This Team Is a Ten

Rarely does a football team go so far to exact revenge for a tie. One year after a game-knotting Princeton field goal forced Dartmouth out of an Ivy title share, the Green came back and won 24 to nothing. "I think the single most important factor in our success this season was last year's loss to Princeton," Head Coach John Lyons said after this year's game.

Gee, thanks, Princeton.

With nine sacks and three interceptions—including a 70-yard touchdown-scoring snag by safety Lloyd Lee '98 at the end of the first half—Dartmouth not only shut down Princeton, it shut down the whole ballpark. The Dartmouth game was the last to be played in geriatric Palmer Stadium, which is to be replaced with a slightly smaller version.

With Princeton out of the way, Dartmouth could sit back and enjoy the numbers: Its 17-game unbeaten streak is the third-longest in nation. The ten-and-zip season is the best in the school's history. It's also perfect season. (The precedessors, 1925,1962, 1965 and 1970, played a shorter season; a tenth game was added to the schedule in 1980.) This is Dartmouth's 17th championship, confirming its dominance over the league (Yale, number two, has 12 titles. Harvard and Princeton have eight.) Quarterback Jon Aljancic '97 is the Winningest quarterback in Dartmouth history, with a record as a starter of 16-3-1.

The last undefeated, untied season was 1970, won by a squad that fans have long argued was the best in Dartmouth history. Is the '96 squad better? Expect the debate to last until the next perfect season.