Dartmouth Looking for Elusive Win on the Gridiron

Thursday, November 20, 2008

HANOVER, N.H. ? Entering Saturday's game with an 0-9 record and an 11-game losing streak, Dartmouth is hoping its young stars of the future can salvage a victory in the present to avoid recalling a team from the past. In order to earn that victory, the Big Green will have to win on the road on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Princeton, a team that has won the last four meetings between the two.

Recent history outside of Hanover has not been very kind to Dartmouth, which has lost 24 of its last 25 road games. The Big Green would rather not recall the past in regards to winless seasons either as they have not endured one in 125 years when the 1883 squad went 0-1, losing its only game of the season to Williams, 5-3.

Dartmouth has reason to hope, however, with a new wave of young stars starting to make their marks. Freshman Conner Kempe (Tequesta, Fla.) was installed as the starting quarterback two weeks ago, and he has thrown for 531 yards on 52 completions in 94 attempts (55.3 percentage). After the loss in his first start at Cornell, he was honored as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week. Some growing pains have occurred in the trial by fire with five interceptions, but he has been a quick study for head coach Buddy Teevens.

Another freshman, Shawn Abuhoff (Hialeah, Fla.), has produced some of the biggest plays of the 2008 season, both as a cornerback and a kick returner. Last week he set a school record with 190 kickoff return yards, including a 94-yard touchdown that was the first Big Green kickoff return for a score in seven years. Abuhoff is also third in the league in punt return average at over nine yards, plus leads Dartmouth with three interceptions and five pass breakups while posting 33 tackles as the top cover man on defense. Twice in the past three weeks Abuhoff has earned the league's rookie of the week award.

The kicking game is in good feet with freshman Foley Schmidt (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) laying claim as the team's place kicker. He has converted 8-of-12 field goals (three of the four misses have been blocked), and all but one PAT. In his first collegiate game, he took home that rookie-of-the-week hardware for booting two field goals and both extra-point attempts. So in nine weeks of games, Dartmouth has produced the top rookie four times.

Hope doesn't solely reside within the freshmen, though. Sophomore Tim McManus (St. Paul, Minn.) is the top receiver for the Big Green with 55 receptions and 596 yards. He already ranks 11th in career receptions (83) and needs just 19 more receiving yards to become the 16th Dartmouth player with 1,000 yards in a career ? and he has two seasons ahead of him.

There have been significant contributions from the elder statesmen this year as well. Senior strong safety Ian Wilson (Burbank, Calif.) is second in the Ivy League in tackles with 84 and needs just one more tackle to reach 300 stops in his career. Fellow senior Brian Scullin (Alexandria, Va.) has been a tremendous lift when it comes time to punt. His 41.0-yard average ranks 24th among FCS punters, but combined with the Big Green coverage, Dartmouth ranks first nationally in net punting at 37.7 yards.

The Big Green are coming off a 45-16 setback at home against Brown in which Kempe completed 27-of-42 passes for 275 yards, while McManus caught 10 of those passes for the second straight week, going for 118 yards. A slow start doomed Dartmouth as the offense ran just five plays in the first quarter. Two quick scores for Brown in the first three minutes of the second quarter made it a 31-7 game, making a comeback improbable. The only Dartmouth points to that point came on Abuhoff's kickoff return.

The series with Princeton has been tight throughout the years, with Dartmouth holding the slim 42-41-4 advantage. Only once since the first meeting in 1897 has either side won more than four straight games as the Tigers have, that coming from 1914-35 when Princeton won six straight. The Big Green have had three separate four-game win streaks against the Tigers ? 1970-73, 1975-78 and 1990-93.

Last week Princeton suffered a 14-0 defeat at Yale, just its second shutout loss since the new millennium. The Tigers managed just 153 yards and nine first downs against the Ivy's top defensive unit, including just 57 through the air. The furthest Princeton advanced the ball was the Yale 34, and only three times did it cross midfield.

The Tigers do have the league's top rusher in Jordan Culbreath, who is the only Ivy back to average over 100 yards a game (103.3). Quarterback Brian Anderson generally doesn't make many mistakes, but last week was picked off three times, just one less interception than he had thrown all year.

Defensively, Princeton is just sixth in the Ivy League in yards allowed (346.8) and seventh in pass defense efficiency (139.1). Linebacker Steven Cody is third in the conference in tackles (81) behind Wilson, while another linebacker, Scott Britton, has 76 stops.

The game will be broadcast live on the Dartmouth Sports Network on 99.3 FM WFRD with Bob Lipman and Wayne Young '72 calling the action, plus Andy Sloan on the sidelines. To listen over the internet, log on to www.DartmouthSportsNetwork.com, or to watch the live video, visit the Princeton Tigers web site at www.goprincetontigers.com.

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