The Dartmouth 10/15/18

10.15.18

Examining the unexpected rise of Dartmouth football p. 4-5 Sticking to Sports: Saturday in October p. 6 Griffith’s Got Stats: Looking at the college football playoff picture p. 7 Women’s volleyball seeks to rebound after several injuries left the young team without many key players p. 8

The Weekend Roundup p. 2-3 SERGIO CARVALLO/THE DARTMOUTH

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

The weekend Roundup

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018

FIELD HOCKEY

COMPILED BY MARK CUI, CAITlYN MCGOVERN & LILI STERN

Volleyball

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The Big Green fell to Yale University 4-3 and Northeastern University 5-1 at home this past week.

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Dartmouth volleyball went 1-1 in the Ivy League over the past week.

In their final games of the first round of Ivy League play, the Dartmouth volleyball team went 1-1 on the road — falling to Yale University but defeating Brown University — giving the Big Green a 3-4 Ivy and 7-10 overall record heading into round two.

The Big Green started their away stand at Yale (11-4, 5-1 Ivy) on Friday, losing all three sets 19-25 to the formidable Ivy League defending champions. Despite playing the Bulldogs evenly for the first half of the second set and even earning a five point lead early in the second set, the Big Green could not sustain their early success and dropped both of these sets. In the third set, the Bulldogs jumped ahead early and the Big Green could never quite recover. Elise Petit ’21 and Corinne Cox ’20 led the Big Green’s offensive efforts with eight kills and 13 assists, respectively, and Zoe Leonard ’19, Tola Akinwumi ’21 and Francesca Meldrum ’22 held down the defense, with Leonard racking up 10 digs

and Akinwumi and Meldrum contributing three blocks apiece.

On Saturday, the Big Green traveled to Providence to face the Brown University Bears (8-9, 1-6 Ivy) and beat them 3-1 (25-20, 25-19, 28-30, 25-19), bookending the first round of Ivy League play with a win. After a back-and-forth opening set, the Big Green pulled away with a 7-3 run to close. In the second set, Dartmouth opened with a 5-1 run, and then didn’t relinquish the lead for the rest of the set. The third set, however, was much closer, with even play throughout until the Bears got the two point advantage necessary to close the set. With a 2-1 match lead, the Big Green fell to a 1-5 deficit to open the fourth set, but battled back with a 9-1 run to take a 12-8 lead shortly after. The Big Green dominated the rest of the match, and finished off the Bears in the fourth set.

Dartmouth will seek its second victory over Harvard University next weekend in Cambridge.

Zachary ZacharyBenjamin Benjamin’19 ’19 Editor-in-Chief Editor-in-Chief

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Despite out-shooting Yale University (6-6, 2-2 Ivy) 25-9, the Dartmouth field hockey team (4-7, 1-3 Ivy) fell to the Bulldogs 4-3 at home on Saturday. The Bulldogs opened the game with two goals in the first four minutes after a flat start by the Big Green, leaving the green and white to battle back from an early deficit.

A goal from Gemma Bautista ’19 in the 13th minute and another from Gracyn Campbell ’22 evened the score in the 26th minute. Just three minutes later, however, the Bulldogs took a 3-2 lead heading into intermission. The second-half scoring all came in the final 10 minutes of the match. Yale took a 4-2 lead with a goal in the 61st minute, followed by a quick answer from Katie Spanos ’20 to bring the Big Green within one with just over seven minutes to play. Despite four penalty corners in the final minutes of play, the Big Green could not convert and fell to the

Bulldogs in a back-and-forth contest.

On Sunday, the Big Green fell 5-1 at home to the Northeastern University Huskies (6-8) in a nonconference matchup. Despite 10 saves from goalie Hailey Valerio ’19, the Big Green could not control the aggressive Husky offense.

The Huskies got off 15 shots on goal to the Big Green’s four, and five of them netted. The Huskies blanked the Big Green in the first half, 3-0, and tacked on two more goals after the intermission. A goal from Kira Koehler ’21, assisted by Lia Constantine ’21, put the Big Green on the board in the 53rd minute, but the Huskies answered with less than five minutes to play to round out their 5-1 victory.

The Big Green will take on Columbia University and University of Massachusetts Lowell on the road next weekend seeking to end their four-game slide.

Equestrian On Saturday, the Dartmouth equestrian team participated in its second show of the season in Vermont. The team placed third out of 11 teams, with first and second claimed by the University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire, respectively.

