<p>In the 1930's, there were probably only 10 men's schools that anyone had ever heard of. I'm surprised that Rutgers wasn't involved. The schools in Ivy League are no longer athletic powerhouses.</p>
<p>I'm not knocking the credentials of the schools in the Patriot League, but is there something going on to put those schools into a league of academic excellence much as the "Ivy" league. It seems to me, at least, that it is a sports league and you could try the same with the Big Ten or the Mid-Atlantic Conference.</p>
<p>Fun Fact:
The 1932 Colgate football team is the only team to be undefeated, untied, and unscored upon. They shutout all nine teams they played that year. Most teams don't last one quarter until they are scored on.</p>
<p>Colgate13, think there's a plaque at the football stadium that notes the following about that famous 1932 team: undefeated, untied, unscored upon -- and uninvited to any post-season bowl game.</p>
<p>As for Dufus' comment about Rutgers and its "involvement" in the Ivy League, it was a public state university -- and wouldn't have been asked. All the schools involved (with the notable exceptions of USNA and USMA) were private. And yes, they are no longer powerhouses -- that was one of the reasons for the creation of the Ivy League athletic conference in the first place: so that the sons & scions of the powerful and privileged could play a respectable game of football -- and not be creamed by the upstarts at Fordham & Notre Dame. (That's all TIC - tongue in cheek - to a certain degree.)</p>
<p>Holy Cross and Colgate are the best schools in the Patriot League when one combines academic and athletic tradition. As mentioned by other posters HC and Colgate have played the most times against Ivy opponents with Holy Cross enjoying a stronger relationship in football and basketball while Colgate has a rich hockey tradition. As a side not Holy Cross alumni were invited to join the Harvard Clubs in Boston as full members-the only school invited. Bucknell is getting better known recently but its IVY relationship in sports is modest.</p>
<p>Question for you, par72 - is it possible HC was the only school invited to join the elite clubs because it's only about 1 hr. away, as opposed to the other schools (excluding the service academies) being between 5-7.5 hrs. away?</p>
<p>There is fairly widely-held notion outside New England that students go to HC for only a year or 2, planning to transfer to Notre Dame...using HC as a 'junior college', so to speak.</p>
<p>It was the Colonial league when it first started. However, there was another league(think it was d-III) with basically the same name so they had to change it. Not sure why they chose Patriot other than it has a similar theme to colonial. </p>
<p>I argue that Colgate has a stronger relationship in football than Holly Cross. The Colgate-Brown game on Thanksgiving was one of the biggest games of the year for years. You can't forget Cornell either. Colgate got it nickname from beating them so many times.</p>
<p>Colgate13, about Colgate getting its nickname as the Red Raiders, it was a result of raiding Big Red? I thought it was because of their uniform color being maroon with some alliteration by a sportscaster-alum who nicknamed the football team as they rushed onto the field. The 'red' was dropped in the 1970s in deference to native American tribes -- although it was completely unnecessary and ridiculously PC, IMHO, since it concerned a uniform color and not an ethnic group.</p>
<p>The "red" was only dropped like two years ago. You were right about the uniforms being maroon. Part of that was they did not buy uniforms every year. Like in 1932, I have heard they got new one that were more like a bright red.</p>
<p>Anyway, one story, out of several, I have heard about the name "Red Raiders" go like this. Local Sportswriters gave them the Raiders part because they came out of no where, aka rural New York, and stole wins from the home team. The red part came from beating Cornell, who wear red.<br>
I have also heard that the red came from the color of Colgate's uniforms. Another story says that the nickname came from the fact that a lot of fans traveled to away games. They basically shut down the campus on Fridays so everyone could travel to the games.</p>
<p>Holy Cross has a much older relationship with the Ivies, with first games against Harvard, Dartmouth, Yale, and Brown well over 100 years. For example, HC is the most non-Ivy opponent of both Harvard and Dartmouth. As for the series record against Colgate, Holy Cross has a plus 10 game margin over the approximate 70 game series and in basketball against Colgate, HC dominates. Colgate does have a stronger football series with local rival Cornell and perhaps Princeton.</p>
<p>It might bear noting that the OP's question was how competitive the Patriot League Schools were in admissions. Seems we've strayed a bit, or confirmed their reputation for jockiness rather than academics.</p>
<p>The most prevalent difference is that an LAC will give you a more personal education since you're being taught by a professor. At universities, professors are oftentimes just guest lecturers and/or doing own research, and leave the job of educating students to teaching assistants, many of whom are foreign and some have a difficulty with English and American college culture.</p>
<p>In reality, while state depts. of education try to put up a good "front" re: the granting of the U vs. College moniker ... in the end it is purely politics. Which politcos have the clout, favors to wield.</p>