We’re going to preview the Division I Conferences based on the lesser-known players of all the Division I teams. Let’s have some fun and give some attention to the players you likely don’t know or talk about too much, unless something goes wrong or you say, "Hey, look at that number."

Basically, we’re going to give you each team’s (we hope their starting) Long Snapper, Punter and #69. Then we’ll give you their longest road trip of the season, last conference title, playoff appearance, and a simple Yes or No if they have a new Head Coach. I’m sure I’ll question my choice for doing season previews this way this year, but I’m limited on time due to a myriad of factors. I’ll keep dreaming of being able to do this full time. Maybe one day. If you know of any sponsors, please let us know.

THE IVY LEAGUE

Fun thing about the Ivy League this year, they are finally in the FCS Playoffs. They’ll likely get one bid as a automatic qualifier and will have to determine a tiebreaker for their Conference title for the first time ever. Should be fun! Also, we will list the last bowl game here instead of last Playoff appearance if they have one. Finally, the Ivy League is notorious for not traveling much and I can’t wait to see their “longest” road trips.

Brown

• Where: Providence, RI

• Last Year's Record: 3-7 (2-5 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Michael Pedrotti (SO)

• Punter: Malcolm Flynn (SO), he made a tackle against Georgetown last year

• #69: Sam Brackney

• Longest Road Trip: 265.3 miles to Cornell

• Last Conference Title: 2008

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. The last bowl appearance was the 1915 Rose Bowl where they traveled six days by train, attempted to catch a bear for a mascot and to lose to Wazzu 14-0 in the 2nd ever Rose Bowl. (I linked a short from YouTube from our podcast talking about this situation)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Columbia

• Where: New York, NY

• Last Year's Record: 7-3 (5-2 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Aaron Yoo (SR), Thomas Browne (FR)

• Punter: Tommy Sleeman (SO)

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 266 miles to Dartmouth

• Last Conference Title: 2024 (co-champions with Harvard and Dartmouth), their first conference title since 1961!

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. Last bowl was 1934 Rose Bowl (beat Stanford 7-0) and 2 Claimed National Titles (1875, 1933)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Cornell

• Where: Ithaca, NY

• Last Year's Record: 4-6 (3-4 in conference)

• Longsnapper: John Maccarella (FR)

• Punter: Caden Lesiewicz (SO), Jonathan Roost (FR, Australian), Will Buck (FR, self-described “4th down QB”)

• #69: Kevin Ma

• Longest Road Trip: 299 miles to Dartmouth

• Last Conference Title: 1990

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. No bowl games either but they do claim 5 National Titles in (1915, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1939)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Dartmouth

• Where: Hanover, NH

• Last Year's Record: 8-2 (5-2 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Andy Belles (JR)

• Punter: Luke Armistead (SO)

• #69: Konstantin Spörk (SR, from Germany)

• Longest Road Trip: 359 miles to play Penn

• Last Conference Title: 2024 (co-champions with Columbia and Harvard) Dartmouth has won so many Conference championships, I see why our VP of Graphic Design Jordan is so obnoxious about them.

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A and No bowl games either but one claimed National Title in 1925.

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Harvard

• Where: Cambridge, MA

• Last Year's Record: 8-2 (5-2 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Jack Baade (FR), Jack Smith (FR)

• Punter: Brian Checkley (FR)

• #69: Ewan Newton (FR)

• Longest Road Trip: 1,254 miles to play Stetson University??? Havard? You’re going to Florida to play a Pioneer League team? What??

• Last Conference Title: 2024 (co-champions with Columbia and Dartmouth)

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. Last bowl was 1920 Rose Bowl (beat Oregon 7-6). 7 Claimed National Titles in (1890, 1898, 1899, 1910, 1912, 1913, 1919) and 5 Unclaimed National Titles in (1874, 1875, 1901, 1908, 1920)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Penn

• Where: Philadelphia, PA

• Last Year's Record: 4-6 (2-5 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Zach Darche (JR, primary last year), Matthew Leyes (SR, backup last year), Luke Castelli (FR)

• Punter: Christian de Villiers (JR, likely starter), Mason Walters (FR)

• #69: n/a

• Longest Road Trip: 318 miles to Easton, MA to play Stonehill

• Last Conference Title: 2016 (co-champions with Princeton)

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. Last bowl was 1916 Rose Bowl (lost to Oregon 14-0) and 7 Claimed National Titles (1894, 1895, 1897, 1904, 1907, 1908, 1924)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

A Toast to Dear Old Penn is where everyone throws toast onto the track at Franklin Field. Like the Tortillas in Lubbock with Texas Tech.

You may wonder how they pick up all that toast. Well, they have something called the Toast Zamboni.