It was a team effort for the impressive overall finish,

with some notable performances including Olivia Champ 19’s first place finish in Open Fences, Sabrina Jain’s 22’s first place finish in Novice Flat and Sophia Kocher ’21’s first place finish in Novice Flat. With the win, Kocher continues a streak of undefeated performances.

Cross country Friday morning, the Dartmouth men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at Pennsylvania State University’s National Open.

Both teams finished in the top half, with the men’s squad finishing ninth of 21 competing teams and the women finishing fifth of 28.

The men’s team scored 245 points, finishing just ahead of the hosting Nittany Lions. Five Big Green runners scored, led by Pat O’Brien ’21, who placed 30th out of 206 runners with a time of 25:40. Quinn Cooney ’20 finished just two seconds later to earn 33rd place. Marco Pompilj ’19 (58th, 26:01), Owen Ritz ’21 (60th, 26:03) and Henry Raymond ’20 (64th, 26:05) rounded out the Big Green’s scoring for the day. The University of Virginia took first place in the 5.2 mile race.

The women’s team posted 186 points en route to a top-quarter finish. The Big Green ran a tight race, with the top three placing runners finishing within two seconds of one another. Georgia Fear ’20 led the Green and White with a 23rd- place outing, finishing in 21:11. Lauren Sapone ’20 came in right on her heels, also in 21:11, but was granted 26th place. Julia Stevenson ’20 finished two seconds later, placing 30th with a final time of 21:13.

Lillian Anderson ’19 (53rd, 21:30) and Olivia Lantz ’19 (54th, 21:31) were the Big Green’s final scoring runners. The hosting Nittany Lions won the 6K race with a 62-point showing.

Both teams will compete next weekend at Central Connecticut State University’s Short course meet on Friday.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

M SOCCER

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W SOCCEr

DANNY KIM/THE DARTMOUTH

The men’s soccer team defeated UPenn 3-1 on Saturday, and will host Lehigh University its next game.

This past Saturday, the men’s soccer team took on the University of Pennsylvania at Burnham Field with 716 total in attendance. Tiger Graham ’21 opened up scoring for the Big Green with his third goal of the season at 22:47, assisted by Dawson McCartney ’21. Off of an assist from Noah Paravicini ’19, Graham tallied his fourth goal of the season later

on in the game at 56:00. Kota Sakurai ’21 scored his first goal of the season and the Big Green’s last goal of the game at 65:03 with the help of Jonny Nierenberg ’18. UPenn scored a penalty kick goal in the final minutes of the game, but Dartmouth came away with a 3-1 win. The team will host Lehigh University next on Tuesday, October 16 at 6 p.m.

W ROWING On Saturday, the women’s rowing team traveled to Hadley, Massachusetts, to open its season and compete in three of the races at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Hadley Chase. The team took the top six spots in the 2s, and finished in second, eighth and ninth in the 4. The Big Green took home

first place in the 8 with a time of 15:46.3 compared to second place Marist’s 16:03.3. The team also competed with other boats in the race, which placed fourth and sixth respectively. Next weekend, the team will travel to Boston to compete in the Head of the Charles.

M TENNIS

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The women’s soccer team fell to UPenn 1-0 after a hard-fought match.

On Saturday, the Dartmouth women’s soccer team fell to the University of Pennsylvania 1-0.

The two teams came in tied for first place in the Ivy League, but the loss left Penn on top and dropped the Big Green’s overall record to 7-4-2 and Ivy conference record to 2-1-1.

After a scoreless first half, the Quakers scored six minutes into the second half after a header

by Megan Lloyd off of a corner kick. The Big Green out-shot

Penn in both total shots and shots on goal with 14 to 11 and seven to five respectively, but the team was unable to find the back of the net.

The team will only have two days to rest before hosting its next opponent, Marist College. This will be its final non-conference game, as the Big Green will then face Columbia University, Harvard University and Cornell University in the following weeks to close out the season.

Sailing Over the weekend, the sailing team competed in three events, including the Captain Hurst Bowl at home and two women’s showcases

at Brown University and Colby College. The results for the races were not available at the time of publication.

RUGBY TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH

The men’s tennis team participated in the ITA Northeast Regional Championship in Princeton, NJ.

