Saturday, August 08, 2026

On Pushing Up The Schedule

Longtime Roar Lions writer Jake Novak reported on his podcast yesterday that sources have told him the Ivy League will move the start of its football season up one week in 2027, and institute a bye week for the first time. Find the podcast HERE.

One plus Jake cites is reducing to an extent the advantage already battle-tested nonconference opponents have against Ivy League teams playing their openers.

How much of an advantage do they have?

When Dartmouth visits Lehigh on Sept. 19, it will be the fourth game of the year for the Mountain Hawks, who will already have played Holy Cross, Georgetown and William & Mary. The Big Green, of course, will be playing someone in a different uniform for the first time.

Jake also anticipates the Ivy instituting a bye week, something virtually every other conference enjoys. My sense is that would be the biggest impetus for the change to starting the season on the second Saturday in September each fall instead of the third.

Long before the Ivy League got the OK to go to the FCS playoffs last year, Ivy coaches lamented the toll it takes on their teams playing 10 straight weeks, which virtually no one else in the country does. With the season extending another week for one (or sometimes two) teams, the bye week is even more important for the health of the team and the safety of the players. Jake Novak's sources did not know if the Ivy League was going to stagger the bye weeks, or if all eight Ivies would have the same week off.

A third plus from pushing the schedule up one week that Jake did not mention is the help it will offer in nonconference scheduling. As it stands, many conferences are already heavily into their conference schedules by the time the Ivy League season rolls around. That limits scheduling possibilities for the Ivies. Hopefully the earlier start date will allow the Ivy League to have a more diverse group of nonconference opponents.

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With a new sports information director starting this week, the Dartmouth football roster has finally been updated for 2026. We're still waiting on numbers for the freshmen, but here's the roster as we know it at this point:

2

Nick Lemon

WR

Sr.

4

lan Scott

WR

Sr.

5

Julian Coviello

K

Sr.

6

Dylan Elder

RB

Jr.

8

Cameron Best-Alston

DB

Sr.

8

Jack Inglis

WR

Jr.

9

Charlie Peters

QB

So.

12

Thai Brown

DB

Jr.

12

Jaden Cummings

QB

So.

13

Woods Ray

QB

Sr.

14

Luke Rives

WR

Jr.

16

Grayson Saunier

QB

Sr.

17

Kyle Meier

TE

Jr.

18

Noah Trigueros

QB

Jr.

20

Colin O'Garro

RB

Sr.

21

Jorden Barnes

CB

Sr.

22

Samuel Washington

DB

Sr.

23

Christian Harris

DB

Jr.

24

Harrison Keith

S

Sr.

25

Lou Lamar

NB

Jr.

26

No'Koi Maddox

DB

Jr.

27

Niquis Ratcliff

CB

Jr.

28

Chris Roper

RB

Sr.

29

Immanuel Johnson

RB

So.

30

K.J. Edwards

DB

Sr.

30

Romello McRae

WR

So.

31

Andy Belles

LS

Sr.

32

Colter Vela

DB

So.

33

Johnny Riley

LB

Jr.

34

Santino Cicarella

DB

So.

35

Owen Zalc

K

Sr.

36

Luke Armistead

P

Jr.

36

Myles Craddock

RB

So.

37

Cameron Bates

WR

So.

37

Matisse Weaver

PK

Sr.

38

Johnny Stephens

DB

So.

39

Ethan Couvertiere

DB

So.

40

John Bancone

TE

So.

41

Corban Hall

TE

So.

42

Jason Bish

TE

So.

43

Gergely Hudak

DL

Jr.

44

Joshua Johnson

DE

Sr.

45

Matisse Brosseau

DL

So.

47

Jackson Cheatham

DB

So.

48

Aidan White

DE

Jr.

50

Steve Simpkins Jr.

LB

Sr.

52

Sean Chester

LB

Jr.

54

Matthew Boydell

LB

So.

55

Max Livingston

OL

Sr.

56

Charlie Prior

LB

So.

57

Cameron Lee

LB

Sr.

58

Uche Odimegwu

LB

So.

59

Paul Binder

OL

So.

60

Julian Sutton

OL

Jr.

61

Yuseph Mustafa

OL

So.

62

Hashem Saleh

OL

So.

63

Anthony Ndika

OL

Jr.

64

Ryan Turk

OL

Jr.

67

Mateusz Nycz

OL

So.

68

Francisco Caballero

OL

Sr.

70

Ben Reagan

OL

Jr.

71

Will Prince

OL

Sr.

73

Roland Waguespack

OL

Sr.

77

Cam Davenport

OL

Sr.

78

Godson Ajoku

OL

Sr.

79

Jack Taylor

OL

So.

81

Andrew Smart

WR

So.

82

Jonathan Nelson

WR

Sr.

83

James Elliott

WR

Jr.

84

Jordan Leslie

WR

Jr.

85

Ky'Dric Fisher

WR

Jr.

86

Aiden Abercrombie

WR

So.

87

Taysire Williams

TE

Sr.

88

Kristian Strong

TE

Jr.

90

Taylor Faalele

DL

Jr.

91

Ben Devall

DE

Jr.

92

Khari Mayeux

DE

Jr.

95

Bruce Williams

DE

Sr.

96

Chris Chol

DL

So.

97

Keoni Perkins

DE

Sr.

98

Jackson Ashford

DL

Jr.

99

Peter Owolabi

DL

So.


Harlem Taylor

DL

Fr.


Ayo Adeniyi

LB

Fr.


Jacob Henry

RB

Fr.


JJ Bolz

LB

Fr.


Emory "Tre" Jones III

DB

Fr.


Blake Betette

WR

Fr.


Will Hester

LS

Fr.


Nick Schenkel

OL

Fr.


Tim Church

OL

Fr.


Gavin King

LB

Fr.


Jake Namnun

OL

Fr.


George Loop

WR

Fr.


Roman Sosnovyy

DL

Fr.


Tanner Pidwell

K

Fr.


James Rush

DB

Fr.


David Brown Ill

DB

Fr.


Kareem Fisher

WR

Fr.


August Dupree

DL

Fr.


Will Maloof

DL

Fr.


Brody McLeod

OL

Fr.


Jack Cannon

QB

Fr.


Trey McFadden

DB

Fr.


Michael McMahon

OL

Fr.


Timothy loane Jr.

LB

Fr.


George Duggins

DB

Fr.


Ayden Sadler

TE

Fr.


Quinn Enguita

DL

Fr.


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EXTRA POINT
Should we get Griff the Wonder Dog a duck friend? I don't think so, but it's Saturday morning and you deserve a smile to start your weekend. Enjoy:
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