The Dartmouth football team is on fire and the Big Green do not look as if they are about to let up heading into the last two weeks of the season.
If everything falls into place, Dartmouth could even find themselves with a share of the Ivy League Championship.
Yet the Big Green are not thinking that far ahead yet. Right now they must concentrate on defeating the Brown Bears on Saturday here at Memorial Field.
Brown who buried Harvard last week in a 47-8 pasting will be looking to prove that game was not a fluke.
The Bears (4-4, 1-4 Ivy) are led by quarterback Jason McCullough. In last week's game he set a new single-season completion record of 149 resulting in 1,805 yards and 19 touchdowns.
McCullough's supporting cast includes junior Marquis Jessie who stung Harvard last week with his running and throwing talents, rushing for one score and throwing for a second.
"They are a good offensive team," Coach John Lyons said. "We will have to prepare for both the run and the pass. They also can put up some points."
Dartmouth's defense will be looking to dominate the offensively focused Bears just as the Big Green have the squashed the rest of their opponents.
The defense will look to its solid defensive line and an outstanding group of linebackers, including Mark Abel '97 and Zach Walz '98 who are first and second respectively in total tackles. Each had 15 tackles in last weekend's game.
Walz has come up with four fumble recoveries and in recent weeks turnovers have been key stats for the Big Green.
Dartmouth has intercepted two more passes than its opponents and has recovered 15 fumbles, while losing only seven.
Offensively the Big Green has been led by the rushing of Greg Smith '97. However, Smith suffered a cracked rib in last weekend's victory against Columbia and is questionable for Saturday.
In the event that he is unable to play, Lyons might have to look to rookie Dylan Karczewski '99 who came big in the fourth quarter of last week's game with two touchdowns. He won Ivy League Rookie of the Week for his performance.
Jon Aljancic '97 played another strong game last week, rushing for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Passing, however, could be a problem for the Big Green with Smith out.
Aljancic is on average completing only four of 10 passes and will need to better that statistics if the Big Green is to have a potent passing game.
Defensive back Gregory Parker is at the forefront of the Brown defense. Parker leads the Bears with his five interceptions, including one for a score.
Kickoff is 1:00 p.m..at Memorial Field.