The men’s tennis team competed from Thursday through Sunday in the ITA Northeast Regional Championship in Princeton, New Jersey. John Speicher ’21 and Sid Chari ’22 went undefeated in the qualifying round on Thursday. The team carried their momentum forward on Friday, winning every single one of their matches once again for a 6-0 record.

On the third day of the tournament, the team walked away undefeated in the round of 32 doubles, while also tallying five wins in the round of 64 singles and one win in the round of 16 doubles.

The team will be competing next in the Dartmouth Invitational this upcoming Friday to Sunday.

On Saturday, Dartmouth women’s rugby finished the regular season with a victory over No. 4 Army West Point 26-20. The win was the team’s closest match of the season, giving the team an overall record of 6-0. The Big Green raced off to a quick start, leading the home team 19-0 with 14 minutes left in the half. Ale Ada ’22 was the star of the first half, recording her first double-digit performance after scoring on the Big Green’s first and third tries. While the

Big Green scored again near the start of the second half to maintain its lead at 26-5, the home team scored on three consecutive tries to cut the lead down to five. However, time ran out before they had another shot, giving the Big Green the close win.

On Oct. 27, Dartmouth will host the Ivy Championship at Brophy Field, and will look to defend its title after winning the championship title the past three years.

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018

Examining the unexpected The team has shot off to a dominant start with

B y addison dick an The Dar

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The team has averaged 38 points a game on offense — 13th highest in the Football Championship Subdivision — while only allowing 249 yards per game — fourth best in the nation.

After being picked in most preseason polls to finish in the bottom half of the Ivy League standings, the Dartmouth football team has shot off to a dominant start with a 5-0 overall record and 2-0 Ivy League conference record, demonstrated most recently by a 41-18 bludgeoning of defending conference champions and preseason favorites Yale University in New Haven last Saturday and a 42-0 shutout of Sacred Heart University at home on Saturday. The performances by the Big Green so far have been textbook examples of offensive and defensive power.

Under the leadership of head football coach Buddy Teevens ‘79, the team has averaged 38 points a game on offense—13th highest in the Football Championship Subdivision—while the 249 yards allowed per game on defense puts them fourth in the country among the teams at their level. Since the disappointing 2016 campaign, where the team went 4-6 on the year and 1-6 in conference, the Big Green has gone 13-2, and the reasons behind this start go beyond simple statistics.

Overview When asked why he felt this year had been such a success so far, Coach Teevens found a simple answer.

“There’s just great cohesion,” Teevens responded. “The guys get along together well, and there is a very clear feeling of a common goal.”

Rather than a few individuals being integral to the team’s performance, Teevens could run off the names of more than 20 players on the team that he felt had been

contributors to the team’s success.

Linebacker and defensive captain Jack Traynor ’19 believes the offensive line has excelled and allows the defense to thrive.

“It’s tough to single out anyone on the offensive line, but their play has been dominant this year,” Traynor said. “I think it’s going to be a key cog of our success going forward if they’re able to keep their success up there.”

Traynor also notes the quarterback play is consistent and impressive. “[Derek Kyler ’21 and Jared Gerbino ’20] have done a great job filling in and managing the game from the quarterback position,” he said.

Left tackle Matt Kaskey ’19 was quick to point out the significance of the coaching staff as well.

“These guys are working 100-hour weeks every week over the season to make things happen,” Kaskey said.

Kaskey also found this dedication to the team and to each other to be the key factor. “[Despite the four game improvement last year], we won a lot of games by the skin of our teeth and on last second drives, and lost to Harvard and Columbia, so we knew we weren’t there yet,” Kaskey said.

The team pressed on to work even harder in the offseason—a mentality which they’d doubled on after the 2016 campaign — a year that Kaskey described as simply “a bad time to be a Dartmouth football player.”

Kaskey, a preseason FCS All-American selection, added that this team seems to be more dedicated.

“I kind of think that what the difference has been this year, and what has made us so

good, is what we put into it, and we care a lot more than we did two years ago,” Kaskey said. “I think that’s really shown in how hard guys are playing on the field and the success we’ve had with things.”

Offense It is perhaps the result of this unified goal that the team has been able to adapt to the challenges they have faced so far. Teevens described preparing for games as having more of an “evolutionary process” than any kind of hard-set system.

“You go into things with some definitive thoughts, and morph them into what your offense can do,” Teevens said.

Dartmouth has had a particularly deep team this year, with few injuries and the ability to play multiple players at each position. The coach thinks this stems from the team’s style of practicing, which has famously eliminated the use of contact in practice and focuses on the use of remote controlled dummies, called “MVPs” or “mobile workout players.”

