There's a new commitment to report, but first . . .
As noted in this space yesterday, you can probably pencil in Yale, Harvard and Dartmouth as the top three teams, but we shall see. (More on that just above the PAT below. ;-)
EXTRA POINT
A loyal reader shared the following. Seeing this, I have just one question:
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Dartmouth has periodically brought in productive players from Canada, like running back Ryder Stone '18 and kicker David Smith '18. Offensive lineman Konstantin Spörk '25 and linebacker Nico Schwikal '26 of Germany were starters on last year's team. And Nigerians Anthony Ndika '28 and Godson Ajoku '27 bring great size to the offensive line.
The latest addition to Dartmouth football's United Nations is Zikun "Tiger" Xiong, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive lineman from China. You read that correctly.
Xiong, who came to the United States from Beijin's Dulwich College high school, committed to Dartmouth out of The Governor's Academy in Byfield, Mass. (Thanks to an old friend for the tip.)
Xiong earned recruiting interest from around the Ivy League and picked Dartmouth over offers from Lehigh, VMI, Williams and Carnegie Mellon. His path to playing at an American college was paved by the Gridiron Imports Foundation, which celebrated his commitment with this graphic:
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HERO Sports' FCS guru Sam Herder has posted capsules on the teams he included on his ballot for the Stats Perform FCS Top 25 media poll, and two are on Dartmouth's schedule this fall. (LINK)
About his No. 17 selection, Yale, Herder wrote:
Yale won the Ivy League last season, earning the conference’s first auto-bid into the FCS playoffs. It splashed onto the postseason scene with an epic first-round comeback win at Youngstown State before a respectable loss at eventual national champs Montana State. The Bulldogs made a big-time head coaching hire this offseason when they landed 2025 FCS Coach of the Year Kevin Cahill from Lehigh. Yale returns its starting quarterback Dante Reno, plus six All-Ivy League players, including the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year in safety Abu Kamara.
Herder has Lehigh at No. 8, writing:
Lehigh had a breakthrough year in 2025, earning the No. 5 playoff seed with an 11-1 record. The promising season fell flat in the second round, though, losing to eventual semifinalist Villanova 14-7. Defensive coordinator Richard Nagy was promoted to head coach this offseason after FCS Coach of the Year Kevin Cahill returned to Yale. Retention was still strong despite the coaching change. The Mountain Hawks return key players like QB Hayden Johnson, All-American RB Luke Yoder, TE Joseph Marranca, offensive linemen Aidan Palmer and Colby Reph, and safety Nick Peltekian.
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And finally, we head back to the Ivy League preseason poll. Here's how it shaped up last year:
1. Harvard – 118 (9)
2. Dartmouth – 105 (4)
3. Yale – 103 (3)
4. Columbia – 72
5. Princeton – 55
6. Penn – 49
7. Cornell – 42
8. Brown – 32
And here's how the season finished:
1. Yale (6-1, 9-3)
1. Harvard (6-1, 9-2)
3. Dartmouth (4-3, 7-3)
3. Penn (4-3, 6-4)
5. Cornell (3-4, 4-6)
6. Brown (2-5, 5-5)
6. Princeton (2-5, 3-7)
8. Columbia (1-6, 2-8)
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A loyal reader shared the following. Seeing this, I have just one question:
Would anyone, anywhere actually buy one of these things?
For whatever it's worth, you can have your very own Dartmouth shower curtain for the low, low price of $20.95, a full 43 percent off its regular price of $36.99. (LINK)
