Dartmouth head coach John Lyons summed up his team's dismal situation with a simple simile.
"It's like we have a black cloud hanging over us," Lyons said Thursday as he ate pistachios in his office.
The Big Green football team might be the butt of jokes on campus and beyond, but no one can deny that it is a team plagued by bad breaks.
The Big Green came into the season off a trio of disappointing 2-8 campaigns, built confidence, but then lost star QB Greg Smith '02 to a season-ending finger fracture.
Dartmouth begrudgingly turned to Evan Love '05, who dislocated his finger before making a modest starting debut in a 27-20 loss to Columbia.
Then on Wednesday, more bad news as--you guessed it--the Big Green was hit with another injury. This time, it's Seth Smith '02, the center.
It's only fitting that Dartmouth's only win this season came in the team's first Sunday game in school history, making the celebration time before the next game shorter than usual.
Even with all the bad breaks, there are no excuses after opening kickoff.
Dartmouth's only chance is to recall the days of old and play suffocating defense. In 1970, for example, Dartmouth allowed an amazing 42 points all season and finished 9-0.
That year, the Big Green--or were they the Indians then?--beat the Crimson--or were they something else then too?--37-14.
That ain't gonna happen tomorrow. In fact, the men in Green and White will probably lose by a lot. Say, 42-14.
