Dartmouth Hosts Columbia Friday on ESPNU

Friday, October 25

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Columbia

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Photo by: Doug Austin

10/23/2019 10:00:00 AM | Football

Friday, October 25, 2019 Memorial Field ESPNU Audio Broadcast Live Stats @DartFootball Dartmouth Notes Columbia Notes

The 16th-ranked Big Green have won 17 of their last 18 games

By: Rick Bender

DARTMOUTH (5-0, 2-0)
vs. COLUMBIA (2-3, 1-1)
Friday, Oct. 25, 2019 | 6 PM | ESPNU
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.

The race for the Ivy League title heats up with the second half of the season as all eight teams have five conference games remaining on the schedule. For Dartmouth, a Columbia team that has given it fits over the past four years comes to Hanover looking to upset the 16th-ranked Big Green in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.

The Lions have won at Memorial Field just five times out of 41 trips here, and only twice since the late 1940s. It just so happens that one of those two wins came on their last journey to New Hampshire, 22-17, to hand Dartmouth its first loss of the 2017 season. The Green gained some revenge last year, however, with a 28-12 triumph in New York, snapping a rare two-game skid in the series.

Last week, Dartmouth had little trouble with Marist of the Pioneer Football League, handing the Red Foxes a 49-7 defeat. The Big Green scored two touchdowns in the first quarter — their fifth straight game with at least two — and built a 35-0 advantage by halftime. The second half was played almost exclusively by the reserves, including senior QB Jake Pallotta who threw his first career touchdown pass.

The offense is run primarily by Jared Gerbino who has shed his wildcat quarterback label to become the complete package. Not only does he lead the team in rushing with 225 yards on 37 carries (6.1 per), but he also has completed 71.9 percent of his 57 passes for 640 yards and nine touchdowns without an interception. Derek Kyler, last year's primary thrower, still has what it takes to be successful as shown by his 28 completions in 38 attempts (73.7 percent) with four scores.

Drew Estrada has taken over as the primary receiving target with 20 catches for 466 yards and six touchdowns. His 23.3 yards per catch ranks seventh in the nation, and he also does a little rushing on the side with a 10.4-yard average on 13 carries. Former Ivy League Rookie of the Year Hunter Hagdorn, fifth all-time at Dartmouth with 135 catches and eighth with 1,669 yards, gives the Green an excellent receiving combo, and a trio of tight ends have snared five scoring strikes as well.

Aside from Gerbino and Estrada, Caylin Parker and Dakari Falconer head up the running game as the primary running backs. Parker leads the team with four touchdowns while Falconer has averaged 6.1 yards on his 32 carries with two scores of his own. But Zack Bair was lost for the season to an injury against Penn after he had been an effective runner and receiver.

While the offense puts up more than 38 points a game, the defense has been steadfastly stingy, yielding 8.2 per contest, lowest in the FCS. A better barometer for how good this unit has been is the fact that opponents have managed to put a mere 10 points on the board in the first half. With the outcomes of Dartmouth's games generally decided by midway through the third quarter, the starting defense has been nearly perfect.

Linebackers Nigel Alexander and Jack Traynor lead the team in tackles while the latter has two touchdowns this year, one on a fumble recovery at Penn, the other on a pick-six last week at Marist. And with a veteran defensive line and All-America CB Isiah Swann back after missing the first three games, the Green are primed to continue their defensive domination.

Youth Sports Weekend
Youth grades 8 and below can attend both football and soccer for $4. Your ticket to Youth Sports Weekend, sponsored by Volvo Volkswagen of Lebanon, will get you a ticket to not only Friday night's football game vs. Columbia, but also tickets to both the men's and women's soccer double header on Saturday vs. Columbia as well as a free Dartmouth Football t-shirt on Friday for the first 200 kids in attendance. In addition, there is a special giveaway on Saturday for the first 100 kids in attendance, discounted food items, face painting and more!

Youth Sports Weekend

Youth grades 8 and below can attend both football and soccer for $4. Your ticket to Youth Sports Weekend, sponsored by Volvo Volkswagen of Lebanon, will get you a ticket to not only Friday night's football game vs. Columbia, but also tickets to both the men's and women's soccer double header on Saturday vs. Columbia as well as a free Dartmouth Football t-shirt on Friday for the first 200 kids in attendance. In addition, there is a special giveaway on Saturday for the first 100 kids in attendance, discounted food items, face painting and more!

