Turnovers can hurt. Just ask Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens. Last week the Harvard Crimson defense forced three turnovers out of the Big Green squad, all of them on interceptions.
"We just turned the ball over too much," Teevens said. "That was the real big thing. We just made too many mistakes. We generally gauge our productivity by the number of plays we have each series, and if you go three-and-out all the time, it's not a real good day."
This weekend, Dartmouth (1-6, 1-3 Ivy League) will have a chance to double last year's win total when the team travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to take on the Cornell Big Red (3-4, 1-3 Ivy League) at Schoellkopf Field Saturday. For the Big Green men to earn a victory, they will have to watch out for two things.
The first is the Big Red's quarterback, Nathan Ford, who is averaging almost 170 yards through the air each game. His two tremendous targets Zac Canty and Jesse Baker have 726 yards and four scores between them this season. Cornell's aerial attack could pose a problem for a Dartmouth secondary that has struggled at times this season.
Still, Teevens has not been discouraged by the play of his defense, which gave up 28 points to Harvard last week. "The secondary allowed just that one big score, but other than that we have covered fairly well and tackled very securely," said Teevens of the Big Green's performance against the Crimson and overall play this season. "So, after the initial rush of points [against Harvard], we played pretty good defense."
The defense of the Big Green will be led by Justin Cottrell '08 and Ian Wilson '08, who lead the team in tackles with 122 stops between the two of them. Cottrell had a career day against Harvard, which included 17 tackles and a forced fumble, and earned him Ivy League Honor Roll honors. Cottrell is excited to play the Big Red and looks to dominate once again.
"Cornell is a good team and everyone is excited to get out there and play them," he said. "Ford and Siwula are great players and we're going to have our hands full trying to stop them. It's going to be a dogfight and hopefully we can make those few big plays when we need to and come out on top."
The second thing that the Big Green has to look out for, unfortunately, might even be harder to manage.
The Big Red is coming off of a stunning upset of the previously undefeated Princeton University Tigers. Cornell handed Princeton its first loss this season last Saturday in Ithaca, taming the Tigers, 14-7.
Ford finished the day 9-of-15 passing for 125 yards and one touchdown. Most important of all for the Big Red players was the victory, which should give them a huge boost of momentum.
Indeed, the score of the Big Red's stunner over the Tigers mirrored its victory over the Big Green last year at Memorial Field. The Big Green does have the edge in the all-time series, leading Cornell 50-38-1. However, the Big Red has blotted the Big Green out in recent years, with an 8-5 record in the last 13 games. Of those 13 games, nine have been decided by one touchdown or less. This Saturday's contest promises to be just as tight.
Running the show offensively for Dartmouth will be quarterback Mike Fritz '07, who has emerged as a dangerous double threat this season. Fritz leads the team in both passing (96-of-156 for 1053 yards), and rushing (333 yards on 66 carries). Looming on the side of Fritz will be All-Ivy candidate Ryan Fuselier '06, who leads the team with 39 catches for 491 yards.
Saturday's game will start at 1 p.m., and will be broadcast on WDCR AM 1340 and WFRD 99.3 FM, and will be available online for a small fee.
