Dartmouth's biggest home football crowd of every season comes during Homecoming. The myriad alumni who have briefly returned to their alma mater will take home with them the images of this event at least until the next time they come back to the College -- in a year, five years, a decade. They want a Big Green victory.
So do the Big Green and all of the current students who have attended Dartmouth's home losses to Colgate and Lehigh and have followed the team's defeats at Penn, Lafayette and, last weekend, Yale.
In this year's Homecoming game the 0-5 Big Green will face off against the 4-1 Cornell Big Red, undefeated in its three Ivy League contests thus far.
Cornell has shown it can score quickly and defend in crucial in situations in wins over Princeton, Fordham, Brown and Harvard. In a 55-16 loss to Colgate last weekend, the Big Red also proved they are capable of the opposite.
But Dartmouth's most recent game Saturday was no better. The Green briefly kept a strong Yale team within seven points but then proceeded to give up five scores in the second half en route to a 44-3 vanquishing.
In short, neither team enters this game brimming with confidence and both teams have something to prove.
Dartmouth needs to prove it can be competitive. After improving greatly on offense in the second half two weekends ago versus Lehigh, the Green's attack reverted to its early-season form against the Bulldogs.
Dartmouth's offense had to punt seven times last weekend. It suffered a missed field goal and gave away an interception.
Cornell must prove its horrendous effort at Colgate was merely an interruption in an otherwise remarkable season. The Big Red, considered before the season to be among the top three contenders for the Ivy title, knocked off league-favorite Brown with last-second heroics and beat Harvard by a point the next week.
"They had two close games against Harvard and Brown that they were able to win," Dartmouth Head Coach John Lyons said. "We're both similar because we're coming off bad games."
With their undefeated season now history, Cornell must focus on winning the League Championship.
Standing in their way this Saturday is the team on the bottom of the standings.
Long way down
To date this has been a season of frustration for the Big Green offense. Every time the unit appears ready to score more than twice, it is arrested.
Against Lehigh, quarterback Brian Mann '02 threw two late touchdown passes, showing the poise and precision Dartmouth's coaches have claimed he is capable of. Against Yale Mann faced constant pressure and could only muster one long gain and several short completions in three and a half quarters.
Tailback Reggie Belhomme '00, expected any game to break out for 100 yards and several touchdowns, has rushed for an average of three yards for yet another season. Several moderate gains and a number of nifty moves have done little to mitigate his overwhelming number of rushes straight into the line for zero gain.
The Green's young receiving corps of Matt DeLellis '02, Damien Roomets '02 and Matt Davis '03 has played well, despite typical youthful mistakes, but have lesser statistics than most other groups of receivers in the league.
Why?
Because Dartmouth has run fewer plays than its opponents, because Mann was very erratic earlier in the season and because the offense has yet to put together a full game of consistent play.
"The big thing we have to do is to put points on the board, to move the football early," Lyons said. "We have to help keep our defense off the field."
Weak link
If Cornell has a weaker side, it is definitely its defense. In their last three games, against admittedly better offenses than Dartmouth's thus far, the Big Red have allowed an average of 34 points a game. Overall Cornell is allowing 24.6 points per game, giving up 4.8 yards per rush and almost 400 yards of total offense.
Against Brown, arguably the league's best offense, Cornell allowed 21 first-half points on two James Perry touchdown passes and a third on a short run after giving up a 51-yard run to Bears tailback Micheal Malan.
Harvard also got the better of the Cornell defense early, scoring on its first drive of the game and leading 23-10 going into the fourth quarter.
Colgate, much as it had in an earlier game against Dartmouth, scored early and often against the Big Red. Red Raider running back Randall Joseph went for 217 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Colgate rushed for seven total touchdowns, while quarterback Ryan Vena passed for one.
Just as when Dartmouth played Colgate, Cornell was close going into halftime but watched the game slip further and further away in the second half as Colgate racked up points.
Offense is on
While Cornell's defense has been permissive, its offense has made other defenses look even worse. The Big Red machine averages 27 points a game and 300 yards passing.
Cornell's running game has been unspectacular. Backs Deon Harris and Brian Ulbricht average four yards per carry each.
Where the team does its greatest damage is in the passing game. Sophomore quarterback Ricky Rahne has excelled. Along with a 55.0 percent completion rate, Rahne has thrown for 1410 yards and 11 touchdowns, garnering an impressive 130.55 quarterback rating.
"He's got good size he has a strong arm," Lyons said of Rahne. "If we give this kid all day to throw like we did last week he'll pick us apart."
Rahne's top two receivers--Joe Splendorio and Keith Ferguson -- have caught 55 balls between them and both average over 14 yards per catch. Three other receivers have gained over 100 yards as well.
Although the offense only posted two touchdowns at Colgate, it was able to engineer two late comebacks against Ivy rivals Brown and Harvard, and it allowed the team to run over Princeton and Fordham.
Big D
Dartmouth's defensive statistics will not impress too many scouts, considering that they include 44 points yielded to Yale, 35 to Colgate and 30 to Lehigh.
But the Big Green defense has kept the team in every game for at least a half, and has many veteran starters.
In the team's opening game against Penn, the defense kept the Quakers under 20 points, but the Green offense could only score a late touchdown. In their second game against Colgate, Dartmouth held the Raiders within 10 points until several minutes remained in the first half, and eventually lost 35-3.
Against Yale last weekend, the Green were also close until they fell apart in the second half.
Quad-captain Kyle Schroeder '00 has anchored a front line that has occasionally managed to pressure quarterbacks. Lineman Dan Piening '00 had 2.5 sacks against Lehigh.
Quad-captain Tom Reusser '00 and fellow defensive back Brad Eissler '01 are mainstays in the secondary.
Meager expectations
Dartmouth had given its fans hope for a better future in every one of its games until last weekend. The 44-3 debacle in New Haven most likely marks Dartmouth's lowest point of the season. And with good reason.
Against a team they had every chance to compete with, the Green couldn't muster any offense and gave up ground defensively despite numerous Yale penalties. Once the game started to get out of hand, the team seemed to lose all composure, and allowed five of seven Bulldog offensive possessions in the second half to result in scores.
After the game Lyons questioned whether the team would want to play the rest of the season.
"We didn't play well last week in any phase of the game," Lyons said Thursday. "We really had a good week of practice. I think you'll see a whole different team on Saturday."
Tomorrow's game may represent a new beginning. A resurrection of the season. A preview of what fans can expect from the Green as its many young players mature.
Cornell, like Yale, is a worthy League opponent of the kind the Green will have to beat if they want to regain the glory of several seasons ago.
For its part, Cornell is at its lowest point, coming off a drubbing against a much better team, and learning for the first time it is not invincible.
Dartmouth will have the chance to reinforce some of the reasons Cornell has lost confidence. But for most of the teams the Green have faced this season, it has been the Green who has built its opponents confidence.
Expect the same against Cornell. The Big Red still stand atop the Ivy League. Though imperfect in places on both offense and defense, Cornell is just a stronger squad than Dartmouth.
Perhaps spurred on by the emotion of the Homecoming game and the urgency of getting its first win, the Green will be able to keep another game close for a half or even three quarters. But in the end Cornell should prevail.
Prediction: Cornell 27, Green 21