Scouting the Lions
Columbia got off to a sluggish 1-3 start to its season but last week came to life with a convincing 44-6 homecoming victory over Penn to even the Lions' mark in Ivy League play at 1-1. Now the Lions are hoping that win propels them to bigger things.

The Columbia offense was averaging just over 16 points a game when it exploded against the Quakers after a quarterback change. Ty Lenhart started in place of Josh Bean and provided a dual threat, throwing for 158 yards on 14-of-20 passing while also running for 95 yards and two touchdowns. Bean is less mobile with minus-61 yards on the ground.

The Lions provide whoever is quarterbacking a solid group of receivers to throw to, beginning with Josh Wainwright with 22 catches for 249 yards and a score. Ronald Smith has missed the last two contests, but was averaging five grabs a game, and Mike Roussos does a little bit of everything as a solid return man as well.

The running game is headed up by Ryan Young, averaging 4.3 yards per carry, but as a team, Columbia has been held to under three yards per every rush attempt.

The defense is deep and provides plenty of pressure from everywhere with a dozen players taking part in 14 sacks this season among the team's 34 tackles for a loss. Watch out for end Daniel DeLorenzi on the pass rush with his team-best 3.0 sacks. Safety Ben Mathiasmeier not only leads the team with 34 tackles but also has one of the Lions' two interceptions.

On special teams, Roussos has been dynamic averaging over 21 yards per punt return and nearly 24 on 11 kickoff returns. Place kicker Alex Felkins has been better the further he goes with a pair of field goals of at least 50 yards, but is just 2-of-5 from shorter distances. The Lions always have a good punter, and Drew Schmid is no exception with an average of 37.2 yards per boot.

Columbia is in its fifth season under the guidance of the dean of Ivy League coaches, Al Bagnoli, who spent 23 seasons crafting a legacy at Penn by winning nine Ivy League titles. Now in his 37th season as a head coach, the Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football sports an overall record of 256-122 with a mark of 21-24 since joining the Lions.

ESPNU In The Woods
For the third time in the past two seasons, Dartmouth will play a nationally televised game on ESPNU when it hosts Columbia on Friday night. But this is the first time the Worldwide Leader has come to Hanover to broadcast a game on one of its networks in 29 years. Hopefully the result turns out better for the Big Green than it did in 1990 when Penn left Memorial Field with a 16-6 victory. WARNING: An ESPN+ subscription will not give you access to the online stream of the game. In order to watch online, you will need to have a cable or satellite subscription that includes ESPNU and log in to your provider.

The Series
• Dartmouth has had more success historically against the Lions than any other Ivy League team with a record of 69-19-1.
• Dartmouth has a 36-5 record at Memorial Field against the Lions, winning seven of the last eight.
• The two teams have met on the gridiron every year since 1942 with the Big Green sporting a 61-15-1 mark in that time.
• Buddy Teevens has won 16 of the 19 games he has coached against Columbia, with only one loss coming in Hanover, but is just 4-10 against Al Bagnoli-coached teams.
• Dartmouth enjoyed a 26-game unbeaten streak in the series from 1972-97, going 25-0-1.

Last Time Against Columbia
Having lost its previous two meetings with the Lions, Dartmouth did not want its fourth-ever losing streak against Columbia extended to three. The game did not begin well as the Lions scored first — the only team to do so since the start of the 2018 season — with a field goal. But the Big Green answered with a touchdown and never trailed again, though it was only 7-6 at the half. After the break, Dartmouth scored three straight touchdowns to pull away for a 28-12 win. The two trips to the end zone in the fourth quarter came on passes, the first to QB Derek Kyler from WR Drew Hunnicutt, the second from Kyler to TE Connor Rempel.

16 Straight Non-League Victories
With the 49-7 trouncing of Marist, Dartmouth has won its last 16 non-conference games dating back to the 2014 season, beginning with a 24-21 victory over Holy Cross. It is the longest such win streak for the Big Green during the Ivy League era that began in 1956. You would have to go back to the 1922-28 seasons to find a longer win streak against teams that did not eventually form the Ivy League (26). And the last six wins in the streak have been by an average of nearly 35 points.

