Penn starts the Ivy League season this weekend with Dartmouth -- the team with arguably the most interesting uniforms in the league and the most recent changes.

As recently as 2001, the Big Green wore this.
I know it's hard to see, but you can see the following attributes -- sleeve stripes, white pants, black socks, "normal" varsity block numerals.

in 2002, it was the same design, which was made by Wilson.

In 2003, the Big Green switched to Reebok, with this at home, and this on the road in 2004.The big difference is the addition of black, which when it's paired with green together, looks awful.

Then, under new coach Buddy Teevens, Dartmouth switched to Nike in 2005, and all green look. Here's a front view.

The road jerseys, which Penn will see tomorrow, look much better, as you can see here. I'm not a huge fan of green-on-green, and this uniform look, while it's a standard Nike template, does have unique numerals, which I like.

You may have noticed that I've ignored the most obvious feature of Dartmouth's uniforms -- the helmet.

Here's a good look at it. Dartmouth's media guide from a couple years ago has an explanation of their helmet, which was created by one of their coaches (I can't remember which one, because I obviously forgot my copy of the page), in order to be unique. It certainly is, with the logo up front. I can only think of one other team -- the Wisconsin throwback uniforms from a year ago that have something like that. It's a nice touch.

Now, according to the media guide, Teevens got rid of that helmet his first time at Dartmouth, starting in 1987, in order to try to revitalize a struggling program. When he left in 1992, John Lyons brought back the old-school helmet, which Teevens left in place this time.

He may not have turned around the football team yet, but at least Teevens has the uniform going in the right direction.

Four Ivy League teams are receiving votes in this week's Sports Network Top 25 poll.

No. 22 Harvard (432 points), obvious choice. Best running back in the country, second best offense and a convincing win at Brown.

Princeton (50 points), right where they should be after two wins over quality Patriot League opponents.

Penn (8 points), I can even see this one, despite a loss to Villanova last week. Solid road win at then-ranked Lafayette.

But Columbia (8 points)? No way this team should be tied in the poll with the Quakers. A home win over Fordham and a squeaker over Georgetown aren't any reason to receive Top 25 votes. We'll see how many votes the Lions have after Princeton comes into town this week.

VILLA NOVA OUTCLASSED

So read the headline of The Pennsylvanian, the predecessor of today's Daily Pennsylvanian on Monday, Oct. 16, 1911, two days after Penn beat Villanova for the last time.

In case you missed that issue or couldn't spring for the three cents, here are some snippets from the recap.

Villa Nova could offer little resistance to the Varsity attack Saturday afternoon and the 22-0 score is hardly a fair comparison of the strength between the two teams. Had the first string backs been permitted to remain in the game, the total probably would have been doubled...

The rest of the backfield were in improved form. Mercer and Harrington are certain regulars and Barr is gaining experiences that ought to insure him his place. He handled his end of the forward pass in masterly fashion and aided greatly in the interference. He got punts off a trifle slowly...

The line played better than at any time and had little trouble with the visiting forwards...

The final count came in the last period when Barr caught a short unt on the thirty-yard line and eluded four tacklers before he was finally brought to earth behind the goal line. The punt-out was fumbled.

Here's what I gathered from it all:

Penn scored four five-point touchdowns for 20 points and was successfull on two of its four attempts at "goals" after the touchdowns. The punt-out was presumably part of the goal try.

The offense lined up as follows against the interference: A center, two guards, two tackles and two ends, a quarterback, a left halfback, right halfback and fullback. Not all that different from 2006.

It was not the style of the times to use a first name in referencing a player, even on first mention in the article. Nor was it the style for the author to have his byline atop the story.

And on a related note: The DP has certainly bucked the trends by increasing in size and decreasing in cost over the years. Three cents has become no cents, and that four-page paper has become 18 pages on slow news days and 10 on busy days.

Lastly, attempts to reach Scotty Williams for his recollections on that 1911 game were unsuccessful.