Editor's note: Yale crushed Dayton 42-6 on Saturday. For Dan Patrick and Dayton alumni everywhere, there's always next year.
The Dayton Flyers take on the Yale Bulldogs on Saturday in New Haven, Conn., and make no mistake about it: This is your college football game of the week.
This is a very big game. It's the Stone Phillips-Dan Patrick Bowl. And the gamesmanship has begun. When my Flyers arrived at the hotel on Friday to check in, prepare for the game and rest a bit, how do you think they were greeted? With the news that their rooms were not ready. It's the oldest trick in the book, but it won't be enough, trust me.
Yale is gunning to become the first college team in the country to have 800 victories, but that benchmark will have to wait. They'll have to get it against some Ivy League patsy because there won't be many happy Bulldogs on Saturday night.
You can throw out the records when Dayton mixes it up with Yale. The two schools have never met on a football field, so there are no records between the two. But if there were any records, I'd definitely throw them out. Just throw them right out.
And while I can't name a single Dayton player, I know the Flyers have a lot of good ones. That's what blind love and trust will do to you. I wear a lot of hats, and the loyal alumni beret is one of them.
Final score: WE WIN!!!!!
In the NFL, I am still on the Ravens' bandwagon. In fact, I am driving it. Anyway, Sunday's game against the Dolphins is not a great situation for a Raven win. They are on the road. Their opponent is coming off a road loss and a poor offensive job against a suspect Minnesota defense. And the Dolphins are retiring Dan Marino's jersey on Sunday. Emotions will run high in Miami, and it will be a tough situation for the Ravens.
Quarterback Tony Banks was supposed to be the team's Achilles' heel, but now the question is this: How good can he be? Credit coach Brian Billick for continuing to work offensive magic with his playbook in Baltimore after his great run as offensive coordinator in Minnesota.
Still, I predict an ugly win. There will be no year-end highlight plays and a lot of punts. My Ravens will grind out a victory in a game that I think will be heavy on intangibles due to the quality of the defenses -- maybe a defensive score or some big plays on special teams.
