Patriot Games

Colgate has been chosen as the expected champion in the annual Patriot League preseason poll released this morning.

Columbia’s week four opponent Lafayette came in second.

Here’s the full list:

1. Colgate (6 first-place votes) 46
2. Lafayette (2) 36
3. Lehigh (3) 35
4. Holy Cross (1) 34
5. Bucknell 17
6. Georgetown 12


But WAIT! Where’s FORDHAM?!? Well, even though Fordham remains on every Patriot League team’s schedule the Rams are no longer official members of the league and cannot win the title. This is all because Fordham is now an athletic scholarship football program and the rest of the Patriot League did not want to go in that direction. Fordham is now looking to join another conference, and the smart money has them hooking up with the CAA in the coming years.

Fordham’s exclusion from the title hunt definitely seems fortunate for the rest of the teams in a league looking at a major graduation drain. Patriot power Holy Cross loses QB Dominic Randolph, Lafayette has just 10 starters returning, and Bucknell and Georgetown aren’t good enough to worry about total starters returning or otherwise.

IF Fordham had been allowed to stay in the title race this season, the Rams would have a good shot. They lose QB John Skelton but still have all their other key skill players back on offense.

That leaves a very talented Colgate team and the up-and-coming Lehigh as the only two real “on the up-swing” programs right now.

This poll has big significance for the Ivies. There will be a total of 17 games between Patriot and Ivy teams this season. Here’s the total inter-conference schedule below:


9/18: Georgetown at Yale 12pm

9/18: Fordham* at Columbia 12:30pm

9/18: Princeton at Lehigh 12:30pm

9/18: Dartmouth at Bucknell 1pm

9/18: Holy Cross at Harvard 7pm

9/18: Lafayette at Penn 7pm

9/25: Lafayette at Princeton 6pm

10/2: Harvard at Lafayette 12pm

10/2: Cornell at Bucknell 3:30pm

10/9: Lafayette at Columbia 12:30pm

10/9: Brown at Holy Cross 1pm

10/9: Colgate at Princeton 1pm

10/9: Penn at Bucknell 1pm

10/16: Fordham* at Yale 12pm

10/16: Lehigh at Harvard 12pm

10/16: Colgate at Cornell 12:30

10/16: Holy Cross at Dartmouth 1:30


(*=Fordham not eligible for the Patriot League title in 2010)


If you ask me, the REAL winner of this poll is… Dartmouth! Yes, Dartmouth wins because 1st place poll finisher Colgate is no longer on their schedule and it looks like this is going to be a rare down year for Holy Cross.


Honors for Gross

Linebacker Alex Gross has been given an honorable mention nod on the FCS Senior Scout Bowl All America team. Hopefully, they know something we don’t about the success of Alex’s recovery from a massive knee injury last season. Most Columbia fans know that even if Gross comes back to 80% as effective as he was before the injury, he could be a top player at his position.


New Dartmouth AD

The man who hired former defensive coordinator Aaron Kelton away from Columbia earlier this summer to be the head coach at Williams College is moving to Dartmouth as the Big Green’s new athletic director. I suggest reading more about Harry Sheehy at Bruce Wood’s Big Green Alert blog.