After the Big Green football team's 42-17 loss to New Hampshire in last Saturday's Granite Bowl, Dartmouth co-captain Casey Cramer '04 said, "The way the team is going to approach it is that next Saturday starts a new season."
At the time, the all-American tight end had no idea how truly he had spoken.
When Dartmouth (0-2, 0-0 Ivy) heads in to action against Pennsylvania (2-0, 0-0 Ivy) tomorrow at Memorial Field, in both teams' Ivy League opener, it will be without former starting quarterback Scott Wille '04. Wille, who completed 31 of 59 passes for 266 yards in Dartmouth's first two games this season, quit the team on Tuesday afternoon.
"It's really unfortunate,": Cramer said of his former teammate. "He's a great guy and he works real hard. It's hard to lose a good guy like that, but he had to move along, and I respect that.
"He wasn't happy, and things weren't working out, and the whole relationship with the coaches wasn't working out."
Wille's relationship took a sharp turn south during the fourth quarter of the Granite Bowl, when he was pulled in favor of backup quarterback Charlie Rittgers '06. Rittgers finished the day with 12 of 24 passes completed for 107 yards, and brought Dartmouth to UNH two-yard line twice.
Following the game, Wille asked Dartmouth head coach John Lyons to commit to him as the starting quarterback. Lyons was unable to make that commitment, and Wille, who would have been the likely starter against Penn, turned in his uniform before practice on Tuesday's afternoon.
As a result, Rittgers, who missed all of last season with an injury, will make his first collegiate start against the defending Ivy League champion Quakers, who were picked by the media to repeat as champions in a preseason poll.
"Obviously, Penn's a good team," said Dartmouth head coach John Lyons, "but the way the week's events kind of played out, it just seemed to be that with the way things with Scott went, this is Charlie's opportunity."
When Rittgers found out about that opportunity, he felt "a mixture of excitement and nervousness," as he told The Dartmouth in an interview last night. "I always get pretty nervous for games, even if they're easy, and this is definitely not going to be easy."
It certainly will not be easy to upset the Quakers, who come to Hanover averaging 41 points a game. Penn quarterback Mike Mitchell has thrown for 420 yards and eight touchdowns in the Quakers' two wins this season, and threw for 428 yards and four touchdowns against the Big Green last year in Philadelphia, as the Quakers won, 49-14, at Franklin Field.
Mitchell's primary target, junior wide receiver Dan Castles, is third in the Ivy League in points scored with 18, and fourth in receiving yards with 176. On the ground, Navy transfer Sam Matthews has 217 rushing yards to his credit, third-best in the Ancient Eight.
As potent as Penn's aerial attack is, however, Rittgers has the teammates to help him match it. Wide receiver Jay Barnard '04, already Dartmouth's all-time receptions leader, has added 18 more catches to his total this season, including a 12-catch, 124 yard performance against UNH. Cramer and all-Ivy fullback Scott Wedum '04 add another 18 catches and 145 yards between them, combining with Barnard to lead a strong group of targets for Rittgers.
Of playing with the talented Big Green receiving corps, Rittgers said, "This is definitely a great opportunity. Cramer, Wedum, and Barnard, this is their last year, and I know they're going to be ready to play the first Ivy League game, and our entire O-line's healthy now, so I guess the pressure's on me to get those guys the ball and let them work, since they're definitely some of the most talented players in the League."
Rittgers, with his speedy throw, is a good fit for Barnard, Cramer, and the rest of the Big Green offense, according to Lyons, who said, "Scott obviously had his strengths, Charlie has his. One of his is a quick release.
"With Charlie, the ball comes out quicker. We need to make him feel comfortable in the things we're asking him to do, and the quick game that Scott struggled with is something Charlie seems to do well."
Dartmouth will need a quick offense against a stingy Penn defense that allows a league-low 17 points per game. Kicker turned defensive back Bryan Arguello has an Ivy-best two interceptions to his name, half of the Quakers' Ivy-best four picks. According to Rittgers, "Penn's definitely going to be one of the best, if not the best defense we play all year. They're not going to throw anything at us that we haven't seen before, but they mix some things up."
The Big Green, for its part, will be ready to "mix things up" with the Quakers, as Lyons believes that his team has rebounded quickly from the shock of Wille's departure. "I think it affected some guys in the offense on Tuesday," Lyons said before practice yesterday, "but I don't think it seemed to affect anybody [on Wednesday]."
Unaffected by Wille's departure, Dartmouth will attempt to "affect" Penn's win-loss record when the two teams head into battle at Memorial Field on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.
