The College has been working to vary its non-Ivy League opponents for several years now, Ceplikas said. Sacred Heart University has been added to the schedule for 2010 and 2011 in place of UNH.
"We're nearing the end of our current schedule for our three non-league opponents for football and we've been looking at talking to UNH for the last several years to delay the last two games for our current agreement and just in the last few months, mutually agreed to do that," Ceplikas said.
Dartmouth and UNH have yet to decide when they will play the last two games required as part of their agreement, but the teams still intend to play one previously scheduled game on Sept. 26 at UNH's Cowell Stadium.
The decision was made in part because the football team is currently in a rebuilding phase, Ceplikas said, adding that he believes the change in schedule will bring more diversity to the competitive schedule.
"UNH is currently one of the strongest teams in the country, in division I-AA, and the game hasn't been as competitive as we would like it to be," he said. "We feel confident that our program will get stronger and stronger over the next few years and we'll be excited about the opportunity to play them a few years down the road."
The Wildcats defeated the Big Green at Memorial Field last September by a margin of 42-6, part of a 0-10 season for the Big Green. The last Dartmouth victory against UNH was in 1976, when current coach Buddy Teevens '79 was a quarterback. Since then, the Big Green has only tied the Wildcats twice in 1979 and 1990, respectively. In the last nine meetings of the teams since the Granite Bowl was resurrected in 2000, UNH has outscored Dartmouth 399-197.
The suspension of games will not affect any other varsity teams that compete against UNH, Ceplikas said.
Team captain Tim McManus '11 said that while it is good to "mix up the schedule," the switch will not change the way the team prepares.
"I think we go into every game with the same intensity to come out with a win," he said.
The Big Green will open the season at home, against Colgate University on Sept. 19. The team will also play at home on Oct. 3 against University of Pennsylvania, Oct. 24 against Columbia University, Nov. 7 against Cornell University and Nov. 21 against Princeton University. Dartmouth will visit Yale University, College of the Holy Cross, Harvard University and Brown University this fall.
