Two late-game losses into this young season, Dartmouth football looks to the horizon and sees a chance to break through into the win column in its future. The site will be the historic Yale Bowl, where the Big Green will visit the Eli's as the culminating experience of Yale's tri-centennial celebration this weekend.
A rare Sunday game, this matchup will prove to be a pivotal test for the two squads. The Big Green look to show that they can do more than just excite their fans and Yale looks to silence all those who picked them to finish near the bottom of the Ivy League.
The Bulldogs head into the weekend undefeated with victories over Cornell and Holy Cross. Cornell, agreed to be the worst team in the Ivy League, was dealt a thrashing by Yale, 40-13 in the Eli's season opener.
The Crusaders proved a much more difficult task for Coach Jack Siedlecki and crew, as Holy Cross exploded out of the gate to ring up 270 yards of offense in the first half. Two failed goal line situations left the Crusaders with only 19 points to show for their early outburst.
The Bulldogs then turned the tables on their hosts, holding Holy Cross to only 58 yards and three points in the second frame. Yale had closed the gap to eight with 8:32 to play, but quarterback Peter Lee was having a miserable day, as he stood at 13-43 for 93 yards.
Lee then turned in two amazingly impressive drives, completing 12 of 12 for 143 yards as he marched the Bulldogs to a huge touchdown, followed by a drive down to the Crusader 11-yard line. Justin Davis then came through with a game-winning, 28-yard field goal for Yale.
Lee remains the focal point of an offense that torched Dartmouth for 515 total yards last season. He is averaging 257.5 yards per game this season and has a solid complement of talent around him to make defenses pay for lapses.
However, gone from Lee's grasp are two of Yale's best, WR Eric Johnson and RB Rashad Bartholomew. Johnson went to the NFL and is currently the starting tight end for the San Francisco 49ers. Bartholomew went to NFL training camps early this season, but couldn't catch on anywhere despite his exceptional production at Yale, including a 79-yard touchdown run against the Big Green last season.
Two veteran wideouts, Bill Brown and Keith Reams, are now the favored targets of the southpaw Lee. Brown, who had been a major deep threat in the past for Yale, has had an exceptional year thus far, racking up 19 catches for 260 yards and three touchdowns in the two games, including nine grabs for 177 yards against the Big Red.
Reams has been only slightly less spectacular, hauling in 14 balls for 125 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The pair pulled in 10 of Lee's 12 completions over the final two drives at Holy Cross.
One weakness for the Elis lies in the tailback position, where a series of injuries has thrust freshman Robert Carr into the starting role. Carr, no bigger than most 3rd-down scatbacks at 5'7", had a solid 82 yards in his debut against Cornell.
He managed a meager 38 yards against the Crusaders. A key focal point of the Bulldogs will be to run the little Texan hard into a Dartmouth defense that is allowing over 200 yards of rushing per game thus far.
Yale's defense also took a couple of big hits to graduation for this season as SS Than Merrill preceeded Johnson in the NFL Draft and is now a member of the Chicago Bears. Also gone is linebacker Peter Mazza who was second to Dartmouth's Matt Mercer '02 in tackles for the Ivy League last season with 107.
This bodes well for a Big Green offense that is averaging 436.0 yards per game. With two veteran stars absent from the middle of the field, QB Greg Smith '02 will look to pick apart the Bulldogs with high precision slant routes as he did to New Hampshire, along with running TE Casey Cramer '04 up the seam of the field for big yardage.
A key for Dartmouth will be the performance of Michael Gratch against the veteran Eli front line. With over 100 yards against New Hampshire, Gratch gave balance to Dartmouth's offense and kept New Hampshire guessing on most plays.
Being shut down to 46 yards against the Penn Quakers last week, Gratch was unable to give breathing room for Smith and his core of receivers and Penn held Dartmouth to 20 points. If Gratch can get going early and gain triple-digit yardage, Smith will be able to slash the Yale defense without seeing lots of six " and seven-man coverages.
Smith might look to use FB Dan Anderson '02 a little more, as UNH and Penn dropped lots of defenders deep to cover the receivers, leaving short flat and circle patterns open for the Big Green to exploit.
Smith and the offense have also had good success with screen plays to both Gratch and Bob Murphy '05. If Dartmouth can continue using these short screens and breaking them, it will offer more single-man coverage on the wide receivers.
This will lead to Smith being able to throw the ball over the top as he did several times against the Quakers, including the late-game 37-yard strike to Murphy which set up Gratch's fourth quarter touchdown.
Dartmouth's defense might receive a key boost this weekend with the possible return of veteran inside linebacker Gordon Quist '02, recovering from a strained hamstring, and DE Rob Hensel '04 who is coming back from a sprained ankle.
The return would add depth to a young Dartmouth defense, and bring back one of the teams leading tacklers a year ago in Quist which would help the run stopping game. Hensel brings added speed to a sizable defensive line which should help the Big Green keep pressure on Lee.
Even without the return of the veterans, Dartmouth's much improved defense has shown great resilience, especially in the second half. If Captain Matt Mercer '02 can lead his charges to another improved game, Yale will be hard pressed to keep up.
Dartmouth will have to stop the run early in order to force Lee into consistent passing situations where nickel and dime packages can be used. CB Steve Jensen '05 will be heavily tested in one-on-one coverages with Brown and Reams and will need to have a big day to shut down the Bulldog aerial attack.
Dartmouth can definitely break into the win column if the season's early trend of fast improving defense and high-powered offense continues. If Smith is forced to throw 60+ passes or Lee completes more than 30, the Big Green might be in for a long day.
