Perseverance Keeps Lehigh Perfect As Spectacular One-Handed Interception Seals 24-20 Win Over Dartmouth
Lehigh CB DJ Brown made the play of the day.
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Lehigh CB DJ Brown made the play of the day.
Lehigh football learned a great many lessons from Dartmouth on that day on what a very good FCS football team needs to do to win football games – control the offensive and defensive lines, play physical, have great execution on special teams, control the flow of the game, and minimize mistakes.
The green Powerade covered Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle after the Big Green pushed around Lehigh 34-17 Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
This was going to be a tough, physical matchup before the untimely death of Buddy Teevens. Adding the fire and emotion from the moment will add a layer of complication to Lehigh’s task this week as well.
Since I can’t do anything half-assed, here’s a detailed Lehigh fan’s guide to the Mountain Hawks’ 2023 non-conference opponents. There’s no easy win penciled in here, as you will see.
If these are the only two plans that are actively being considered by the Ivy League, it means that, effectively, all out-of-conference games involving Ivy League opponents are cancelled for the fall.
It’s somewhat serendipitous, according to John Feinstein of The Washington Post, that this week’s battle of undefeated teams between Dartmouth and Princeton came to be.
This week, two of the nation’s unbeaten teams play tricky challengers: one in prime time on Friday night, and the other takes on a rival in one of the marquee games of Saturday.
Last week’s battle of unbeatens ended up not much of a battle – 4-0 Dartmouth jumped all over Yale early and never looked back, crushing the Bulldogs 42-10 and established themselves every bit the frontrunners for the Ivy League title. As we sit and wait for the inevitable clash of titans between Dartmouth and Princeton later in the season, let’s take a look at this week’s games.
Call it “Conference Carnage Week”.
High-profile conference games ended upending conference championship races, and further cementing others on top of the standings.
After the Big Green took it to Penn last weekend on Friday night, Dartmouth returns home for Homecoming in a huge battle between undefeated teams as they take on Yale.
This week we see a primetime Ivy League matchup in actual prime time, as undefeated Dartmouth and undefeated Penn face off under Franklin Field’s lights.
The Ivy League had a hugely successful opening weekend, as many expected. As a whole the Ancient Eight went 6-2, the only losses coming from a missed two-point conversion attempt by Penn at Delaware, and a furious Harvard rally falling short to San Diego. This week the Ivy League seems poised to have another great week, and additionally league play is starting with two early-season conference tilts.
Finally the wait is over – the Ivy League awakens from their annual football slumber and rejoins the college football universe almost a full month after the rest of college football has started their season. Top 25-caliber powerhouses Princeton, Dartmouth and Yale finally will be able to prove where they stand in the national picture.
Last season was one for the ages in the Ivy League, with Princeton going 10-0. It was the fourth outright Ivy League title in Princeton history, and the first since 1995. It was also the program’s second 7-0 Ivy season since league play officially began in 1956, and the 13th 7-0 season in Ivy League history, and the first since 2014. 9-1 Dartmouth was a heartbreaking second place to the Tigers, their only loss a 14-9 instant classic at Princeton. This season, will it come down to another battle of unbeatens?
It was an epic battle of unbeatens when Dartmouth headed to play longtime rival Princeton in late October. The Big Green’s 14-9 loss in that game would be Dartmouth’s only blemish on the year – a terrific 9-1 season that unfortunately didn’t result in an Ivy League title.
The word that stands out after watching Princeton out-grind Dartmouth here at Princeton Stadium is “meat”. It was a game a lineman could love – a constant struggle in the trenches between offensive and defensive lines a day when the guys with the numerals in the 60s were the true stars. Sure, it would be.
When 7-0 Dartmouth faces off against 7-0 Princeton in New Jersey this weekend, it will be the latest day that two undefeated Ivy League teams have faced off since 2001. It’s unquestionably a huge game, filled with Lambert Cup implications (a trophy which is awarded to the best FCS teams in the East) and Ivy.
Towson QB Tom Flacco, North Dakota RB James Johanneson, VMI QB Reese Udinski, Dartmouth DL Rocco Di Leo, and North Dakota State WR/RS Darrius Shepard have been selected as the College Sports Journal FCS Football Players of the week ending October 22nd 2018. The honorees are listed here with their achievements and their school, position, class,.