When Dartmouth renews its in-state rivalry at the University of New Hampshire tomorrow, the Big Green will take on a Wildcat team even better than the Colgate squad that felled them 42-24 last weekend.
UNH stands at 3-0, rated 25th in Division I-AA, and has given up an average of 12 points a game in wins over Hampton College, Rhode Island and Northeastern.
To compound matters, Dartmouth (0-1) will take the field without its starting quarterback, Brian Mann '02, who is recovering from a concussion suffered against the Red Raiders last Saturday. Mann led an effective offensive attack in the Green's season opener, completing 60 percent of his passes for 187 yards and adding a 21-yard touchdown run, before exiting early in the fourth quarter.
Greg Smith '02, who replaced Mann last week by throwing one touchdown and one interception, will start tomorrow against the Wildcats.
Dartmouth defense
The Big Green defense, the team's strength a year ago, has struggled to replace nearly all of its starters from last year.
Against Colgate, the unit particularly displayed its difficulties in the defensive backfield, giving up four touchdown passes and several other long passing plays.
"We gave up too many big plays," said Dartmouth Head Coach John Lyons. "We've talked to our guys about challenging the receivers more. Hopefully we'll play better back there."
And in fact there is less reason to fear UNH's passing attack and more reason to have faith in Dartmouth's defenders.
The Wildcats have only passed for 442 yards in three games. Running back Stephan Lewis leads the team in receiving with 11 catches for 122 yards. Only one other receiver has caught five or more balls.
And quarterback Ryan Day is completing under 50 percent of his throws.
Members of the Green defensive backfield may exhibit vast improvement.
"I think we're pretty well prepared," said senior cornerback Todd Jelen. "We've done a lot of work this week."
Ultimately, the game may hinge on how well Dartmouth defends the run. Last week in the first half against Colgate, the Green held an excellent running team to just 64 yards. But in the second half Colgate ran up and down the field for an additional 184 yards.
After the game last weekend, Lyons praised his team's stopping the inside run game.
This weekend, Jelen says the defense will have to stop a UNH run game that does more than Colgate.
"They try to get to the outside a little more," Jelen said. "They use misdirection and try to confuse you."
Jelen said he and his fellow defensive backs would have to move up to make plays, but "if we get good play from our defensive line, we'll be okay."
UNH offense
The Green truly have something to worry about in UNH's ground attack. Starting tailback Lewis has rushed for 97 yards or better in every game this year. He averages 4.4 yards per carry and 121 yards per game.
The quarterback, Day, has gained 81 yards in three games, but is not a major running threat.
"They're really making an effort to run the ball and control it," Lyons said, as opposed to last year when UNH threw more often.
This year, Day's passing has been subpar. He has thrown five interceptions against only two touchdowns while taking every snap for the Wildcats. He averages a mere 147.3 yards passing per game.
By contrast, last weekend Mann nearly threw for that many yards in the first half alone.
Dartmouth offense
After making some ill-advised throws and generally struggling through a 2-8 1999 season in his first year as Dartmouth's starting quarterback, Brian Mann looked like a completely matured and confident signal-caller in the first half against Colgate. Using all of his receivers and making accurate short throws to the whole field, Mann led several solid drives.
When pressured, Mann did not attempt to force throws as he might have last season. Instead he scrambled three times for 41 yards, including a run up the middle for Dartmouth's first touchdown of the game.
"We took our lumps together," Mann said of the young offense's experiences last year. "And now we're looking forward to the good times."
But Mann will be sidelined this weekend after he was hit hard at the end of a run against Colgate and left the game with a concussion.
In comes Smith, who is now what Mann was last year -- an unproven commodity.
Mann says his backup is up to the task.
"One of the things we did a lot during [training] camp is give Greg a lot of reps," Mann said. "He's been doing very well even before I got hurt."
Mann said Smith will throw the ball a lot as the team will "set the run up with the pass rather than the other way around."
Last weekend the running game put up big numbers against Colgate. But many of those yards came after the game was out of reach with some of Colgate's second string players on the field.
Smith struggled early in that same fourth quarter, but Mann said this weekend won't be the same.
"I think the difference between last week and this week is Greg is fully prepared and fully aware that he is going to be the starting quarterback," Mann said. "I think we definitely can put some points on the board."
UNH defense
The Green will try to score big against a New Hampshire defense that has been the team's strong suit through its first 3-0 start since 1996. The defense preserved a 13-12 win over Rhode Island and held Northeastern to a single touchdown. The defense has allowed only 405 passing yards in three games and has four sacks and four interceptions.
"They're bigger than Colgate," Lyons said. "I don't think they're as fast. Because of their size, we want to try and spread it out some."
Like the Wildcat offense, the defense is beatable. But nobody has done it yet.
So
In last weekend's Dartmouth contest, two improving offenses beat two struggling defenses to score a combined 66 points. This weekend scoring should be much lower.
Dartmouth is lacking the biggest cog in its offensive machine while facing a successful defense. At the same time, Dartmouth's defense is getting better as it comes up against a less talented offense than Colgate's.
With Mann, the Green had a decent chance to knock off a top-25 team. Without him and playing on the road, the task becomes even more challenging.
"We can't turn the ball over," Lyons said. "That's really what hurt us last week."
If the Green don't turn the ball over and defend the run consistently, they have a shot. If they give away the ball and lots of big plays, Dartmouth will enter the Ivy season 0-2.