“The elimination of contact allows us to be faster on gameday, and keep a standard of being very efficient and technically sound,” Teevens said.

With the results that the team is producing and the standards of the defense, it is difficult to find an argument against the approach.

One example of this adaptation is the quarterback system the Big Green has been running so far this year. After losing expected starting quarterback Gerbino for the first games of the season, Kyler stepped in,

leading the Big Green to its initial victories. In the most recent game against Yale, however, Gerbino was in most of the action, with 169 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Teevens described this as an example of the adapting the team has done, noting that “you take advantage of the skillsets people have.” Now that both quarterbacks are in the mix, the team has the increased ability to adapt their offensive approach to their opponents.

“Adjusting in the course of the ball game, and having multiple running backs and wide receivers, and multiple quarterbacks, is tough to defend,” Teevens said. “The key is keeping a balance and keeping them off balance.”

Kyler, in his first season as Dartmouth’s starting quarterback, expects to succeed in the role.

“I personally expect a lot out of myself. I just need to keep being smart with the ball and not having any turnovers,” Kyler said.

He also wants to become a leader of the team.

“I find that you have to earn leadership,” Kyler said. “You can’t just go and say whatever you want to anyone, so I feel I have a couple games under my belt, but I’m still not top dog of our system. We have our captains, so I feel like I’m a leader for example of what I do. I’m vocalizing myself more and more as time progresses.”

Defense While the Big Green have boasted a devastating offense so far, their defense has been equally important. Traynor is thrilled with the defense’s start.

THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018

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rise of Dartmouth football

a 5-0 overall record and 2-0 Ivy League record.

nd ANDREW WRIGHT tmouth

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

Dartmouth has had a particularly deep team this year, with few injuries and the ability to play multiple players at each position.

“Obviously, being 5-0 is the best you can hope for at this stage,” he said. “I think we’re really coming together in terms of team chemistry and everybody really feeling good about where they are right now.”

The team has allowed only 9.2 points and 233 yards per game on average so far, fitting with the team football philosophy promoted

by Teevens, which focuses on “dominating on the time of possession, and getting the defense on and off the field quickly.”

Traynor attributes the dominance of the defense to the experience of the unit.

“We’ve had a lot of guys who have taken a lot of snaps before this year and seen a lot of stuff in game situations,” he said.

Eight of Dartmouth’s 11 defensive starters are seniors or 5th-year players. Traynor also notes how impressive the defensive line has been so far.

“We have a bunch of talent and experience up there, and that makes the job easier on everyone else involved,” Traynor said.

Traynor believes the defense is playing well as a unit.

“When anyone needs to step up, they make a play,” Traynor said. “I’ve been impressed with everyone’s readiness to step in there and perform on the defensive side.”

Kyler highlights how the defense’s success is helping the offense.

“They’re getting other offenses off the field immediately, which is why our time of possession is so long,” he said.

The Big Green is averaging 10 more minutes in time of possession than opponents.

Following the shutout of Sacred Heart in the final non-conference game of the season, the team is looking forward to the final five

Ivy League battles.

“Our goal is to obviously win the Ivy League Championship,” Traynor says. “We have the experience, we have the talent everywhere. Now it’s just maintaining the level of focus and intensity because every team on our schedule is capable of really doing some damage.”

One of the most important keys to continuing the defense’s success is to take things one game at a time.

“If you look ahead, that’s where you can run into some issues, so we’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” Traynor said.

Traynor is feeling good about where the team is at and is excited for the second half of the season.

“Everyone really feels confident in everyone else’s ability to do their job on any given play,” he said. “There’s a lot of trust in each other right now.”

On the whole, there would appear to be very little weaknesses in the Big Green; the offense is high-powered and versatile, the defense is akin to a brick wall and the players and coaches themselves are at the top of their game. So where does the motivation come from? According to Teevens, “there was not a lot of expectation or respect for us.”

Dartmouth was sixth in the preseason Ivy League poll, despite the 8-2 finish the year before. Kaskey echoed this, mentioning that a current sore point was that while Dartmouth received three points in the FCS poll before the Yale game, they dropped to none in the most recent one, while Princeton is No. 23.

Kaskey describes the dedication that came about in the offseason after the 2016 season

as the initial spark for this success, which is still continuing to pay off.

