It's that time of the year pledge term. Those selected to join certain Greek houses will now endure a term of discovering who they really are. Are you a dynamite pledge that fulfills every duty you are sent out to do without error? Are you a pledge who doesn't really think they need to fit in? Or are you a pledge who will rise out of the darkness and become the next star within your house?
Many on this campus have gone through pledge term. Some had very difficult pledge terms, and others just had a regular term that didn't really test the core of the person. It can be a trying time recent initiates have to figure out what their role will be amongst their class and house.
A certain group of men on this campus went through pledge term for a number of years. First clue: They never graduated from that status until this season. Second clue: The Ivy League was this team's pledge trainer. Third clue: Although the team has suffered some excruciating losses this season, this Big Green team can now call itself a legit member among the brotherhood of the Ancient Eight.
The correct answer: the Dartmouth football team. Prior to this season, the Big Green had been stomped on and chastised over and over again. The team was basically a pledge among the teams in the Ivy League. Every time they lost, it felt like the team had been bumped off table by a brother. And every time they got demolished, they were bumped off table and had to go to FoCo and get all the brothers a spicy russian with fries.
The tide has turned this season. Although I wouldn't exactly call the Dartmouth football team a brother in the Ivy League, we can come to an agreement that the team is not a pledge anymore. Let's settle on the team being a beginner or a novice. The team has yet to win an Ivy League game this year, but its performance thus far has elevated the team's status to a crisp, clean and fearless neophyte.
This past weekend the team kept up with Yale University throughout the whole game. Drive after drive, the offense and defense looked upbeat and ready to give the Bulldogs everything they had. Missed field goals by Yale kept the Big Green within reach, but as the old adage goes "third time's the charm." Well, it was the charm for Yale.
Watching that final drive by Yale sucked the life out of the crowd, much like when the person behind the grill at FoCo tells you they don't have any more chicken fillets even though you're starving and it is 12:58 a.m. Having to get chicken nuggets even though you wanted a russian is the equivalent of the Big Green settling for a hard fought loss rather than having a 3-1 record.
Save for the tying touchdown, which came via a punt return, the offense left a bit more to be desired in the fourth quarter. Dartmouth had the ball for less than four minutes in the last quarter, and in those four minutes we committed two turnovers. Yale ate up the clock and eventually won the game.
So how does the team step up from being a neophyte and enter the status of a brother? Play smart fourth quarter football.
We can all agree that the team has made vast improvements this season. The new offensive and defensive coordinators have established a new work ethic and game plan that has led the team to a couple victories and two gut-wrenching losses. Last season, the quarterback position had a ton of question marks surrounding it. This year, however, Conner Kempe '12 is leading the charge under center, and with six touchdown passes and over 750 passing yards, he will surely eclipse his stats from last season.
If we're going to talk about offensive MVP's in the Ivy League, it's pretty easy to make a case for Nick Schwieger '12. With an average of 138.7 rushing yards per-game and four touchdowns to his name, it's easy to see why the offense has improved so much. Now that offense has a sense of direction, the defense gets to collect itself on the sideline and play tough D on the gridiron.
To become a brother in the Ancient Eight, the Dartmouth football team must play smart football for four quarters. Mistakes will cause the team to either stay as a neophyte or become a pledge again. However, all is not lost if the Big Green becomes a pledge again, I want a buffalo chicken on Texas toast with a side of blue cheese.
