With a well-traveled quarterback capable of putting up big numbers and a linebacker who is closing in on the all-time NCAA record for career tackles at the FCS level, Dartmouth’s final non-conference opponent been a more interesting story than a successful team this fall. Fordham comes into its 1 p.m. Homecoming game against Dartmouth at 1-5, with the sole victory coming at the expense of still winless Holy Cross. Big Green coach Sammy McCorkle has no trouble making the a case that Fordham is a better team than the record would suggest, but his focus coming out of a one-point escape against Yale is squarely on his 3-1 team. “As I told our guys, we haven’t played our best game yet and haven’t been close,” McCorkle said as darkness descended after practice on Memorial Field Thursday. “That was our challenge all week. Let’s go out there and try to play our best game. If you do that, it doesn’t matter who you are playing. You are going to give yourself a chance.” Any chance th...

  HANOVER – I told you I was pretty confident in five of the seven games in the Fearful Forecast last week. All five came through, and if I really, actually, honestly believed in Brown the Forecast would have been perfect. Maybe this is the week. Or maybe not. Princeton (2-2, 1-0 Ivy) at Brown (3-1, 0-1 Ivy) I admitted I don’t really believe in Brown a sentence or two ago, right? Well, I don’t believe in Princeton, either. Brown 28, Princeton 21 Penn (3-1, 1-0 Ivy) at Columbia (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) Sure wish we knew if QB1 or QB2 was going to play for Columbia, or if it’s going to be QB3 again. Won’t matter. Penn 28, Columbia 7 Merrimack (3-4, n/a) at Harvard (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) Harvard looked mortal last week against Cornell. And let’s not forget that two years ago Merrimack took Harvard to overtime. Harvard  24-14 Stonehill (2-4, 1-2 NEC) at Yale  (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) Yale coach Tony Reno might be more eager to get in front of a microphone this week. Yale 42-10 Bucknell ...

  The Optimist can’t help but smile with a shake of his head as The Pessimist approaches their usual table. The Optimist: I’ve got to admit it. I was a little nervous when Yale scored that last touchdown. The Pessimist: Rightfully so. The Bulldogs had you guys on the ropes until they gave the game away with another sorry defensive performance.  The Optimist: That was actually one of the best Yale defensive games against us I can remember. They didn’t give anything away. We took it away. The Pessimist: Uh, they let you march right down the field at the end. I guess we can agree to disagree on that one. The Optimist: One thing we can agree on is that this week’s game will be a walkover. I mean, Fordham is a dumpster fire. The Pessimist: There were probably more than a few people in Not-So-Happy Valley who were thinking the same thing a couple of weeks ago when the Nittany Lions played out in La-La Land, and I’m sure you know how what happened. The Optimist: I’m prett...

  Six thoughts and observations coming out of  Saturday’s come-from-behind Homecoming win over Yale: 1) What can you say about how quarterback Grayson Saunier engineered Dartmouth’s game-winning drive? Maybe the most apropos description for a Big Green fan would be to say it was Kyler-esque. Saunier's steady and heady play in the final 37 seconds called to mind the way Derek Kyler ‘21 marched Dartmouth 96 yards down the field in the final minute to beat Harvard on the now-famous Hail Mary pass that saved the 2019 championship season. That’s high praise for Saunier and well-deserved. He didn’t play – and doesn’t play – like a quarterback who had just two career starts coming into the season. 2) The Yale Jinx, which was born in 1884 and died in 1935, is a famous part of Dartmouth football lore. Yale coach Tony Reno could be excused if he starts to believe there’s a Dartmouth Jinx after the Big Green's come-from-behind, 17-16 win on Sunday. Last year Reno saw the Big Green eras...