11:10 p.m. -- Here it is ...
Game Day
By Bruce Wood
www.biggreenalert.com
Hanover -- Game on.
Three weeks of four-day-a-week spring practice come to a conclusion for the Dartmouth football team with Saturday's 11 a.m., Green-White scrimmage and the players sound almost as excited at the prospect as their coach.
Credit the new format where the players drafted their own teams for a good part of that enthusiasm.
"We pretty much already did the (offense vs. defense) Green and White type deal last Saturday," said defensive lineman Mike Rabil. "That was good for us to get evaluated and compete. But playing against each other brings another level of excitement to it.
"This way we get to cheer for the offense instead of rooting against the offense. The guys are pretty pumped about it."
Count tailback Jason Bash among the pumped.
"It's a lot better," he said of the regular game format. "Offense-defense is how we do it every practice. This is a nice change. Now we get to root for the defense too, which we don't really get to do.
"But," he reasoned, "it's going to be tough for me. I'm gonna root for (White tailback) Milan (Williams), but then I'm also going to be saying, 'Let's go Green D.'"
On being told that Rabil would be rooting for the offense and Bash for the defense, Teevens smiled.
"That's part of the reason to do it this way," he said. "Sometimes it's very polarized, offense-defense. When you put it together like this there's a cohesiveness that is important.
"You have to count on both sides for your team to be successful. I keep telling the guys that. We will have success based on the way the entire football program executes on Saturdays. It's not one side does its job and the other one doesn't."
Which is not to say the two teams are going to take it easy on the other side Saturday. Not in the game. And not in the pregame smack talk.
"We're ready to go and we are going to run all over those guys," Bash said, with, and he's not going to like this, almost a twinkle in his eye. "We had a smart draft. We picked up a strong defensive line with Rabil and (Brian) Osimiri in the middle. We'll have a strong run D and run all over them.
"We're gonna rush for 150 or 160 yards. And we're going to go deep. We'll pound it, pound it and then go deep to Phil Galligan. That's how we're going to do it. I think we'll win by 2-3 touchdowns if we play long enough. Let's just say the White team is going to be struggling."
In a moment of candor, Green teamer Rabil said, "The teams are pretty evenly matched, actually."
And who should be favored? "Obviously the Green team," he said with a smile.
What will happen is anybody's guess, but if the scoreboard happens to light up a bit more than it did last fall, that will be fine with Teevens.
"We'd like to see it productive," he said. "It would be fun to score some points and I think that could happen.
"We're simplifying the defense and there will be guys not used to playing next to each other so it might be advantage offense in that regard. We'll throw the ball a fair amount.We'll grade the quarterbacks on decision making as well as accuracy. Defensively, I'm sure the guys will be flying around what I'm looking for is tackling. People who make tackles."
AND THE CAPTAINS ARE ... to be announced following the scrimmage. Voting took place after Friday's practice. ... To be announced at halftime of the scrimmage are the most improved players (by class) as well as those who made the largest strength gains in the offseason.
AND THE QUARTERBACKS ARE ... live. Or maybe they aren't. "As we speak," Teevens said early Friday evening, "we're going live with the QB's. But we'll see how I sleep tonight and go over that tomorrow."
AND THE REST OF THE GAME IS ... live. "It really is a live deal," said Teevens. "We'll cut block inside. We'll cut block outside."
FRIDAY'S PRACTICE WAS ... "Fairly good for the first time we've gone back to back," the coach said. "You could see the guys are excited about playing. We threw the ball fairly well today but dropped it too often. We have to correct that on Saturday. As I told the guys, we will grade this, we'll evaluate assignments. (We're looking for) guys who take care of business and do what they've been coached to do during the course of the spring, and guys who make plays and play with enthusiasm."
SATURDAY'S FANS WILL INCLUDE ... a dozen or so members of the incoming freshman class and their families. Parents from Montana, Texas and Pennsylvania were among those in attendance at Friday's practice.
INJURY UPDATE: Teevens confirmed Friday that tailback Chad Gaudet, expected to be the primary ballcarrier last fall until being lost for the season on his first carry, will miss this entire season. "He had a significant injury," the coach said. "He's ahead of schedule and he's optimistic but it's a tough deal."
Gaudet took a Colgate helmet to the outside of the knee and suffered a compression fracture that knocked down the tibula plateau. Bone grafts, plates and screws are normally required to repair that kind of injury.
HITTING THE ROAD Following the scrimmage, Dartmouth's assistants will hit the road for spring recruiting. Teevens will be around for another week before heading out himself.
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