One year ago, the Big Green football team was 0-3, coming up short three weeks in a row despite dynamic offensive performances from the likes of quarterback Brian Mann '02, wide receiver Jay Barnard '04, and tight end Casey Cramer '04. Then, against Yale, Dartmouth got a helping hand.
That hand was attached to the outstretched arm of Clayton Smith '05.
With seconds left in the Big Green's game against Yale at Memorial Field, Smith leapt up to block a field goal attempt by Yale's John Troost. Troost's kick would have tied the game and sent it to overtime, but Smith's block preserved a 20-17 Dartmouth victory, and got Dartmouth rolling on its first three-game winning streak since 1997.
The block also put Dartmouth fans and the Ivy League on notice that Smith is a force to be reckoned with for the Big Green defense. Of course, according to Dartmouth head coach John Lyons, the signs were already there.
"I thought that even before that, he had played pretty well," Lyons said yesterday. "I think that that was a time, because of the nature of that game, because of the way that all went down, being a home game and our first win, that may have been what got his name out there, but he had been playing pretty well."
Indeed, Smith's well-timed block was but one memorable moment in a season that saw the current Dartmouth co-capatain named second team All-Ivy after leading the Ancient Eight in tackles. Now, as the Big Green (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) heads to New Haven to play the Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 Ivy), Dartmouth will be looking for more memorable moments from Smith and his teammates.
A Dartmouth victory would be the team's third straight against the Elis, and a historic tenth career victory against Yale for Lyons. Only former Harvard coach Joe Restic and former Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman hold ten victories over Yale, and neither has a winning lifetime record against the Bulldogs. Dartmouth has beaten Yale nine times in Lyons' 11 years as head coach, but the identity of Dartmouth's opponent is of little significance to the Big Green coach.
"For whatever reason, we've had our fair share of success against them over the last few years," Lyons said, "but that doens't matter. We need a win. It doesn't matter who we get it against, we just need to win."
Dartmouth would be the first team to get a win this season over the Elis, who are coming off of a lopsided 41-16 victory over Holy Cross last week in Worcester. Senior quarterback Alvin Cowan has completed 37 of 59 passes for 584 yards, while junior Robert Carr and sophomore David Knox form a dynamic duo to lead Yale's ground game. Carr is the Ivy's leading rusher with 6.1 yards per carry, while Knox is averaging 4.9 yards per rush. "
For the Big Green, quarterback Charlie Rittgers '06 will look to build on a strong second half in last week's game against Penn, continuing to find Barnard and Cramer, who are first and second in Dartmouth history with 173 and 142 career catches, respectively. The Big Green will need all the offense it can muster to keep pace with a Yale scoring unit averaging 41.7 points per game.
According to Cramer, "It's going to come down to who executes better." Tomorrow, Dartmouth will look to "execute" Yale for a third straight year, when the Big Green and Bulldogs kick off at 1 p.m. at the Yale Bowl.