Princeton

• Where: Princeton, NJ

• Last Year's Record: 3-7 (2-5 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Logan Rager (SR, missed 2024 and 2022 due to injury, played in every game in 2023), Luke Gnepper (SO, was 2024 team LS), Xavier Frank (FR)

• Punter: Brady Clark (JR)

• #69: Justice Musser (JR)

• Longest Road Trip: Dartmouth (Princeton plays University of San Diego and Mercer at home this year! not at the same time)

• Last Conference Title: 2021 (co-champions with Dartmouth)

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. Last “bowl” was the Legacy Bowl in Osaka, Japan (beat Kwansei Gakuin 36-7) and 28 Claimed National Titles (1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1878, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889, 1893, 1894, 1896, 1898, 1899, 1903, 1906, 1911, 1920, 1922, 1933, 1935, 1950)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Yale

• Where: New Haven, CT

• Last Year's Record: 7-3 (4-3 in conference)

• Longsnapper: Joey Fortner (JR)

• Punter: Shamus Florio (GR)

• #69: Quinton Lewis (JR)

• Longest Road Trip: 149 miles to Princeton

• Last Conference Title: 2023 (co-champions with Harvard and Dartmouth)

• Last Playoff Appearance: N/A. No bowl games but 27 Claimed National Championships (1872, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1879, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1905, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1927)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

THE PATRIOT LEAGUE

Bucknell

• Where: Lewisburg, PA

• Last Year's Record: 6-6, 4-2 in conference

• Longsnapper: Ryan Jedlicka (SR)

• Punter: Matt Shearer (SR)

• #69: Peter Lagemann (FR, DL)

• Longest Road Trip: 1,637 miles to play Air Force

• Last Conference Title: 1996

• Last Playoff Appearance: Never. But they did win the Inaugural Orange Bowl in 1935 over Miami 26-0.

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Colgate

• Where: Hamilton, NY

• Last Year's Record: 2-10, 1-5 in conference

• Longsnapper: Terry Mowrey (SR), William Dodds (FR)

• Punter: Carson Wilkie (SO, PK/P, rated as the #1 punter and kicker in Georgia for the class of 2024), Tyler Fontenot (SO, PK/P)

• #69: Philip Tabasso (SO, DL)

• Longest Road Trip: 368 miles for Georgetown

• Last Conference Title: 2018

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2018 - first round bye, second round win over JMU 23-20, quarterfinal loss to NDSU 0-35

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): Yes, Curt Fitzpatrick - former HC at SUNY-Cortland (DIII), won the Empire 8 Conference 4 seasons in a row (2021 to 2024)

Fordham #RAMILY

• Where: Bronx, NY

• Last Year's Record: 2-10, 2-4 in conference

• Longsnapper: Lachlan McIntyre (SO)

• Punter: Will Haslett (GR, First Team All-Patriot League)

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 352 miles to Richmond

• Last Conference Title: 2014

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2022 - first round loss to New Hampshire 52-42

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Georgetown

• Where: Washington, DC

• Last Year's Record: 5-6, 2-4 in conference

• Longsnapper: Bode Johnson (FR)

• Punter: Josh Leff (RS JR)

• #69: Natale Frangione (SR, DT, from Ottawa! Attended University of British Columbia his freshman year (2022 season))

• Longest Road Trip: 439 miles to Holy Cross

• Last Conference Title: 1998 - Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (DI), co-champions with Fairfield

• Last Playoff Appearance: Never, went to the Sun Bowl in 1950 (33-20 loss to Texas Western [now UTEP])

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Holy Cross

• Where: Boston, MA

• Last Year's Record: 6-6, 5-1 in conference

• Longsnapper: Caleb Schlater (FR)

• Punter: Alessandro Garrett (FR)

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 1,043 miles to Northern Illinois

• Last Conference Title: 2024 - co-champions with Lehigh

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2022 - first round bye, second round win over New Hampshire 35-19, quarterfinal loss to South Dakota State 42-21

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Lafayette

• Where: Easton, PA

• Last Year's Record: 6-6, 2-4 in conference

• Longsnapper: Dylan Aguilera (SR, All-Patriot League Second Team in 2024), Nick Covino (SO)

• Punter: James Spiegel (SO, P/K), Graham Smith (FR, K/P)

• #69: n/a

• Longest Road Trip: 2,858 miles to play Oregon State

• Last Conference Title: 2023 - co-champions with Holy Cross

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2023 - first round loss to Delaware 36-34, also 3 Claimed National Titles (1896, 1921, 1926)

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Lehigh

• Where: Bethlehem, PA

• Last Year's Record: 9-4, 5-1 in conference

• Longsnapper: Connor Ludwig (SO, 4.5-star and #1 ranked longsnapper in Pennsylvania by Kohl’s Kicking, missed 2024 due to injury), Ridgely Ritter (FR)

• Punter: Connor Poole (SO)

• #69: Jacob Messina (SO, OL)

• Longest Road Trip: 289 miles to Duquesne

• Last Conference Title: 2024 - co-champions with Holy Cross and then they threw the goalposts into the Lehigh river after a 4 mile trek with them. (video below)

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2024 - first round win over Richmond 20-16, second round loss to Idaho 34-13

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Richmond

• Where: Richmond, VA

• Last Year's Record: 10-3, 8-0 in conference

• Longsnapper: Brian Catanzarite (GR, primary longsnapper in 2024), Weston Sharpe (JR, redshirted (played one game) in 2024, ranked #13 longsnapper in the country in the class of 2023 by Rubio Long Snapping)

• Punter: Ned Gray (FR, Australian)

• #69: None

• Longest Road Trip: 468 miles to Colgate

• Last Conference Title: 2024 - CAA

• Last Playoff Appearance: 2024 - First round loss to Lehigh 20-16

• New Head Coach (Yes/No): No

Thank you for reading and so many more to come!