Traynor sees similarities between the current team and one-loss Ivy League champion 2015 squad.

“We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of snaps and a lot of experienced guys,” Traynor said. “There’s a lot of talent on every team that we’re going to play this year, but hopefully the experience that we’ve gained through the snaps we’ve had before this year will allow us to be successful in those high pressure situations.”

He also feels that the victory over Yale will be valuable for the team moving forward.

“To come into their place and hopefully set the tone like we did gives us a lot of confidence going forward,” he said. “We just have to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep taking it week-by-week. We feel that we should be able to compete and win every game we play if we come out with the right effort and intensity.”

Kyler echoed a similar sentiment regarding the win over Yale.

“We knew that Yale was going to be wanting to beat us after what happened last year,” he said. “We knew we had that chip on our shoulder to them, and so we just brought a lot of energy before the game.”

Kyler, like many, also has high hopes for the rest of the season.

“My only goal is to win the Ivy League, and to do it going 10-0,” he said.

He believes this team has what it takes to accomplish this task and hopes that the team will not get distracted.

“I think a lot of teams, when they’re doing as well as we are, would relax, but I think

that’s opposite of what our team is doing,” Kyler said. “I think we are staying on the gas pedal and we feel like we’re not going to stop, especially after we felt like we should have won the Ivy League last year and we let a couple games slip. If we play at our best, nobody in the Ivy League can beat us.”

The idea of already looking ahead to the game at Princeton on Nov. 3 is appealing particularly after the team’s 42-0 demolition of Sacred Heart University at home Saturday night. However, Teevens and his players are trying to keep things on the here and now.

“In order to get to the ‘what ifs,’ you’ve got to get through the ‘here nows,’” Teevens said, noting that the next three teams on the schedule — Columbia, Harvard and Princeton — were all picked to finish ahead of the Big Green in Ivy League competition.

“We’ve had some success early, obviously, but you need to control the emotional peaks and valleys,” Teevens said.

Despite the complexity of the sport and the adaptations necessary in order to be successful, the coach felt that in the end, what really matters is to “go out and play solid football from the very first snap.” In the end, Kaskey finds the outcome of all of the hard work the Big Green team has put in to be worthwhile.

“Being on a winning team is so fun,” Kaskey said. “Practice is better, games are more fun, everyone is just happy around the team. I’m just having a great time in my last season at Dartmouth, and I’m just hoping we can bring back this last title, but it’s gonna take a lot of work.”

If things keep going as they have been, hopefully that hard work will pay off.

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Sticking to Sports with Sam Stockton ’19

Sticking to Sports: Saturday in October At the tail end of a sunny fall afternoon in Eugene, the Oregon Ducks executed a seldom seen play, the old fashion double ice.

As regulation waned, first-year Ducks’ coach Mario Cristobal called not one but two timeouts in an attempt to freeze University of Washington kicker Peyton Henry.

Henry, in whom Washington coach Chris Peterson had just enough faith to try from 37 yards with seconds to go in a tie game, entered the game seven for 10 on the season with a long of just 31 yards. After Cristobal signaled for the first timeout and the referees whistled the play dead, Washington proceeded with the snap, hold and kick. Whether they legitimately could not hear the whistle due to the din of the Autzen Stadium crowd or just wanted a practice attempt (as any kicking unit getting “iced” ought to) is indeterminable.

Henry missed his practice try at the field goal. As he lined up

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THE DARTMOUTH SPORTS WEEKLY

for his second chance, Cristobal happens every year. There isn’t any called his final timeout. Again, way to know the right answer, but Washington executed snap, hold it makes for an awfully fun debate. and kick after the whistle. On his In late September, Oregon did second practice attempt, Henry something else we hardly see in converted. One-for-two on dress college football; they physically rehearsals, Henry lined up for his dominated David Shaw’s Stanford third go-round, this time knowing team. We expect to see Stanford with relative certainty that it would play football in a phone booth, be the attempt of record. The kick packing their line together with wobbled wide right, and the game narrow splits and running it wore on into overtime. straight ahead. And yet the Ducks To his credit, Henry made his dominated the line of scrimmage only kick of the extra session, albeit on both sides of the ball. Perhaps from 22 yards. However, it wasn’t it shouldn’t be a surprise given enough. On the drive ensuing that Cristobal came to Eugene Henry’s successful try, Justin by way of Alabama, where he Herbert, an early favorite among coached Nick Saban’s perennially scouts to hear his name called first dominant offensive line. If there is at this spring’s a coach in the NFL Draft, led country who the Ducks to a “All of this is a longk n ow s wh at g a m e - w i n n i n g winded way of an elite line t o u ch d ow n , a looks like, it saying that there six-yard run from is Cristobal. is something funny C.J. Verdell.