Big Green Climb in Polls
After winning its first four games, Dartmouth made its debut at No. 21 in both the AFCA Coaches Poll and STATS FCS Poll. A week later and the Big Green find themselves ranked 16th by the coaches and 17th by STATS. The Big Green aren't the only Ivy League team in the rankings with Princeton ranked 13th in both polls and a showdown between the two at Yankee Stadium looming on Nov. 9.

Scoring Early and Often
• Dartmouth has scored at least one touchdown in the first quarter in each of its last 13 games.
• Since the start of the 2018 season, the Big Green have scored first in all but one contest (14 of 15 games). They have trailed for a total of only 15 minutes and 58 seconds in those games and not at all in 2019.
• The last time Dartmouth was shut out in the opening quarter was against Columbia here at Memorial Field two years ago.
• On the flip side, the Green have not allowed a score yet this season in the opening quarter, sporting a 77-0 advantage. The last time the program did not give up a single point in the first quarter over a full season came in 1970 (that team went undefeated and earned the Lambert Trophy).
• The point differential through three quarters is a robust 171-13. The defense has allowed one touchdown in the first three quarters (Penn).
• The last team to hold the Green without a touchdown was Yale back in 2011, a span of 81 games. The school record for scoring at least one TD is 109 consecutive games from 1961-73 (also the longest streak without being shut out).

Second Defensive POTW for Traynor
For the second time this season and third in his career, LB Jack Traynor has been named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week after his performance in the 49-7 victory at Marist. The fifth-year senior picked off two passes and returned them a total of 93 yards. The first return concluded after 55 yards in the end zone for his second touchdown of the year (fumble return at Penn) and gave the Green a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. A two-time captain and unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection, Traynor is making a case for the Bushnell Cup as the conference's defensive MVP.

Parker, Rempel Score Double
Both RB Caylin Parker and TE Connor Rempel scored two touchdowns in the 49-7 win at Marist, a career high for the former and matching one for the latter. They join TE Joe Kramer and WR Drew Estrada (twice) as players who have reached the end zone twice in a game this season. The last player with three TDs? Jared Gerbino actually had four rushing scores in the 54-44 season finale victory against Princeton in 2017.

Quick Hitters
• Dartmouth has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 25 of its last 26 games with the lone exception coming in last year's 24-17 win over Harvard.
• In those 26 games, the Big Green has thrown 50 TD passes and just 12 interceptions.
• No individual opponent has run for 100 yards versus Dartmouth since Princeton's Charlie Voelker in the 2016 season finale, a span of 25 games.
• The last 300-yard passer against the Green D? Princeton's Chad Kanoff in the 2017 finale.
• WR Drew Estrada is seventh in the FCS with 23.3 yards per catch and seventh with 14.7 yards per punt return (not to mention 16th in all-purpose yards per game at 137.8).
• The Dartmouth offense leads the FCS in converting third downs (61.0 percent), completion percentage (72.6) and passing efficiency (192.20).
• The defense is up there, too, leading the FCS in fewest points allowed (8.2) while ranking eighth in total defense (294.0 yards per game).
• Eleven of the Big Green's 27 touchdowns this year have traveled at least 30 yards with a long of 75 on a pass from Jared Gerbino to Estrada against Yale.
• Gerbino enters this weekend with 1,353 yards rushing in his career, which is 20th all-time and second among Dartmouth QBs (Dalyn Williams '16 had 1,494).
• Gerbino is also second all-time at Dartmouth with a rushing average of 5.68 yards per carry.
• Derek Kyler, on the other hand, has the highest career completion percentage in program history (minimum 1,500 yards) at 69.8 percent as well as the best career passing efficiency at 161.68.

Hagdorn Climbing the Charts
Junior wide receiver Hunter Hagdorn enters the game against Columbia with 135 receptions and 1,669 receiving yards, placing him fifth on Dartmouth's career receptions list and eighth in yardage. If he is to become the sixth player in Big Green history with 2,000 receiving yards, he will need to average just over 65 yards a game; he currently is at 36.5 per game this season.

Seven in a Row
Dating back to last season, the Big Green have won seven consecutive games. It may surprise some people to find out that is the third-longest win streak in the FCS going, behind only No. 1 North Dakota State (28 in a row) and Ivy League rival Princeton (15). The last team to beat the Tigers just happens to be Dartmouth in a wild 54-44 affair to end the 2017 season. Jared Gerbino ran for 202 yards and four touchdowns in the game, including the go-ahead score with one second on the clock.