Granite Bowl Kicks Off Football Season at No. 11 UNH

Saturday, September 16

Durham, N.H. / Wildcat Stadium

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

New Hampshire

Nick Howard is aiming to lead the Big Green to a season-opening victory.

Photo by: Eli Burakian

Granite Bowl Kicks Off Football Season at No. 11 UNH

9/14/2023 5:10:00 PM | Football

Saturday, Sept. 16 FloSports Broadcast ($)Audio Broadcast Live Stats @DartmouthFTBL Series History Dartmouth Notes

The Big Green open the 2023 campaign with their in-state rival

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (0-0) at #11 New Hampshire (1-1)
Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 | 6 PM
Wildcat Stadium | Durham, N.H.
FloSports — Bob Lipman play-by-play, Sean McDonnell analyst
Audio — Brett Franklin play-by-play, Matt Corsetti analyst

141st Season Begins with Granite Bowl
While Dartmouth will be the absolute last NCAA team to kick off its season, the wait is worth it as the Big Green go up against their in-state rival, 11th-ranked New Hampshire. With the Wildcats' 14-0 victory in Hanover last year, they have taken a slim 20-19-2 lead in the all-time series.

On a solemn note, Dartmouth will be playing without Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach for the past 18 years, on the sideline as he continues to recover from a bicycle accident he suffered back in March. Not only will the team wear a BT decal on their helmets throughout the season, every team in the Ivy League will as well as a show of support for the Ancient Eight legend.

On the field, the Big Green return seven starters on offense, including four offensive linemen to protect QB Nick Howard. The fifth-year senior and captain has scored 24 touchdowns over the last two years, the sixth-most in program history, and has a chance to become one of the team's top-five rushers all-time with 1,312 yards to his credit to date.

Dartmouth has deployed a two-quarterback platoon of sorts over the past five seasons, so expect to see Dylan Cadwallader or Jackson Proctor behind center at various times throughout the game as well, though Howard certainly won't be exclusively a runner, having thrown for 730 yards a year ago.

Q Jones returns after picking up 410 yards — second on the team to Howard — with a 5.6-yard average per carry, and the Green have a plethora of talented running backs to back him up, including captain Tevita Moimoi.

Injuries were a problem for the receiving corps last year, but now the group is deep as well as talented, led by WR Paxton Scott, who needs just 104 receiving yards to become the 24th player in Big Green history with 1,000 in a career. And with Jarmone Sutherland and Isaac Boston, along with TE Jace Henry, Dartmouth has plenty of seniors to target with its passes.

On the other side of the ball, FS Quinten Arello and LB Macklin Ayers provide leadership as the other captains of the squad. Arello was an All-Ivy Second Team selection last year while Ayers led the league in tackles per game (10.0). Up front, fifth-years Charles Looes and Hank Knez will supply the pressure on the edges of the defensive line while Josiah Green will attack from within. Like the receivers, the secondary suffered through numerous injuries last year, leaving this year's squad bursting with experience in pass coverage.

On special teams, Davis Golick provides a steady presence and a swift leg as the Big Green punter, while a pair of strong-legged freshmen in Owen Zalc and Matisse Weaver will battle it out for place-kicking duties. And with veteran LS Josh Greene back for one more season, the kicking game should run smoothly.

Scouting the Wildcats
New Hampshire enters the weekend ranked 11th in the national polls having soundly defeated Stonehill, 51-17, before suffering a hard-fought 45-42 loss at FBS Central Michigan on a 47-yard field goal as time expired.

With 93 points in just two games, the Wildcats obviously have offensive firepower, beginning with quarterback Max Brosmer, who threw for nearly 500 yards last weekend. For the season, he has a QB rating of 191.96 with 777 yards and nine touchdowns against just one pick.

Preseason All-American Dylan Laube heads up the running game, averaging 5.2 yards per carry with a pair of scores. But he was a bigger weapon as a receiver last week, hauling in 12 passes for a whopping 295 yards — 261 of which came after the catch — with two TDs. He even has a 58-yard punt return for six points this year.