While they All of this is about college football, dominated, a long-winded the Ducks lost a sport whose playway of saying t wo c r i t i c a l t h a t t h e r e i s off format mandates fumbles— something funny one of which a thoroughly about college was returned football, a sport unscientific, transitive e i g h t y whose play-off analysis of its ya rd s fo r a format mandates touchdown— a t h o r o u g h l y contenders’ respective and, with u n s c i e n t i f i c , resumes.” them, the transitive game. Anyone analysis of its who watched contenders’ respective resumes. would say that the Ducks, despite Well, Ohio State beat Oklahoma, losing, looked like the best team but they lost twice. ’Bama lost to in the Pac-12, and Stanford Auburn but “passed the eye test” appeared flawed and solidly outside and has an unparalleled pedigree championship consideration. as far as recent history goes.

All the same, when the Cardinal Georgia lost to Auburn in the headed to South Bend, Indiana to regular season, but they beat them take on Notre Dame the following to win the SEC Championship. It week, they boasted the nation’s

No. 7 ranking. Notre Dame hammered Stanford, and unlike with Oregon, their ostensible dominance appeared on the scoreboard. The Irish earned what will appear on paper, and quite loudly in Irish fans’ discussions of their team’s résumé come late November, a win over a top-10 team.

In the early going, the Ducks ended up with a result that felt worse than they deserved, yet they went on to salvage a win, benefiting from a missed kick you probably expect to be made more often than not. Meanwhile, Stanford benefited from a few fortuitously timed fumbles against Oregon, artificially boosting their own ranking and incidentally strengthening Notre Dame’s postseason chances.

No other sport can match college football’s chaos. In the early season, I laughed to see some talking heads claim that the season would be a bore, that Alabama, Georgia, Clemson and Ohio State were on a crash course for the playoff. I honestly cannot imagine anyone who has ever followed a season in college football thinking that. It never ends up that simple.

For reference, three teams in the top 10 lost this week, including No.2 Georgia. What we have, unofficially, is a bizarre doubleelimination tournament. If you are a Power Five team and win your conference, you will probably end up in the playoffs but it isn’t guaranteed. If you run the table, you will probably end up in but you might not get the bid—sorry, UCF. If you lose two games, you probably won’t get in, but you just might. It is a sport of startlingly

few certainties.

The other lesson here is that it simply isn’t worth it to get worked up over the early season rankings.

We know that what we see now will change radically, and with roughly half a season still to play, we do not know exactly which teams will end up playoff contenders as the season draws to a close. It is remarkably easy to take a look at an early October edition of the Associated Press poll and lose your mind that your team slots in behind Wisconsin, when the Badgers lost at home to BYU and you lost to somebody with playoff aspirations.

However, I’d urge you to resist this temptation and actually take a few minutes to come up with your own top 25 poll. I’m confident by the time you get to about 13, you’ll be struggling to provide any semblance of cogency behind your rankings. I pity anyone who watches enough football to say confidently that Colorado would beat NC State on a neutral field, or say it with any evidence to support that claim.

By the time conference championship games are played, the picture will likely remain rather muddy. Like everyone else, I’d rather college football not limit itself to four teams in its playoff.

And yet, the College Football Playoff committee will come up with four lucky winners with golden tickets to its two semi-finals. Fans of spurned teams and conferences, the tribalism of college football extending beyond school affiliation and into conference allegiance, will cry foul and some will rejoice in their good fortune. It isn’t perfect, but, for now, it’s the best we’ve got, so why not enjoy it?

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018

Griffith’s Got Stats with Evan Griffith ’18

Griffith’s Got Stats: Looking at the College Football Playoff Picture The college football playoff picture is slowly starting to take shape and some familiar faces are in the driver’s seat. With the season half over, teams are slowly starting to show if they have what it takes to win a national championship, or if the preseason hype was unfounded.

Starting with the Southeastern Conference, it’s Alabama’s world and everyone else is just living in it. With its 39-10 win over the University of Missouri on Saturday, the top-ranked University of Alabama is now the only undefeated team in the SEC and looks like the best team in the country.

