In running for 164 yards against Yale last Saturday, Dartmouth running back Michael Giles '04 turned in one of the top-20 single-game rushing totals in Dartmouth history. However, he isn't rushing to take the credit for himself.
In an interview last weekend, Giles said that he "really didn't do anything special. It was all the linemen and fullbacks. They all made huge holes that anyone could run through. They all did a tremendous job and are worthy of all the praise."
Dartmouth head coach John Lyons will surely be looking for another praiseworthy performance from his linemen this Saturday, as the Big Green takes on the Holy Cross Crusaders (3-3, 1-1 Patriot League) at Memorial Field.
Not only will a top-notch performance from the Dartmouth offensive line allow continued productivity from the team's ground game after last week's 222-yard outburst, but it should also help prevent a repeat of the events of last year's Dartmouth-Holy Cross game.
In the second quarter of last year's contest, quarterback Greg Smith '02 had his throwing hand broken during the second quarter. Smith did not return until Dartmouth's Nov. 17 game against Princeton, and the team never fully recovered from Smith's injury, losing the last six games of the season.
According to Dartmouth offensive guard and team captain Kevin Noone '03, however, neither Smith's injury nor last year's 49-17 loss to the Crusdaers in Worcester has much effect on how the team prepares to play Holy Cross this year.
"What happened last year does not affect how we approach Saturday's game. We always put a lot of pressure on the offensive line to pass protect," Noone said.
If the offensive linemen respond to that pressure the same way they responded against Yale, it will be an excellent beginning on the road to victory against Holy Cross. Dartmouth's 222 rushing yards against Yale represented the team's highest single-game total since 1996, and the threat of another rushing explosion should help free things up for quarterback Brian Mann '02 to make things happen in the air.
Mann's 309.8 yards of total offense per contest are the fourth highest in Division I-AA, and 277.2 passing yards per game are second-best in the Ivy League behind Brown quarterback Kyle Slager.
When asked about continuing last week's progress, Mann said, "We took a big step forward with our running game, and it will be easier to establish it now that we have more confidence in it. And if our passing game has more of a presence, that will only help the running game that much more."
The Crusaders are coming off of a 24-22 win over St. Mary's last week, which ended a three-game Holy Cross losing streak. Among those losses was a 28-19 defeat against Yale, which makes a Dartmouth win look like a strong possibility.
Senior quarterback and co-captain Brian Hall has posted modest numbers in the Crusaders' first six games, averaging 169 passing yards per game. However, freshman Gideon Akande is averaging 5.1 yards per rush, good for third-best in the Patriot League. Overall, though, Holy Cross averages a paltry 312 total yards of offense per game, second only to Georgetown for the dubious honor of "Worst Patriot League Offense."
This could be very good news for the Dartmouth defense, as free safety Clayton Smith '05 leads a Big Green defensive unit that neutralized the highly touted Yale running game last week.
Smith, who was named Defensive Player of the Week by both the Ivy League and the ECAC after blocking a potential game-tying field goal by Yale's John Troost, is also the Ivy League's leading tackler. Smith and his fellow defenders look to have their way with the Crusader offense, but according to Mann, no one in a Dartmouth uniform is selling Holy Cross short.
Mann describes Holy Cross as "a tough team on both sides of the ball. They will commit to stop the run on defense and will pound their running game on offense. This year is no different save the fact that we have something to prove after what happened last year in Worcester."
Proving time is tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. at Memorial Field.