Other targets for Brosmer include Caleb Burke (six catches), Logan Tomlinson, D.J. Linkins and Kyle Lepkowski (five apiece), but Laube has more than 40 percent of the receiving yards (326) to lead the team.

After playing an FBS opponent, the defensive numbers can be a bit skewed having allowed 31.0 points per game after two weeks. Linebacker Ryan Toscano is a force with a team-best 14 tackles, 2.5 of which have gone for a loss including one of the squad's three sacks.

Up front, Dylan Ruiz showed some quickness at defensive end with six tackles and a sack against the Chippewas. And safety Joe Eichman has performed well with two of UNH's three interceptions thus far.

Special teams have been quite good, even without considering Laube's TD return of a punt. Punter Sean Lehane is averaging 46.5 yards on eight boots, Nick Mazzie has a 47-yard field goal to his credit and the Wildcats blocked a punt and a field goal attempt against Stonehill.

Rick Santos (UNH '08) is in his third season as the head coach with a record of 16-10. His first year at the helm was in 2019 on an interim basis before taking the reins in 2022, earning a share of the CAA title along with a first-round win in the FCS Playoffs. As a player, Santos set numerous program records as the quarterback, throwing for over 12,000 yards, and he earned the 2006 Walter Payton Award as the top FCS offensive player.

Interim Head Coach
With Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach and winningest coach in program history with 117 victories, unavailable to coach this fall as he recovers from injuries suffered in a bicycle accident in March, his longtime assistant, Sammy McCorkle, will direct the Big Green in 2023. When Teevens returned to Hanover for his second stint as the Dartmouth head coach in 2005, McCorkle was on that staff.

Co-Captains
Dartmouth is employing four captains for just the fifth time in program history. Two of those captains — S Quinten Arello and QB Nick Howard, both fifth-year players — are the first teammates to serve together in that capacity a second time. Joining those veterans on the leadership team are senior LB Macklin Ayers and senior RB Tevita Moimoi.

Helmet Decals
Dartmouth will sport a pair of decals on their helmets to honor two members of the team. One will have "JB" for offensive lineman Josh Balara '24, who passed away in March after battling cancer The other will read "BT" for Buddy Teevens, who — as noted above — is sitting out the 2023 campaign as he recovers from his injuries. The Big Green won't be the only team sporting the BT decal as all eight Ivy League teams will wear it throughout the fall in a show of support.

12 Straight Season-Opening Wins
Dartmouth enters the 2023 season with the longest active win streak on opening day having defeated its opponent to start each of the past 12 campaigns. Of those 12 victories, only two were decided by single digits — 30-23 over Butler in 2013 and 22-21 over this week's opponent, New Hampshire, in 2016 when the Wildcats were ranked 22nd in the country.

727 Wins All-Time
Back in 2018, Dartmouth won its 700th game, becoming just the sixth FCS teams to reach the milestone. That win came two games after playing its 1,200th contest as well. Now after 140 seasons and 1,239 games, the Big Green have posted a record of 727-466-46, a winning percentage of .605. Only 19 FCS teams can boast a win percentage of .600 or better (minimum 10 seasons). And only five teams have more victories.

Greene on Good Works Team
Allstate and the America Football Coaches Association (AFCA) announced their annual Good Works Team to recognize 22 football student-athletes for their community service on Sept. 12, and fifth-year long snapper Josh Greene was among those selected for the prestigious team. Among his charitable works is founding Off the Bench Foundation, an organization that has collected and donated nearly $10,000 worth of sporting goods to the Boys & Girls Club in West Palm Beach since 2012.

100th Anniversary of Memorial Field
Memorial Field first opened for the 1923 season, making this the 100th anniversary of the home facility of Dartmouth football. In the first 100 years, 425 games have been played on the field with the Big Green sporting a 273-144-8 record (.652 winning percentage). In the first 17 years of the facility, Dartmouth won 71 of the 78 games on its home field with one tie (.917), including a program-record 21-game home winning streak from 1929-33. That mark was threatened in 1968-72 with 17 straight triumphs in Hanover. More recently, the Green enjoyed a 10-game win streak during 2017-19.

