Dartmouth shares top spot

HANOVER — The Ivy League announced the results of its preseason football media poll today, and Dartmouth, finished where it has each of the last two seasons — tied for first. Both the Big Green and Harvard amassed 108 points to sit atop the poll while Princeton is not far behind in third place with 105 points.

This is the first time since Buddy Teevens returned to his alma mater in 2005 that Dartmouth has been picked to win the title. The Big Green has finished the season higher in the standings than it was picked in the preseason poll in 13 of his 16 campaigns, including 11 of the last 12 campaigns, most notably 2015, 2019 and 2021 when it shared the conference crown. Dartmouth has a total of 20 Ivy League titles to its credit, more than any other Ancient Eight team.

Harvard did edge out the Big Green for total first-place votes (8-4), while the Tigers collected the other four first-place picks. Following that top three is Yale (83) in fourth and Columbia (67) in fifth, two teams that tied for fourth when the 2021 season concluded. Penn got the edge for sixth (49) over Brown (29) and Cornell (27).

Dartmouth returns a number of players at the skill positions on offense, most notably its top three rushers and top six receivers from 2021. Senior quarterback Nick Howard was sixth nationally in rushing touchdowns (15) last year, tying a Big Green record that had stood for over 90 years, but is expected to be asked to throw the ball on a regular basis after splitting time behind center last year with Derek Kyler, who set several program records for passing accuracy. The big question mark will be up front on the offensive line with the lone returning starter being fifth-year senior right tackle Griff Lehman.

On the other side of the ball, the defense has only three returning starters (all seniors) in lineman Shane Cokes, linebacker Marques White and safety Quinten Arello. Dartmouth finished third in the FCS in scoring defense in 2021 when it returned one defensive starter.

Dartmouth opens the 2022 season on Sept. 17 at 1:30 p.m. when the Big Green faces Valparaiso at Memorial Field.

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