Before getting to yesterday's breaking news, BGA Overtime took an extensive look at the 2026 Dartmouth team last night. Tonight the site will turn its attention to the Ivy League with capsules on each team, as well as a prediction for how the final standings may look. Find it all on BGA OT HERE.
While I've got you . . .
First, sincere thanks to those of you who have sent along your encouragement for me to keep this site and BGA Overtime going. There are days when I wonder why I keep at it, and you are the reason why.
And second, as I wrote about a week ago, starting BGA has been a way to balance the ups and downs of being a freelance writer. I was reminded how lucky I am to have been able to lean on BGA when I read this today on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac (LINK):
Today is the birthday of the man who wrote, “The freelance writer is a man who is paid per piece or per word or perhaps”: that’s humorist, essayist, actor, and drama critic Robert Benchley, born in Worcester, Massachusetts (1889).
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The big news yesterday was the Ivy League confirming HERE what Columbia blogger (?) Jake Novak reported back on Aug. 7 (LINK) that the conference was going to introduce a bye week.
The very brief Ivy release included this:
For the 2027 season, league games originally scheduled for Week 6 — the first week featuring exclusively Ivy vs. Ivy competition — will instead be played in Week 1 on Sept. 11. The league-wide bye week will take place the weekend of Oct. 23.
That means for at least the next year the Ivy League will revert to its old format of teams opening their season with a conference game. That format was applauded in some circles for enabling teams to open on even footing against teams that hadn't yet played, as opposed to opening against a school that might be playing its fourth game, as is the case for Dartmouth at Lehigh Saturday.
But the format was also criticized for tossing teams right into the conference fire. In a league where champions regularly finish either unbeaten or with one loss, a team that dropped a Week 1 conference game had its backs against the wall almost from the outset.
Either way, this will now be the Week 1 Ivy League schedule next fall:
Columbia at Dartmouth
Brown at Cornell
Harvard at Princeton
Penn at Yale
Green Alert Take: With apologies to Columbia, the big winners are Dartmouth, which will open at home against the Lions instead of against Penn in Philadelphia, and Brown and Cornell, who will not have their always challenging openers against Harvard and Yale respectively.
Green Alert Take II: The Ivy League deserves a nod for taking this step, even if its hand was forced. Yale playing 12 consecutive weeks last year was unfortunate.
Green Alert Take III: Overlooked in the bantering about the change is that the Ivy League had little choice in 2027 but to move a conference game to the front of the schedule. In an era when scheduling is done well in advance, it was too late for all eight Ivy League teams to be able to successfully scramble and find out-of-conference opponents for Week 1. The hope here is that in the future the Ivies will be able to go back to opening against nonconference teams.
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Former Yale wide receiver Mason Shipp puts his own spin on the schedule change:
The Ivy League instituted a conference-wide bye week. Here’s why it’s important:
— Mason Shipp (@MasonShipp1) September 14, 2026
1. Week one matchups will now be Ivy v. Ivy
- currently: play opponents in mid-season form
(Dartmouth plays Lehigh Saturday) - bad ball
- a much needed break for whatever team makes playoffs pic.twitter.com/St1huev4j1
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WMUR TV has a quick mention of Dartmouth finally opening its season:
FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas football safeties Caleb Wooden and Sean Williams have secured a victory in court against the NCAA. Washington County District Judge Doug Martin granted a preliminary injunction for Wooden and Williams on Monday, Sept. 14. The injunction prohibits the NCAA from "interpreting, applying or enforcing NCAA Bylaw 12.6", which previously ruled that high school recruits of the class of 2022 were exempt from the new 5-for-5 eligibility guidelines.
The duo appeared in court on Thursday, Sept. 10. Now, Wooden and Williams are eligible for the 2026 season until "final judgment of this action or further order from the court".
"The court finds that Plaintiffs' irreparable harm is not merely the loss of NIL compensation, revenue-sharing payments, scholarship benefits, stipends, or other money," Martin wrote in his court order. "Even if every financial component of Plaintiffs' losses could later be calculated and recovered, monetary damages cannot recreate a collegiate football season after it has passed. The court cannot predict what Plaintiffs will accomplish during the 2026-27 season, and it need not do so."