A Decade-Plus of Success
Dartmouth football returned to prominence throughout the 2010s decade, recording a record of 70-30 (.700) over the 10 years. Only eight teams enjoyed a higher winning percentage in that span. And with a third consecutive 9-1 season in 2021, the Big Green enjoyed more victories over a span of three seasons (27), four (35), five (39), six (48) and seven (56) than at any point in their history. Dartmouth has also added three Ivy League titles since 2015 to boost its conference-record total to 20 crowns since the league first officially formed for the 1956 season.

Preseason Poll
The Ivy League Preseason Media Poll was revealed last month with Dartmouth picked to finish where it ended last year — in sixth place. But generally speaking, the media has a tendency to underestimate the Big Green; Dartmouth has finished higher than its prognosticated place in 11 of the last 13 years, including 2021 when the team ended up sharing the title after being picked third. The Green certainly plan on making that 12 of the last 14 years.

National Polls
The national polls don't generally give Dartmouth much credit in the preseason as well. But in three of the last four seasons, the Big Green have ended up ranked in the final polls, which counts quite a bit more. In 2018, the Big Green ended the season listed 15th by the coaches and 18th by Stats Perform. That AFCA ranking was the highest for Dartmouth since the Division I classification split into two subdivisions in 1978. In 2019, the Green managed to be ranked 21st by the AFCA and 22nd by Stats Perform. And just two years ago, Dartmouth ended the year 20th in the Stats Perform poll and 23rd by the AFCA. It marked the sixth time Dartmouth ended up in the final national FCS polls, the other years being 1990 (17th), 1996 (17th) and 2015 (23rd).

Still All-TIme Ivy Champs
Since the Ivy League began play in 1956, no other school in the conference has won more football titles than Dartmouth with 20. The last time an Ancient Eight squad had more crowns than the Big Green was in 1961 when Yale had a grand total of two. The next season, Dartmouth equaled that amount and has never looked up at another team since. But Penn isn't far behind with 18 titles, while Harvard and Yale both have 17.

Returning All-Ivy Players
Dartmouth had five players earn All-Ivy League honors after the 2022 season, three of which return to the field this fall. Safety Quinten Arello was a second-team selection, while OL Nicholas Schwitzgebel and TE Jace Henry received honorable mention. But te Green also have three others who have garnered All-Ivy consideration in previous years in QB Nick Howard on the first team, LB Marques White on the second team and WR Paxton Scott getting honorable mention, all in 2021.

Preseason All-Ivy Nods
Phil Steele released three preseason All-Ivy League teams with a dozen Big Green players listed, led by S Quinten Arello, LB Macklin Ayers and long snapper Josh Greene on the first team, while RB Q Jones, DE Charles Looes, OL Nicholas Schwitzgebel, WR Paxton Scott and DB Sean Williams were among those on the second team. The third team included QB Nick Howard, LB Braden Mullen, C Thomas Hartnett and OL Konstantin Spörk.

Shut-Down Defense
Dartmouth has become known for its stellar defense in recent years, ranking 13th among FCS teams in fewest points allowed last year after finishing second in both 2018 and 2019 and third in 2021.

Howard Climbing the Charts
Quarterback Nick Howard enters the 2023 season 11th on Dartmouth's all-time scoring list with 144 points thanks to 24 touchdowns over the past two seasons. He also has 1,312 rushing yards in his career, and with another 500 would vault into the Big Green top four.

Last to Kick Off
The Ivy League football schedule always starts a couple weeks after the rest of Division I, and the Big Green are no strangers to watching everyone else play before it kicks off. For the sixth time since 2012, Dartmouth will be the last NCAA team to begin its season with the 6 p.m. kickoff in the Granite Bowl.