From a CBS Sports posting titled, Picking the best college football team in each state ahead of the 2026 season; From Alabama to Wyoming, and everywhere in between, these are the best Division I college football teams in every state (LINK):
NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Dartmouth: Not only did the Big Green finish third in the Ivy League last season, but they also defeated New Hampshire in the season opener. Now, coach Sammy McCorkle will try to get Dartmouth back atop the Ivy League standings.
The other Ivy to make the cut?
MASSACHUSETTS -- Harvard: I couldn't, in good conscience, choose one of the state's two FBS programs. Boston College and UMass combined for two wins last season, and the outlook isn't great for either team in 2026. At least Harvard won some football games last fall, going 9-2 and sharing the Ivy League title. However, losing quarterback Jaden Craig to TCU will be tough to overcome.
Green Alert Take: Brown could make a head-to-head argument after defeating Rhode Island last year, but with the Rams winning 22 games over the past two years (compared to Brown's eight wins over the same span), and with the state school ranked seventh in the preseason top-25, it would be a stretch.
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This third of three parts from the Ivy League football "media day" is a transcript of responses by safety Harrison Keith and defensive lineman Joshua Johnson to prompts from Jack Ford. The host's occasionally windy questions have been condensed, and remarks from the Dartmouth players have been gently edited to remove false starts, and for clarity.
Jack Ford to Harrison Keith
Talk a little bit about, and elaborate from your perspective … the idea of you'll get your turn, but you need to develop. From your perspective, you get on the field last season and have an explosive year. Third-team All-American, preseason All-American. Talk about that whole development process that Coach mentioned.
Harrison Keith
In my experience at Dartmouth football, there's always been guys in the grades above you that kind of take you under their wing and show you the ropes. I think early on for me it was a guy like Quinten Arello, who was a fifth-year.
And then more recently, our leader, our captain last year, Sean Williams, who just graduated. He was a heck of a ballplayer. When I was coming in as a freshman, he was already starting as a sophomore. And whether it was in the film room or out on the field, he took all the younger guys under his wing, 100 percent. I learned a ton from him. I was fortunate enough to be out there with him last year in the back end.
It's a guy like that, with experience, who knows the ins and outs of the defense, who makes sure you believe in yourself and you're in the right place at the right time. A guy that will tell you just go be you.
That's the biggest thing Coach Mac says. We practice fast. We play hard. So when the game comes, you can just go and believe in yourself and do your job.
Jack Ford to Joshua Johnson
Talk from your perspective about that notion of developing in the Dartmouth system.
Joshua Johnson:
The system development, especially within the D-line, has been cultivated by my past coach, Duane Brooks, and it's been continued by the current coach, Coach Q Jones. And basically what it is, is we see each other as a family. That's what it is at the end of the day.
We see the light and also I guess what we could be, the potential that within each other. We try our best to nurture that within the group. And so what happens is, whenever we're given the the opportunity to actually play, the player that we see within ourselves is actualized and it's beautiful. It's actually poetry, in my opinion.
Jack Ford to Joshua Johnson
From last year's defense coming into this year, what do you think is the area that the defense needs to make the most progress in to get where you want to be?
Joshua Johnson:
Explosive plays is a big thing. Making sure that we get our explosive plays down.
Also, sometimes you're in a tight spot, whether that be behind the line or in the red zone, what we want to do is make sure that we're able to stop those big plays and then also stop people from scoring. Three is always better than seven.
Making sure that we're solid and always on the same page, and especially with this new system, that we're communicating well and executing to the level that our defensive coordinator set out for us.
Jack Ford to Harrison Keith:
Do you guys talk about (the FCS playoffs)? Do you guys talk about, Hey, we can get into this tournament?We can we can win a national championship?
Harrison Keith
It's definitely in the back of our minds for sure. Coach Mac alluded to it though. Genuinely, a key part of Dartmouth football is taking things one day at a time. One week at a time.
We play a game on a Saturday. Already that Saturday after the game, the coaches are, all right, get your minds right. We’ve got so-and-so next week.
That's genuinely our mindset. You can't go far if you're thinking too far into the future. You've got to take it one step at a time. So that's kind of what we've adopted as a mindset.
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Jake Novak, who has converted his Roar Lions blog about Columbia (and Ivy League) football into an audio format, has an entry titled Ivy media takeaways. From a transcript (LINK):
We've had some Ivy Media Days that were very light on information before, but this one really takes the cake. To say that we got nothing out of this Ivy Media Day would almost be an understatement.
Green Alert Take: Should the Ivy League ask the media for their take on the "media day," the guess here is the response would be unanimous that it is hugely disappointing. Maybe that's why almost no media participated. I did learn a few things, but for someone like me, who was hoping to flesh out what I know about the teams before writing my season previews, it was pretty much a waste of time.
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From a Green Bay Press-Gazette story on Dartmouth alum Bond Almand's bicycle ride to every NFL stadium (LINK):
Almand, 22, of Maryville, Tennessee, departed on July 7, a month after graduating from Dartmouth University with degrees in government, climate science and environmental studies, which aren't much valued in the current political atmosphere, so he allowed himself to be talked into the NFL trip by another Dartmouth grad who now works for Extreme Networks.
Green Alert Take: Dartmouth University. Fingernails on chalkboard.
And this from the story . . .
He averages 17 to 21 miles an hours (up to 60 down some hills), and 200 miles a day, although he faces several 250-mile days on his coming route from Minneapolis to Denver. To keep that going, he consumes about 10,000 calories a day, which requires him to sometimes eat after he can't take another bite. Not doing so could cause his body to start eating his muscles.
Green Alert Take: That last sentence . . .
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A FootballScoop analysis loses me, but these words in the headline should get to click through: 'unintended consequences' of the NCAA's new punt rule. (LINK)
The piece suggests the "punt formation rule is going to bring 'hockey line changes with changing jerseys' to sidelines this fall."
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Our little one-room post office is open only until 11 a.m. each day. If we get a package and it doesn't fit in one of the half dozen lockers, we can't pick it up until the next day.