The Crimson Tide have looked dominant throughout this season and have solidified their spot at the top after the other undefeated school, the No. 2 University of Georgia, was beaten by No. 13 Louisiana State University on Saturday 36-16. Both of those teams now have one loss; the latter lost to the University of Florida earlier in the year. Alabama’s toughest test will be a visit to LSU, who is riding high after its win against Georgia. The winner of that game will most likely represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship game. As of right now, it looks like the Crimson Tide will appear in the college football playoff for the fifth straight year. However, the team will have to monitor the health of quaterback Tua Tagovailoa, who left Saturday’s game with a knee injury.

The team with the next best shot to make the playoff at this moment are the Clemson University Tigers out of the Atlantic Coast Conference. I say that in part because unlike in the SEC, there aren’t that many contenders other than the Tigers. Other than Clemson and the undefeated North Carolina State University Wolfpack, every other team in the ACC has at least two losses. The University of Miami was ranked 16th before Saturday with their only loss against LSU, but after losing to the unranked University of Virginia 13-16 this past Saturday, the Hurricanes are most likely out of the playoff. NC State can make a case for the playoff if it beats Clemson next week, although the Wolfpack’s resume is somewhat

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lacking. This is in part due to a schools. The University of Notre cancellation of their match against Dame is another option to turn to. the University of West Virginia Notre Dame is undefeated and has because of Hurricane Florence; the left the difficult part of its schedule team’s best win is against Boston behind. The team has wins over College. If Clemson can beat NC Stanford and Virginia Tech College State and avoid any upsets they’ll of Engineering, and the toughest test be a lock for the tournament. ahead of them is arguably Syracuse In the Big Ten, the Ohio State University at a neutral site in Yankee University Buckeyes are undefeated Stadium. Notre Dame seems like and coming off a 30-14 win against a lock if they win out and go the University of Minnesota that undefeated, but the team struggled was closer than the score indicated. in a win against the University of Ohio State fared better than some Pittsburgh on Saturday. Notre Dame may have expected after head coach was held to only 80 rushing yards in Urban Meyer was suspended for the team’s 19-14 win. Quarterback the first three games of the season, Ian Book also threw two picks in this winning those game, but he three games. The “If Notre Dame makes was efficient, Big Ten title race completing 81 is most likely going the playoff, it will percent of his to come down to be their first time, passes. Head The Game against coach Brian and the first time an the University of Kelly said of Michigan, which independent school his team after is 6-1 on the season the game, “We has accomplished that and coming off obviously can’t a big home win feat.” play like this against the 15thweek-in and ranked University week-out and of Wisconsin. One team to keep an feel like we’re going to win every eye on is Michigan State University. game we play. But you’re going to The Spartans beat Pennsylvania have some of these, and you’ve got to State University 21-17, handing the — you’ve got to grow from them, and Nittany Lions their second loss and I really like our football team. They essentially knocking them out of will grow from this. They will learn the playoff race. The win also put from it and we’ll be better because the two-loss Spartans in contention of it.” If Notre Dame makes the for the Big Ten East title. Michigan playoff, it will be their first time, and State still has to face Ohio State and the first time an independent school Michigan in the Big Ten East, and has accomplished that feat. the team is likely to play spoiler for either of these two teams if they have aspirations for the playoff.

The other two power conferences don’t have as much hope after last weekend. The preseason favorites for the Pacific-12 title, the University of Washington and Stanford University, both have two losses. The team that just beat Washington, the 17thranked University of Oregon, has a nonconference resume that ranks last in the FBS, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index (wins over Bowling Green State University, Portland State University and San Jose State University). Even if the Ducks win the Pac-12, the team will have hard time convincing the selection committee to include them.

The University of Colorado was also undefeated going into Saturday, but lost to the University of Southern California and aren’t leading their division anymore.

The Big 12 is in a similar situation.

The last undefeated team in that conference was the University of West Virginia, but they were just upset by Iowa State University 14-30, ensuring that the Big 12 Championship winner will have at least one loss. If the other power conference favorites — Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State — remain undefeated, it’d be difficult for the selection committee to find reasons to put either the Pac-12 or Big 12 champion in the playoff.

That leaves the FBS independent

SW 7

SW 8

MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2018

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SPORTS

TODAY’S LINEUP

W SOCCER VS. MARIST 6:00 P.M.

