 years. Find the story HERE.
EXTRA POINT
We have a male and female cardinal couple that regularly visit our video bird feeder. Mrs. BGA and I nicknamed them Jacob and Esther after a couple we had dinner with on our cross country train trip several years ago. Cardinals, we've learned, frequently mate for life. Jacob and Esther often visit our feeder together and when they do, Jacob will occasionally grab a sunflower seed and feed it to Esther. It's quite sweet.
