BGA Overtime

BGA (Dec. 19) – Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle took the question head-on. Has the Ivy League’s refusal to allow its football teams to participate in the FCS playoffs driven off some potential recruits? “Definitely,” he said in a media availability Thursday, one day after learning that the Ivy League had finally reversed course on its postseason ban. “I've been here long enough, and there have been players who that was a big deal for them. It’s a big deal having the opportunity to play for a national championship, or play in the playoffs.” That sense has been reaffirmed since the surprising news went about as viral as Ivy League football news ever will. “Obviously it’s going to be huge for us in recruiting,” McCorkle said. “You can already sense it, and feel it in 24 hours. Just looking on Twitter, the pages of guys that we’re recruiting, they're posting that stuff.” But the Ivy teams aren’t the only beneficiaries of the Ancient Eight being able to go to the postseason. There’s ...

This story first appeared in the Dartmouth's Peak Magazine in 2018. It is reproduced here in recognition of Don Dobes being named the 2024 FCS assistant coach of the year. I had been asked by the magazine editor to spend a week embedded with the defensive staff and when I explained how difficult that would be we settled on writing about one defensive coach. As you'll see, we picked the right one. I could never thank Coach Dobes enough for the help he gave me in writing this story. Editor's note: The story is posted here without re-editing, something that is soooo tempting. DON DOBES is in his fifth year as defensive coordinator for the Dartmouth football team and his 25th year of coaching in the Ivy League. A 1979 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan, where he earned all-conference and academic all-state honors. Dobes recently gave PEAK an inside look at what game week is like for a football lifer and his defensive staff. SUNDAY, OCT. 19 SIX DAYS UNTIL KICKOFF Sunday, it is the p...

  BGA (Nov. 25) – This is the final edition of the Big Green Alert Six-Pack. Enjoy! 1) I had to laugh every time I read or heard someone pigeon-hole Jackson Proctor as Dartmouth’s “throwing” quarterback. Now, he's obviously a terrific passer. Unless I am mistaken, his 70.3 career completion percentage breaks Derek Kyler’s school record of 69.3 percent. But as Proctor proved against in Saturday’s win over Brown by running for 171 yards and three touchdowns on just 13 carries, he’s also dangerous with his feet. Just check the stats. As a sophomore he had a run of 64 yards. Last year he had a long of 78 yards and on Saturday he had a touchdown run of 75. The "throwing QB?" Yup, and a pretty fair "running QB." 2) It was painful to see wide receiver Paxton Scott in uniform for his senior day but unable to play because of the foot injury that kept him out the final four games of his terrific career. But to Dartmouth’s credit, the Big Green’s pass catchers picked up t...

  BGA (Nov. 23) – Taking possession at its own 25 with a little over six minutes remaining in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Brown, Dartmouth was in position to close the opening half with a time-consuming scoring drive, and then make it back-to-back touchdowns after receiving the second-half kickoff. Except  that the Bears seemed to have foiled any chance to pull off the classic double by getting a defensive stop and following with a six-play, 61-yard scoring drive of their own to make it 14-14 with just 55 seconds left in the half. With championship hopes on the line, avoiding a mistake in their own end after receiving the ensuing kickoff would be the call for a lot of coaches. But not for Sammy McCorkle. Not on this day. “I want our players to know we have confidence in them and that we know they can do it,” the Big Green’s second-year coach said. “I told them before the game we were going to be aggressive and that we believe they can get the yards whe...