Instead of going through the Big Green unit by unit, I thought I'd focus on five things fans need to watch for to enjoy or at least be best prepared for the game this Saturday at Memorial Field.
1) Dalyn Williams can set up a La-Z-Boy in the backfield
The Big Green had to replace three starters on the O-line coming in to this season and there were concerns about how that would go down. There shouldn't have been. In every Dartmouth game this year, QB Dalyn Williams hasn't really had to use his scrambling ability to avoid the rush. It's uncanny to see how much time he has to throw or decide to run. I can't remember ever seeing pass protection that good. Let's give credit where credit is due. The O-line starters are junior Dave Morrison at LT, senior Joshua Clark at LG, senior Jacob Flores, (brother of injured Columbia Center Charlie Flores), at Center, senior Niko Mamula at RG, and junior Zach Davis at RT. The Tight Ends are sophomore Cameron Skaff and junior Blake Orvis.
2) Pass defense is really pass defense
Another thing I've never seen before in all my years of watching Ivy football is the way Dartmouth's secondary defends the pass by actually knocking down passes. It happens with such regularity, you have to wonder if the opposing QB's are really processing it. True athleticism in the secondary isn't about hitting WR's in the head or getting away with pass interference. This is what it's about and you'll see a lot of it Saturday if the trend holds.The big star here has been senior Free Safety Dave Caldwell, but senior CB Vernon Harris is a major weapon too.
3) Victor Williams could gain 200 yards
The senior WR tore up Columbia last year and is putting up crazy numbers this season. He's turned into Williams' favorite target and the passes he catches usually aren't of the short variety. He's fun to watch as long as you're not the guy who has to cover him.
4) Dartmouth's next rising star may be junior LB Folarin Orimolade.
He's a disruptor-like player who gets sacks, forces fumbles, and defends passes. He's a factor Big Green opponents weren't making allowances for before the season.
5) Remember when watching punt returns was fun?
Senior Ryan McManus continues a growing Dartmouth tradition of being a lethal punt returner. It's fun to see what he can do every time.
10 comments:
Pardon me Jake, but I remain dumbfounded by analysis here. It's your blog and you can say what you want, but how about pointing out what we need to do along the lines of what we had done against Fordham and Princeton to give Dartmouth a game? After all is said and done, why have you chosen to anoint half the Dartmouth team as worthy of being inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame? We may have laid a huge egg at Homecoming, but we happen to have guys who are actually good football players.
It is true Jake that your posts here appear fatalistic....that Dartmouth is invincible and almost superhuman. Yet they are ranked well below Fordham in FCS whom we gave a game through three quarters.
What scares me is how many times our secondary may get torched....is there anything Al can do to reduce this?
Response to Chen 1982. Roane is our best corner and he went down early in the Penm game. Plus whatever we were doing on the DL against Fordham and Princeton seemed to vanish against Penn. The best way to defend against the pass is to pressure the QB So we need to figure out what went wrong on the DL last week and fix it. Washington was coming back from an injury. If he is at 100% that will be huge. And Padilla needs to be more disruptive.
Sorry to sound "fatalistic" but Fordham was always completely in control of that game and the biggest factor against Princeton was the weather. For me, this is not a booster site. It's a place to express opinions about CU football. The players we have now are making a huge contribution to the program, win or lose. We all support them -- and we all call them like we see them.
Mitch S 68CC
I think all I have to say the rest of this season is GO LIONS. At least we broke the losing streak. There is a learning curve necessary for players this year, and also for staff, It's hard work, but there's joy as the reward--starting next season, if the work is done right--in practice, training, strategizing, recruiting. I'm confident the Lion program wants to succeed. Patience was not a virtue the last few years but it is now.
Dartmouth being who they are, there will,be no hold back on points scored.
However, I believe we can show them a fairly strong defense. If the guys take away any fury from Penn, we can certainly put up a respectable performance. Not guaranteed, but certainly possible.
I'm still trying to puzzle out the Penn debacle, but I'm fairly confident we have the potential to keep this a respectable game.
We all know it's a long road. A good showing here's worth it's weight.
We got our win. Everything else this year is a bonus. Looking forward to Cornell and to 2016.
PS ...Mitch
I was there. Fordham was NOT in control. Not until midway thru the 4th. I don't think they willingly let us get that close. Cal it a combo of good luck, under-estimation, whatever, but we hung in very well and we still have that potential.
Bottom line: at this stage of our progress those capabilities are there but not always available. If we rise to the occasion Saturday, Dartmouth is in for a nervous afternoon.
PS ...Mitch
I was there. Fordham was NOT in control. Not until midway thru the 4th. I don't think they willingly let us get that close. Cal it a combo of good luck, under-estimation, whatever, but we hung in very well and we still have that potential.
Bottom line: at this stage of our progress those capabilities are there but not always available. If we rise to the occasion Saturday, Dartmouth is in for a nervous afternoon.
Big Dawg is right about the Fordham game. Fordham got a huge home town call at the end of the first half in which a non-catch was called a TD. We were also the victims in of a few atrocious non-calls but basically killed them on both lines of scrimmage. They had better WRs and a pretty good QB, but we came within 4 late in the third quarter. What beat us was a few blown coverages by our DBs which led to the decisive Fordham scores.
There is nothing on this blog that compares to the review of the Penn game Bagnoli emailed this week. He was harsh and he doesn't seem to have adopted the Mangurian attitude that criticism equals disloyalty. We played poorly, very disappointing considering the large crowd and the chance to win some new fans. That said, we were down four vs. Fordham after three quarters and sacked their QB what, five times? That didn't happen because Fordham was in control. We can play better and hopefully will do so on Saturday. Go Lions.
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