Dartmouth Hunting Lions in the Big City This Weekend

DARTMOUTH (5-0, 2-0) at
COLUMBIA (3-2, 0-2)
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018 | 1:30 PM | SNY/ESPN+
Lawrence A. Wien Stadium | New York, N.Y.

Coming off its second shutout of the season, the Dartmouth Big Green are hunting big game this week on the road at Columbia as they attempt to not only remain one of the four unbeaten FCS teams, but also end a rare personal two-game skid against the Lions.

This is just the fourth winning streak Columbia has ever had in the series, topping out at four consecutive victories from 1998-2001. Each of the last three meetings have been tight affairs with the two teams separated by no more than five points, including Dartmouth's 13-9 win in 2015.

The Big Green have not had to endure a close game yet this season, winning every game by a minimum of 20 points as they rank 12th nationally in scoring offense (39.0 ppg) and third in scoring defense (9.2 ppg). No opponent has even been within fewer than 24 points entering the fourth quarter as the Dartmouth reserves have seen quite a bit of action late in games.

This past Saturday was no exception as Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Coach, unloaded his bench after the Green took a 35-0 lead after the first possession of the second half. Dartmouth did have its streak of scoring in every quarter this season end in the final 15 minutes, but enjoyed its largest shutout victory since a 56-0 triumph in 2013 … against Columbia.

No one player stood out statistically for Dartmouth as it racked up a season-high 531 yards of offense, though Jared Gerbino had a hand in four touchdowns, throwing for two and running for two more. The TD tosses were the first two of the wildcat QB's career, and he matched his career total entering the game with three completions for 63 yards.

Derek Kyler split time behind center with Gerbino, and continued his efficient ways by completing 9-of-12 passes for 126 yards with a 17-yard scoring strike. The sophomore currently leads all FCS quarterbacks in completion percentage (74.2) and ranks third in efficiency rating (178.82).

Nine different receivers caught a pass, led by Hunter Hagdorn with 80 yards on four grabs, one ending in the end zone. He is tied for the team lead with three TD receptions (along with TE Connor Rempel), while Drew Hunnicutt has the most catches (17) and yards (343) for the Big Green.

The running game was even more spread out with a dozen players gaining ground, led by Gerbino and WR Drew Estrada with 43 yards apiece. Meanwhile, RB Caylin Parker added 41 yards and four others had at least 20 as Dartmouth amassed 277 rushing yards in all. Gerbino, Parker and Rashaad Cooper all have between 225 and 250 yards on the season.

Even with all of that offense, the defense still managed to stand out. No fewer than 30 players recorded a tackle, led by NBs Kyran McKinney-Crudden and John Pupel with six apiece. Lineman Niko Lalos had the lone sack and the nation's leader in interceptions and passes defended per game, CB Isiah Swann, broke up two throws. The Big Green's leading tackler, LB Jack Traynor had a modest four stops as Dartmouth held the Pioneers to 172 total yards, the second time this season it has kept an opponent under 200 (both in the shutouts).

Scouting the Lions
Columbia has dispatched all three of its opponents outside of the Ivy League, but struggled to put points on the board in the two conference games thus far, dropping 45-10 and 13-10 decisions to Princeton and Penn, respectively. The Lions had an opportunity to at least send the game into overtime against the Quakers in the waning seconds, but an interception at the Penn 20 with seven seconds left derailed those plans.

The offense ranks among the bottom third in the NCAA in total yards, rushing and scoring, and nearly the bottom third in passing. Quarterback Josh Bean returned to the field two weeks ago after missing a pair of games. He has been a solid performer thus far, completing 60-of-97 passes (61.9 pct.) for 597 yards and four touchdowns with the one interception at Penn. Mostly a pocket passer, Bean has only 11 rush attempts for a total of minus-2 yards.

The running game has featured mostly freshman Dante Miller and Lynnard Rose. Miller averages 5.3 yards on his 57 carries with one touchdown, while Rose hasn't quite blossomed yet, picking up less than 3 yards on his 51 rushes. Six of the seven scores on the ground are courtesy of QB Ty Lenhart, all from 1 or 2 yards out.

Bean has a good tandem of receivers to throw to as well in Kyle Castner and Ronald Smith who have combined for 47 catches for 500 yards and a pair of TDs. Rose has shown soft hands out of the backfield as well, snaring 13 tosses for 93 yards and two scores. But Columbia lost a big playmaker for the season when Josh Wainwright suffered a torn ACL in week one.

Free safety Ryan Gilbert heads up the defense with 47 tackles, a total which ranks second in the Ivy League, and one of the Lions' three interceptions. The pass rush is dominated by DE Daniel DeLorenzi with 4.0 sacks to tie for the league lead, and corner Ben McKeighan has defended four passes to match Gilbert.

