Completed Event: Football at Fordham on October 18, 2025 , Win , 30, to, 13
Final
Football
at Fordham
30
13
Photo by: Tom McNeill (www.tommcneillphotography.com)
Big Green Picked for Second in the Ivy League
8/8/2019 10:00:00 AM | Football
Dartmouth has exceeded its predicted finish in nine of the last 10 years
HANOVER, N.H. — The Ivy League announced the results of its football preseason poll today with Dartmouth slotted exactly where it finished a year ago — in second place. For the second straight year, Yale earned the most first-place votes (9) and points (119) to be crowned the favorite for the title, with the Big Green right behind with 111 points and two votes for the top spot.
Last year's undefeated champion, Princeton, garnered third with 107 points and four votes to repeat. Both Harvard (fourth, 97 points) and Columbia (sixth, 61) collected a first-place vote apiece with Penn (fifth, 67) sandwiched between the two. Rounding out the poll were Cornell (29) and Brown (24).
Dartmouth has been slotted lower in the preseason poll than where it actually finished no less than nine times in the last decade, including the last two years when the Green took second place after being picked in the second division. Last season, the Big Green finished up with a 9-1 record and 6-1 mark in league play while ranking 15th in the final coaches' poll. But Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth's Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, has a similar reaction every year to the preseason poll, no matter where his team lands.
"There are really good teams throughout the Ivy League, and taking home the crown is a difficult challenge every year," Teevens said. "But when it all comes down to it, the only standings that matter to me come at the end of the season."
Earlier this week, Dartmouth was included among the others receiving votes in the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25 poll. The Big Green were the sixth team listed outside the top 25 with 149 points, while Princeton was the lone Ivy League team ahead of them, ranked 24th in the poll. Yale had 52 points, six places behind Dartmouth.
The Big Green have plenty of talent returning on both sides of the ball, including their quarterback tandem of senior Jared Gerbino and junior Derek Kyler. Gerbino, a second-team All-Ivy selection last year, led Dartmouth with 700 yards rushing (fifth in the Ancient Eight) and eight touchdowns while throwing for four other scores. Kyler, meanwhile, ranked second in the nation in completion percentage (68.9) and seventh in passing efficiency (155.54) while throwing for 1,362 yards, 13 touchdowns and a mere two interceptions.
The offense also has last year's third-leading rusher in senior Caylin Parker (291 yards, 3 TD, 5.8 yards per carry) as well as sophomore Zack Bair (8.4 yards on 20 carries) to provide an excellent tailback tandem. The quarterbacks will have three of the top four receivers running routes once again in a trio of seniors — WR Drew Estrada (27 rec., 273 yds., 1 TD), WR Hunter Hagdorn (22, 276, 3) and TE Connor Rempel (22, 253, 5). The big question mark for this team is up front after graduating four of the five starters on the line with the lone returner being fifth-year senior Zach Sammartino.
On the other side of the ball, Dartmouth has a pair of captains leading the way in first-team All-America CB Isiah Swann and two-time unanimous All-Ivy LB Jack Traynor. Swann led all of Division I in interceptions with nine as a junior last year and broke up nine more passes while racking up 39 tackles. Traynor, a fifth-year senior, was second on the team with 56 stops despite missing the final two games last season and always has his nose on the ball. And with a defensive line anchored by two All-Ivy League, fifth-year seniors in Jackson Perry and David Chalmers, along with two other starters in safety Ryan Roegge and junior CB DeWayne Terry Jr., the Big Green's defense could be as formidable as last year's that ranked second in scoring defense (12.0 ppg) in the FCS.
Dartmouth will open its season on Sept. 21 when it travels to Jacksonville to play the Dolphins for the first time ever at 1 p.m. The Big Green have won nine consecutive season openers and eight straight against first-time opponents dating back to the early 1950s.
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Last year's undefeated champion, Princeton, garnered third with 107 points and four votes to repeat. Both Harvard (fourth, 97 points) and Columbia (sixth, 61) collected a first-place vote apiece with Penn (fifth, 67) sandwiched between the two. Rounding out the poll were Cornell (29) and Brown (24).
Dartmouth has been slotted lower in the preseason poll than where it actually finished no less than nine times in the last decade, including the last two years when the Green took second place after being picked in the second division. Last season, the Big Green finished up with a 9-1 record and 6-1 mark in league play while ranking 15th in the final coaches' poll. But Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth's Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, has a similar reaction every year to the preseason poll, no matter where his team lands.
"There are really good teams throughout the Ivy League, and taking home the crown is a difficult challenge every year," Teevens said. "But when it all comes down to it, the only standings that matter to me come at the end of the season."
Earlier this week, Dartmouth was included among the others receiving votes in the STATS FCS Preseason Top 25 poll. The Big Green were the sixth team listed outside the top 25 with 149 points, while Princeton was the lone Ivy League team ahead of them, ranked 24th in the poll. Yale had 52 points, six places behind Dartmouth.
The Big Green have plenty of talent returning on both sides of the ball, including their quarterback tandem of senior Jared Gerbino and junior Derek Kyler. Gerbino, a second-team All-Ivy selection last year, led Dartmouth with 700 yards rushing (fifth in the Ancient Eight) and eight touchdowns while throwing for four other scores. Kyler, meanwhile, ranked second in the nation in completion percentage (68.9) and seventh in passing efficiency (155.54) while throwing for 1,362 yards, 13 touchdowns and a mere two interceptions.
The offense also has last year's third-leading rusher in senior Caylin Parker (291 yards, 3 TD, 5.8 yards per carry) as well as sophomore Zack Bair (8.4 yards on 20 carries) to provide an excellent tailback tandem. The quarterbacks will have three of the top four receivers running routes once again in a trio of seniors — WR Drew Estrada (27 rec., 273 yds., 1 TD), WR Hunter Hagdorn (22, 276, 3) and TE Connor Rempel (22, 253, 5). The big question mark for this team is up front after graduating four of the five starters on the line with the lone returner being fifth-year senior Zach Sammartino.
On the other side of the ball, Dartmouth has a pair of captains leading the way in first-team All-America CB Isiah Swann and two-time unanimous All-Ivy LB Jack Traynor. Swann led all of Division I in interceptions with nine as a junior last year and broke up nine more passes while racking up 39 tackles. Traynor, a fifth-year senior, was second on the team with 56 stops despite missing the final two games last season and always has his nose on the ball. And with a defensive line anchored by two All-Ivy League, fifth-year seniors in Jackson Perry and David Chalmers, along with two other starters in safety Ryan Roegge and junior CB DeWayne Terry Jr., the Big Green's defense could be as formidable as last year's that ranked second in scoring defense (12.0 ppg) in the FCS.
Dartmouth will open its season on Sept. 21 when it travels to Jacksonville to play the Dolphins for the first time ever at 1 p.m. The Big Green have won nine consecutive season openers and eight straight against first-time opponents dating back to the early 1950s.
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| 2019 Preseason Ivy League Football Media Poll | ||
|---|---|---|
| Place | Team (1st-place votes) | Points |
| 1. | Yale (9) | 119 |
| 2. | Dartmouth (2) | 111 |
| 3. | Princeton (4) | 107 |
| 4. | Harvard (1) | 93 |
| 5. | Penn | 67 |
| 6. | Columbia (1) | 61 |
| 7. | Cornell | 29 |
| 8. | Brown | 24 |
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