After a disappointing 42-21 loss to Harvard last weekend, the Dartmouth football team returns home this weekend to face Ivy League foe Cornell in an important league game with Ivy standing implications.
Both teams are currently tied for fifth in the Ivy League, along with Princeton and Columbia. In a season that has seen parity among the bottom five teams in the Ancient Eight, a win for either team guarantees at least a tie for fourth in next week's standings.
Cornell (2-5, 1-3 Ivy) is winless in its last five games and is coming off a 17-14 loss to Princeton. Despite its recent struggles, however, the Big Red showed itself to be a capable team in a 14-12 win at Yale earlier this season.
The Big Green will have to overcome the loss of running back Nick Schweiger '12, who suffered a broken hand in last week's game and will miss the remainder of the season, according to head coach Buddy Teevens.
The loss of Schweiger, who garnered FCS National Offensive Player of the Week honors earlier this season, is a major blow to the team. To date, Schweiger has accounted for 88 percent of Dartmouth's net rushing yards and has been an essential component of the Big Green's offense, helping the team establish a balance between its passing and running games.
In order to replace Schweiger's offensive production, Dartmouth will look to its other running backs to step up and perform in his place. Last week, Rob Mitchelson '10 saw the majority of action at the position after Schweiger left the game, and posted a solid performance, finishing with 61 yards.
"[Mitchelson] is a good player and should do a great job against Cornell," Schwieger said in an e-mail to The Dartmouth. "As for me, I need to act as an inspirational leader for the rest of the season."
Running backs T.J. Cameron '11 and Matt Dornak '10 are also expected to see action this Saturday, Teevens said.
"We have depth at the position, which is something that we haven't had in the past," he said. "They're all very different types of [running backs]. Mitchelson is not as big a guy, and may be a little bit quicker, whereas T.J. is a bigger back a more powerful guy. Dornak is probably more like Schweiger than the other two guys. We're going to rotate backs and give [Cornell] different looks. We can then go with the hot hand,'"
Mitchelson said that all three running backs are prepared to step up, and that he believes that each can contribute to the offense effort.
"With the loss of Schweiger, we have to step up," he said. "Luckily, we have a lot of capable people able to fill his role and pick up where we left off. We've all been practicing throughout the year, and it shouldn't be much of a drop-off, really."
The Big Green will have its hands full with a feisty Cornell defense that has shown a propensity to blitz opponents. Although Cornell's 3-5-3 defense can be intimidating, Teevens said that the Big Red often runs itself out of plays and can make its opponent look good when the blitz is not effective. Dartmouth will need to have a strong game from its offensive line and play sound assignment football in order to create a pocket around quarterback Conner Kempe '12 and allow him to pass effectively.
Dartmouth will also need to execute better in crucial moments, particularly on third down. Last week, the Big Green was successful just twice in 13 third down conversion attempts and has only converted 39 out of 95 tries on the season. Improving third down efficiency will allow Dartmouth to extend drives and keep the opponent's offense off the field.
The team will need to focus offensively, and will look to feed off of the home crowd's energy this weekend. Against Columbia, the team was able to capitalize on the support of a strong Homecoming crowd and play its best football of the season.
"We really appreciated the crowd the last time we were home," Teevens said. "It was a wonderful feeling, and one we hadn't had in quite a while." The game kicks off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at Memorial Field.
