For the direct link to last night's BGA Overtime follow story on the Dartmouth-Princeton game, click HERE.
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The local Valley News had a stringer at the Dartmouth-Princeton game Saturday and his story begins this way (LINK):
What if?
That’s what Dartmouth football coach Sammy McCorkle and his players had to be asking themselves on the loooong ride home to Hanover following their 21-14 loss to Princeton on Saturday, one that knocked them out of a share of the Ivy League lead.
What if the defense hadn’t been so porous early, allowing the host Tigers’ offense to score on long drives their first three possessions before finally getting its act together?
What if the offense hadn’t been nearly as ineffective in the first half, countering with just one touchdown, before seeing its second-half comeback bid thwarted by two interceptions, one in the end zone?
What if that effort wasn’t negated by two missed field goals, one going wide, the other short-circuited by a botched snap?
And what if the Big Green — with its “1-0 today” sign there for all to see entering the locker room — had paid better attention?
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TigerBlog had other responsibilities that kept him from the Ivy League football showdown Saturday but he takes a look at the game and what it meant from the Princeton angle HERE.
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Paul Justafan begins his review of Saturday's Ivy League football games with thoughts on how and why the Dartmouth-Princeton game went the way it did HERE.
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The NCAA site has a story HERE under the headline 2026 FCS playoffs automatic bid tracker and scenarios that incorrectly states:
Harvard can clinch the Ivy League auto-bid if:
Harvard beats Penn
AND Princeton loses to Yale
Green Alert Take: The author of the piece missed one more requirement for the Crimson to clinch the bid this week. Harvard also needs Dartmouth to lose at Cornell. Should the Big Green win its color war with the Big Red, it would go into Week 10 at 4-2 in the Ivy League, with the chance to finish 5-2 win a win over Brown in the finale.
Assuming a Harvard win over Penn, the Crimson would be 5-1 heading into The Game. A loss to Yale and Harvard would be 5-2, the same record Dartmouth would have should it win out. Thanks to the win over the Crimson, the Big Green would have the tiebreaker for the Ivy League's automatic bid.
Here's the wild thing. Should Dartmouth win out and Harvard finish 5-2, it would be in the Crimson's best interest if Princeton actually beats Yale Saturday and also wins out.
Be sure to check out BGA Overtime tonight for the full championship scenario explanation.
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Looking ahead to Saturday's game in Ithaca, the Cornell Sun story notes that playmaking Big Red quarterback Garrett Bass-Sulpizio the loss to Penn on the game's first drive, and includes this: (LINK)
Following the late hit, Bass-Sulpizio was slow to get up, eventually being forced to leave the field. While he threw the football a few times while on the sideline and quickly discussed something with Swanstrom, he never returned to the field. After it was clear he was not returning to the game, Bass-Sulpizio took off his pads. It is still not clear what the injury was or how extensive it is.
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The Analyst, with Craig Haley heading up the FCS division, is the go-to source for the best FCS information and the site predicts these playoff matchups featuring Dartmouth opponents (LINK):
• Harvard-Central Connecticut
• Lehigh-Monmouth
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This is kind of fun. Scrub ahead to the 58-second mark to see a nice run by all-time Dartmouth great Bob MacLeod at Harvard.
EXTRA POINT
It was a little chilly in the TV room Saturday while we were catching up on the Penn State-Washington game before I settled in to write up the Dartmouth-Princeton story. I found two ways to warm up: a soft, green blanket and a miniature Nittany Lion named Muppet.
PS: Don't tell Griff the Wonder Dog I was cheating on him. ;-)