Place kicker Chris Alleyne has been as reliable as anyone in the conference, converting all 13 PATs and 9-of-10 field goals, including 4-of-5 from 40 or more yards. Drew Schmidt has provided 35.3 yards per punt, but Columbia ranks in the bottom 15 nationally in net punt average. The return game is headlined by Will Allen, 13th in the FCS at 27.0 yards per return,

Columbia is in its fourth season under the guidance of the dean of Ivy League coaches, Al Bagnoli, who spent 23 seasons crafting a legacy at Penn. The Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football built a 148-80 mark with the Quakers, including a 112-49 record in conference play while boasting nine league titles before retiring from his post in Philadelphia. Now in his 37th season as a head coach, Bagnoli sports an overall record of 251-117 with a mark of 16-19 since joining the Lions.

Last Year's Meeting
For the second straight year, Dartmouth reached the halfway point with an unblemished 5-0 record. But the Big Green are looking to avoid the same fate as last year's squad, which came up just short against Columbia, 22-17. The Lions jumped out to a 16-0 lead at the half and entered the fourth quarter up 15 points at 22-7. David Smith booted a 33-yard field goal in the first minute of the final period, and Drew Estrada hauled in a 38-yard TD pass with about seven minutes to play. On the next Big Green possession, they had a 1st-and-goal at the Columbia 6, only to have two penalties derail the scoring opportunity. But Dartmouth got one more chance, once again marching inside the 10, but with a mere 17 seconds to play. A huge sack ended up being the game's final play as the Green did not have any timeouts left, the referees spotted the ball at the wrong yard line and could not get the right spot before the clock expired.

Nationally Ranked
One of the last four undefeated FCS teams left this season, Dartmouth became the last of the four to find its way into the national rankings, debuting this week at No. 24 in the AFCA Coaches' Poll. This is the first time the Big Green have been among the top 25 since the conclusion of the 2015 campaign when they were 23rd in the STATS FCS poll and 24th in the coaches' poll. The STATS poll still has Dartmouth on the outside looking in this year as the second team listed receiving votes.

Second Shutout of Season
The Big Green opened the season with a 41-0 blanking of Georgetown, then one-upped themselves against Sacred Heart — literally — with a 42-0 whitewashing of the Pioneers. It was the largest margin of victory for Dartmouth since a 49-7 win against … Sacred Heart in 2015, and the largest in a shutout since a 56-0 defeat of this week's opponent, Columbia, in 2013. Also, this is the first Big Green season with at least two shutouts since 1996 (2) when Dartmouth finished the year a perfect 10-0.

Cooking Up a Baker's Dozen
With the 42-0 win over Sacred Heart on Oct. 13, Dartmouth not only remained one of the four undefeated FCS teams in the country, but improved to 5-0 for the second straight year and third time in the last four seasons. Perhaps more noteworthy is that the Big Green have now ripped off 13 straight victories against teams from outside of the conference. It is the longest such streak for the Big Green since the Ivy League formed in 1956. Over the last 100 years, the Green have had only one other streak that was longer versus teams that didn't become members of the Ancient Eight — 26 from 1922-28.

Buck Buchanan Award Watch List
A 25-player watch list for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the FCS Defensive Player of the Year, was announced before the season, but STATS has added several players to the list, including junior CB Isiah Swann. That's what happens when you lead the nation in both interceptions (5) and passes defended per game (2.4). He joins fellow Ivy Leaguer Nick Miller of Penn, a linebacker who was a finalist for the Bushnell Cup last year, among the players on the list.

35-Point Half
On its way to a 42-0 victory over Sacred Heart on Oct. 13, Dartmouth scored 35 points in the first half, its highest-scoring half since putting 35 on the board against the Pioneers three years ago in a 49-7 triumph. Only two other games have featured a higher-scoring half for the Big Green since the Ivy League formed in 1956, both coming in the 1992 campaign — 36 in the second half in a 36-17 win over Penn, and 38 in the first half in a 48-0 victory at Holy Cross.

Home and Road Wins
Since the Ivy League formed in 1956, Dartmouth has almost exactly as many wins at home (164) as on the road (165). But don't think the Big Green have been better outside of Hanover; they have played 37 fewer games at Memorial Field than elsewhere in that span with a 164-112-5 mark at home (.593) compared to 165-145-6 (.532) on the road (and 1-0-1 at neutral sites).

Hagdorn 8 TDs in Last 8 Games
Junior Hunter Hagdorn missed the season opener, but essentially picked up where he left off last year upon returning to the field. The wide receiver caught at least one touchdown pass in the last four games of the 2017 season and, after failing to do in his first game at Holy Cross, has one in each of the past three contests, including a 17-yard haul in the end zone against Sacred Heart. He also moved into the Big Green top 10 in career receptions with 112, tying Mike Bobo '92 for 10th. He is still 21 behind receivers coach Dave Shula, who is eighth on the list.