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The FCS coaches got their ballots in on time this week. Here are the latest Top-25 polls:
FCS Coaches | W-L* | Pts | Prev* | |
1 | Montana St. (26) | 3-0 | 650 | 1 |
2 | Montana | 3-0 | 601 | 2 |
3 | South Dakota St. | 2-1 | 595 | 3 |
4 | Illinois St. | 3-0 | 578 | 4 |
5 | Tarleton St. | 3-0 | 552 | 5 |
6 | North Dakota | 3-0 | 483 | 7 |
7 | LEHIGH | 3-0 | 473 | 8 |
8 | Stephen F. Austin | 3-0 | 432 | 9 |
9 | Youngstown St. | 2-1 | 405 | 10 |
10 | Tennessee Tech | 3-0 | 393 | 11 |
11 | UC Davis | 2-1 | 389 | 6 |
12 | South Dakota | 3-0 | 370 | 12 |
13 | Rhode Island | 2-1 | 331 | 13 |
14 | Austin Peay | 2-1 | 317 | 15 |
15 | Lamar | 2-1 | 268 | 17 |
16 | South Carolina St. | 3-0 | 194 | 20 |
17 | West Florida | 2-0 | 178 | 22 |
18 | Idaho St. | 3-0 | 177 | 24 |
19 | Northern Arizona | 2-1 | 174 | 23 |
20 | YALE | 0-0 | 160 | 19 |
21 | William & Mary | 2-1 | 103 | 16 |
22 | Mercer | 2-1 | 93 | 14 |
23 | Villanova | 1-2 | 83 | 18 |
24 | Furman | 2-1 | 74 | NR |
25 | Southern Illinois | 2-1 | 70 | NR |
Dropped Out: Richmond (21), Abilene Christian (25) | ||||
Others Receiving Votes: Richmond, 67; Cal Poly, 51; Colgate, 30; Wofford, 27; Jackson St., 20; Prairie View A&M, 20; HARVARD, 18; Central Arkansas, 16; Southern Utah, 13; Alabama St., 10; Elon, 7; HCU, 6; Campbell, 4; Robert Morris (Pa.), 4; UAlbany, 3; Abilene Christian, 2; DARTMOUTH, 2; Nicholls, 2; UT Martin, 2; MONMOUTH, 1; San Diego, 1; Southeast Missouri St., 1. |
STATS | W-L* | Pts | Prev* | |
1 | Montana State (57) | 3-0 | 1425 | 1 |
2 | South Dakota State | 2-1 | 1324 | 2 |
3 | Montana | 3-0 | 1277 | 3 |
4 | Tarleton State | 3-0 | 1253 | 4 |
5 | Illinois State | 3-0 | 1244 | 5 |
6 | North Dakota | 3-0 | 1067 | 6 |
7 | LEHIGH | 3-0 | 1010 | 9 |
8 | Rhode Island | 2-1 | 970 | 8 |
9 | Youngstown State | 2-1 | 929 | 10 |
10 | South Dakota | 3-0 | 900 | 11 |
11 | UC Davis | 2-1 | 890 | 7 |
12 | Stephen F. Austin | 3-0 | 853 | 13 |
13 | Tennessee Tech | 3-0 | 834 | 12 |
14 | Austin Peay | 2-1 | 618 | 15 |
14 | Lamar | 2-1 | 618 | 14 |
16 | Idaho State | 3-0 | 614 | 17 |
17 | West Florida | 2-0 | 405 | 20 |
18 | South Carolina State | 3-0 | 381 | 22 |
19 | YALE | 0-0 | 371 | 19 |
20 | Northern Arizona | 2-1 | 310 | 24 |
21 | William & Mary | 2-1 | 274 | 16 |
22 | Villanova | 1-2 | 175 | 21 |
23 | Mercer | 2-1 | 135 | 18 |
24 | Southern Illinois | 2-1 | 121 | NR |
25 | HARVARD | 0-0 | 75 | 25 |
Dropped Out: Abilene Christian (23) | ||||
Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots): Alabama State (2-1): 64; Furman (2-1, 1-0 Southern): 60; Campbell (2-1): 59; Cal Poly (2-1, 1-0 Big Sky): 56; UAlbany (2-1, 1-0 CAA): 38; Houston Christian (2-1, 1-0 Southland): 38; Southern Utah (1-2, 0-1 Big Sky): 37; Jackson State (2-0): 30; Wofford (2-1, 1-0 Southern): 19; Abilene Christian (0-3): 15; Richmond (2-1, 1-0 Patriot): 11; Elon (2-1, 0-1 CAA): 10; Prairie View A&M (1-2, 1-0 SWAC): 6; Colgate (2-1, 2-0 Patriot): 3 |
Columbia 9Cornell 6Harvard 5Princeton 3Dartmouth 2Penn 2Yale 2Brown 2
EXTRA POINT
We are having a crew working on our house for a couple of weeks and yesterday our cars got boxed in by their trucks. This morning before they arrived I went out and moved my car to a part of the driveway where I know I'll be able to get it out.