Women’s volleyball seeks to rebound after several injuries left the young team without many key players impact. Francesca Meldrum ’22 currently leads the team with a .360 hitting percentage and 54 blocks.

The Dartmouth volleyball team has Nicole Liddle ’22 leads the team with had an up-and-down 2018 season so 122 kills and is fourth with 108 digs. “[Liddle] just got back from an far. The team has experienced some high peaks, including a thrilling five-set injury, but [when healthy], she’s been victory over Harvard University, but a steady presence for us all year long,” has had some lows as well, such as a Meldrum said.

Liddle is one of many key players tough road trip at Cornell University and Columbia University. Ultimately, to miss time, which has been a major the Big Green stand at 7-10 overall issue for Dartmouth this season.

Captain Zoe Leonard ’19 was one and 3-4 in Ivy League play.

Dartmouth is led by head coach of three starters who was injured Gilad Doron, who is in his third for Dartmouth’s New York road trip season as the team’s head coach. at Cornell and Columbia. Losing Leonard for that Doron noted that road trip was a while the team “We’ve seen tons big blow for the has certainly team because of had some huge of growth, but it’s her productivity successes this very challenging to and leadership on season, there’s the court. still a lot more get cohesiveness “Zoe is work to be done. and consistent great at keeping “We’ve seen tons of growth, improvement from the everyone calm on the court but it’s very team so far. We’re still and on top of challenging to very young.” eve r y t h i n g, ” get cohesiveness Meldrum said. and consistent Despite i m p rove m e n t -GILAD DORON, WOMEN’S missing time, from the team so Leonard still far,” Doron said. VOLLEYBALL HEAD COACH leads the team “We’re still very by far with 185 young.”

Doron’s point about the youth of digs as the team’s libero.

Without Leonard, Dartmouth the team is a big one. The team only has two seniors, but fortunately, the dropped its match at Columbia in four freshman class has had a monumental sets and was swept by the Big Red in

BY BAILY DEETER The Dartmouth

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The highlight for many team players was the close five-set victory over Harvard University earlier this season.

three sets.

On the flip side, Dartmouth has already picked up some critical Ivy League wins. The most notable was its five-set win over third-ranked Harvard, which was close throughout the match and came down to the last set, which Dartmouth won 17-15.

“The Harvard game had a great atmosphere and the team played with tons of emotion,” Doron said.

He commended the team for

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

The Dartmouth volleyball team has had an up-and-down 2018 season and is currently 7-10 overall and 3-4 in Ivy play.

fighting relentlessly throughout the game in spite of losing a starter to injury.

“It’s the first time in my two-anda-half years here that a team fought until the end and found a different way to win not just based on the scouting report,” he added.

Bella Hedley ’22, who leads the team with 15 service aces, sensed that winning the Harvard game was incredibly meaningful to her older teammates.

“A lot of upperclassmen were saying that was the most exciting game they’d ever experienced in all their years here,” Hedley said.

The Harvard victory was followed by the tough road trip in New York and a three-set home loss to Princeton University, but the Big Green have bounced back since.

They have won two of their last three matches, defeating the University of Pennsylvania at home in three straight sets, dropping the match against Yale University in three and knocking off Brown University in four sets. So far, the Big Green are 4-2 at home, with non-league wins over Siena College and Lafayette College in addition to victories against Harvard and Penn.

Doron attributes a lot of this homecourt success to the positive atmosphere at Leede Arena.

“In the game against Harvard, it was a great help to have the student section

standing and cheering and staying for the whole match,” Doron said.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season, four of Dartmouth’s final seven matches to round out Ivy League play are at home.

“If we can fill out the gym here a couple of times, we can have a great home-court advantage against any team we play,” Doron said.

With a lot of home matches on tap and key players back having returned from injury, the Big Green are equipped to finish the season strong.

“Our goal is to get better against every opponent every time,” Doron said. “If we get anywhere from six to seven wins or more [in Ivy League play], that would be a successful season.”

Hedley is specifically focused on getting revenge against the New York programs that handed the Big Green defeats earlier in the season.

“We know we can do much better against Cornell and Columbia,” she said. “Our goal is just to prove everyone wrong.”

Dartmouth’s next match is on Friday night at Harvard. Winning this game in Cambridge would be critical because, as Doron noted, it would be the first time Dartmouth ever swept Harvard in a season. Hopes are high for the second half of the season and for the next few years as the young Big Green continue to improve.