First for Gerbino and Mangas
On the first Dartmouth drive against Sacred Heart, wildcat QB Jared Gerbino — who had thrown six passes in his career and completed just three — surprised the Pioneers by throwing a pass. Even more of a surprise was his target, freshman TE Robbie Mangas who caught the wide-open throw and easily found his way to the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown. It was the first catch (and TD) for Mangas, not to mention the first scoring toss for Gerbino, who would throw another before the end of the half and double his career completion total to six.

TD Passes in 16 Straight
That Gerbino-to-Mangas hookup not only put Dartmouth on the board against Sacred Heart, but also extended Dartmouth's streak of at least one TD pass to 16 straight games. That matches the program's longest streak of throwing at least one scoring strike originally set during the 2000-02 seasons. Dartmouth has also had a TD throw in 27 of its last 28 and 36 of its last 38 contests.

Dartmouth Takeaway
No team in the FCS has done a better job of taking away the football while also protecting it. Dartmouth has not turned over the ball even once in three of the first five games and have just three giveaways (one picks, two fumbles). The Big Green have not even turned it over on downs, going a perfect 9-for-9 to lead the FCS. On the flip side, Dartmouth has forced 12 turnovers (nine INTs, three fumbles), giving the team a turnover margin of plus-1.8, which also leads the nation.

Nobody Does It Better
Dartmouth is among the top FCS teams in a number of statistical categories this season, perhaps none more impressive than total defense. Opponents are averaging just 233 yards of offense against the Big Green defense, which has led to a mere 46 points. That works out to 9.2 points per game, which is third behind only two of the other three undefeated squads — Colgate (3.8) and Princeton (8.6).

Dirty Dozen Runnin'
In the 42-0 win over Sacred Heart, no fewer than 12 Dartmouth players gained at least one yard rushing the football, including junior LB Andrew Lemkuil who ran 24 yards on a fake punt. And yes, that's a lot for one season, let alone one game. The Big Green had 13 players gain ground at some point last year, but hasn't had more than nine do so in a season in the previous 15 years (and probably longer, but I have other things to do).

A Dozen 5-0 Starts
Well, there have been more than 12 5-0 starts for Dartmouth, but since Ivy play started in 1956, this is the 12th season to begin with a 5-0 record. Of the first 11, the Big Green won at least a share of the Ivy League crown seven times, most recently in 2015. A 6-0 start has happened just seven times in that span, and each one led to an Ivy title.

Historical Offense
Dartmouth reached the halfway point of the season averaging 39.0 points. Only once has a Big Green team topped 40 or more points per game over a full season, that coming in the national championship season of 1925 (42.5). The program record for total points scored is 364 set in 1992 with Jay Fiedler at quarterback bringing home an Ivy League championship. By the way, the legendary 1914 squad just missed 40 points a game (39.9) with 359 points in a nine-game season with All-American QB Milton Ghee running the offense.

Six Bits
While coaches love to say that they have to play hard for all four quarters (or 60 minutes), Dartmouth has found a way to make that statement excessive. Through the first five games, the Big Green have all but wrapped up each contest by building up a 24-point lead or greater by the time their opponent gets the ball in the fourth quarter. Of the 46 points allowed, 29 have come in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand. If you take the combined stats from those first three quarters and extrapolate those out, opponents would average only 156 yards of offense and eight first downs per game.

Slowing the Running Game
The Dartmouth defense has been particularly effective against the run game since the start of last year. Only four opposing players have rushed for even 50 yards in a game in that span (15 games) — two from Harvard and two from Yale — with the highest total by one rusher being 86 courtesy of the Crimson's Charlie Booker. The Big Green have allowed just 70.2 yards on the ground per game this year, which ranks third in the FCS.

Possession is 9/10ths of the Win
It is a good thing victories aren't totally dependent on how long a team has the ball as Yale ended up with the ball for eight more minutes than the Big Green (partly due to quick Dartmouth scores) in the 41-18 victory on Oct. 5. Even with that disparity, Dartmouth enters this weekend still leading the FCS in average time of possession at 34:48 per game.

Another 1,000-Yard Receiver
When senior Drew Hunnicutt hauled in a 47-yard bomb from Derek Kyler at Yale, it made him the 22nd Big Green player to top 1,000 yards in a career, and second member of the current team, joining junior Hunter Hagdorn. Entering the Columbia game, Hunnicutt has 66 catches for 1,045 yards (21st all-time) and seven touchdowns, while Hagdorn ranks 14th with 1,409 yards and 10 touchdowns on 112 grabs, the last figure tying him for 10th at Dartmouth.

Schedules