Big Green Travel to Yale in Search of First Win of 2009

Game Notes

HANOVER, N.H. — Coming off a six-point defeat at home to Penn on national television, the Dartmouth Big Green (0-3, 0-1 Ivy) have their sights set on breaking the 15-game losing streak that dates back to the 2007 season. The task this Saturday will be to end that skid on the road at Yale (1-2, 0-1 Ivy) at noon. Dartmouth and head coach Buddy Teevens have quite a few reasons to believe that slide will end against the Bulldogs.

The offense has benefitted from the play of senior quarterback Alex Jenny, which has improved from week to week thus far. His passing yardage totals have gone from 147 in the season opener, to 166 at #6 New Hampshire then 204 against the staunch defense of the Quakers. With 172.3 yards per game and five touchdown tosses, Jenny is tied for third among Ivy quarterbacks.

Those passing numbers are even more impressive considering that the Green have been playing without their top wide receiver in junior co-captain Tim McManus, sidelined with a fractured leg since the start of the preseason. And last week, their leading receiver, sophomore Michael Reilly, was out with an ankle injury, nor is he expected to play this weekend. But with junior Tanner Scott (10 catches, 83 yards), senior Niles Murphy (9 catches, 84 yards, two touchdowns), sophomore Garrett Babb (9-69, 1 TD) and sophomore tight end John Gallagher (9-62), the Big Green have displayed great depth.

Dartmouth is finding better balance between its rushing and passing games this year as well, thanks in large part to the efforts of sophomore running back Nick Schwieger, who is second in the Ivy League with close to 80 yards on the ground per game. Two weeks ago he became the first Big Green player to rush for 100 yards since Oct. 20, 2007 when he went for 119 at New Hampshire. His 19-yard touchdown run against Penn was the longest scoring run for Dartmouth in almost two years.

“Alex has been productive to date,” said Coach Teevens during the Ivy League media teleconference call on Tuesday. “He is a good decision maker and has protected the football fairly effectively. One of our benefits is we are not relying on the quarterback to make all of our plays, with the emergence of Schwieger as a capable back. And the development of our offensive line has helped us protect Alex better than in the past, allowing him to make quality decisions with the ball.”

What the Big Green are looking for against the Bulldogs is a stronger defensive presence. Dartmouth opponents have scored at least 30 points in each of the three games, but the Green did stifle the Penn passing attack by holding the Quakers to just 69 yards in 20 pass attempts. The last opponent to throw for fewer yards was 11 years ago to the day when Dartmouth held Lafayette to 51 yards.

While senior strong safety Tony Pastoors is among the top 10 tacklers in the FCS at 11.7 stops per game, sophomore Shawn Abuhoff has been the team's playmaker on defense with two interceptions. Abuhoff has also brought the crowd to its feet several times on special teams, ranking among the top 20 nationally in both kickoff (29.9-yard average) and punt return yardage (12.2 average).

Yale has surprisingly struggled at home in 2009, losing each of the last two weeks at the Yale Bowl. The Bulldogs lost its Ivy opener at home two weeks ago to Cornell, 14-12, despite yielding just three first downs to the Big Red. Last Saturday Lafayette came and stifled Yale in a 31-14 ball game. But the Elis have not lost three straight home games in one season since dropping all six in the 1997 campaign.

The Bulldogs have won the last six meetings with Dartmouth, including a 34-7 victory last year in Hanover. Four of the five Yale touchdowns came directly after a Big Green turnover. The best bet for Dartmouth to beat Yale would be to score at least 20 points — the Green are 24-1-1 against the Bulldogs when reaching that total. Yale owns the overall lead entering the 93rd game of the series, 50-36-6.

Big Green fans can listen to the local radio broadcast featuring Bob Lipman and Wayne Young '72 providing all the action on WFRD 99.3 FM and www.DartmouthSportsNetwork.com. The broadcast will begin at 11:30 a.m., one-half hour prior to the kickoff. Live stats of the game can be found on the official Dartmouth athletics web site, www.DartmouthSports.com. To watch the game online, Yale is offering the stream of the game for $6.95 on its web site, www.yalebulldogs.com.

Schedules