Thursday, September 13, 2012

Closing In On It

A banner over Main Street in Hanover
promotes Saturday night's opening game.
Former Dartmouth President Jim Wright shakes
hands with Dan Henggeler at Wednesday's practice.
Wright talks with Coach Teevens and
special teams members during practice.
Dartmouth's game notes for the opener against Butler have been posted here. As usual, the notes include a two-deep. Among other things, last night's Green Alert Premium discussed how and why a two-deep changes between the time it is printed and kickoff.
Jake Novak at Columbia football blog Roar Lions 2012 notes that new coach Pete Mangurian's two-deep features an offensive line that averages just 255 pounds, with a right guard who comes in at 227 pounds. Jake is calling the downsizing of the line, "The Grand Experiment." It will be very interesting to see what Mangurian's plan is and how the Lions fare.

Columbia's starting offense line as per the two-deep:
  • LT Scott Ward 6-7, 278
  • LG Keith Ramljak 6-2, 270
  • C Ryan Thomas 6-5, 246
  • RG Eric Stock 6-1, 227
  • RT Jimmy Yukevich 6-7, 253
By way of contrast, Dartmouth's offensive front weighs in at 293 pounds:
  • LT John Scheve 6-8 305
  • LG Pat Lahey 6-3, 280
  • C Rob Bathe 6-3, 275
  • RG Cohle Fowler 6-6, 310
  • RT Scotty Whitmore 6-5, 295
A Pioneer Football League message board is pushing this weekend as The PFL-Ivy League Challenge with Dartmouth playing host to Butler, Harvard playing host to San Diego and Columbia entertaining Marist. Not much banter on the board but here's what one poster wrote:
I like Butler's QB and the fact they have two official games under their belt. Dartmouth scrimmaged another team, but it's not the same. Butler by a FG.
The Inside Ivy League Football show is archived on blogtalktradio here.
The US News college rankings are out and and you can read the college's take on that here. From the college release:
Dartmouth has earned the top spot for “Strong Commitment to Teaching” for the fourth year in a row, and moved into the Top 10 national universities in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Colleges 2013” rankings, the magazine announced today.
Reposted from yesterday's blog . . .
Up for a hike? With Saturday's game not slated to kick off until 7 p.m. and the weather expected to be great this is a perfect opportunity for The First Big Green Alert Moose Mountain hike up the mountain in our back yard.

Cooper the Wonder Dog and I will be leading a walk to the 2,222-foot South Peak of the mountain Saturday, leaving the trailhead at noon and getting back around 3, giving you plenty of time to clean up and get dinner before the game. You are welcome to come along to enjoy a taste of hiking the Appalachian Trail and to share a little Dartmouth and Ivy League football talk

Moose Mountain is a beautiful eight mile drive from campus in Etna, a rural part of Hanover. It's a relatively gentle hour-or-so climb to the peak with just one 10-minute stretch that might tax you a bit. Sneakers are fine and you might want to bring a bottle of water. Although we may cross paths with a "Through Hiker" or two doing the full Appalachian Trail, you don't need any hiking experience. It's not advisable but I've seen people do the trail here in flip-flops. We'll come down a different way that will give you a chance to check out the college's impressive Class of '66 Lodge.


If you are interested in joining Coop and me or have any questions, click here to send me an email.