There are stories galore on tomorrow's groundbreaking Washington-Cleveland NFL game featuring former Dartmouth assistants Jennifer King and Callie Brownson, including one at the NFL.com site (LINK)
Check out this video roundtable:
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Week 2 of Dartmouth's virtual season has the Big Green playing host to Holy Cross in 2017. Dartmouth is 1-0 after a 22-21 over No. 22 New Hampshire in 2016.
You can watch Dartmouth's replay of the game with commentary from Don Dobes, the Big Green's defensive coordinator, as well as former running back Ryder Stone and defensive lineman Jeremiah Douchee HERE or below today at 1:30:
As was the case last week, BGA is joining the party by reposting the 2017 game preview today and the game story tomorrow. Both stories are exactly as they appeared on BGA Premium, typos, errors, occasional grimace-inducing sentences and all. ;-)
Holy Cross Will Provide A Big Test
BGA Premium, Sept. 22, 2017
HANOVER – With arguably the best quarterback Dartmouth will see this year, five of its top six ground gainers back from a year ago, several talented and experienced receivers in the fold, three huge starters returning on the offensive line and six starters back on the defensive side, Holy Cross figured to present a tough challenge this year.
Then the Crusaders bullied FBS member Connecticut before fading at the end of a 27-20 loss that they had in hand until the Huskies wore them down in the final quarter.
A week later Holy Cross pitched a shutout in its Patriot League opener at Bucknell, 20-0.
And if there were any questions remaining about whether the Crusaders were for real, they seemingly answered them last week with a 51-26 thrashing of No. 9 New Hampshire.
“They are a very good team,” said Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens in the run-up to Saturday night’s opener. “They are senior-dominated with a lot of guys who have taken a lot of snaps and they have a very, very talented quarterback in Peter Pujals, who I’ve known from two years at the Manning camp.”
Holy Cross comes into Hanover at No. 25 in both of the major FCS polls, the Crusaders’ first time being ranked since 2010. Their win over New Hampshire was their first against a Top-10 opponent since they beat No. 10 Lehigh in 2005.
One week after his team's sluggish performance in the opening half of a 38-7 win at an overmatched Stetson team, Teevens stressed how important it is to set the early tone against the high-octane Crusader attack.
“We have got to control things better than we did offensively in the first half against Stetson,” he said. “We’ve got to mix it up more, be effective with our pass action and be good with our protection. We’ve got to hold onto the football and not turn it over and give them opportunities the way we did last week.”
Steering the Crusader ship is Pujals, the fifth-year senior (and four-year captain) who has passed for 9,822 yards and 73 touchdowns and run for 1,606 yards and 16 TDs in his career. Dartmouth learned all about him early on when he passed for 290 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 125 and two more while leading Holy Cross to a 31-28 win on Memorial Field as a freshman in 2013. He broke his leg in early in the second quarter of Dartmouth’s 35-10 win in Worcester last year after completing 12-of-18 passes for 90 yards and a touchdown.
Back for a fifth year because of the injury against Dartmouth, Pujals completed 33 passes for 358 yards against UConn and last week tossed five TDs against New Hampshire. As dangerous as he can be, he’s hardly a one-man show.
“The passing game is their bread-and-butter,” said Teevens, “but they have three very good running backs, so they can mix the run and the pass."
Diquan Walker leads the Crusaders on the ground with 41.3 yards per game and a solid 5.4-yard average with fifth-year senior Gabe Guild next at 37.3 yards and 5.6 per. Miles Alexander, who ran for a team-high 54 yards against UNH, averages 30.3 yards per game. Pujals hasn’t yet done the kind of damage on the ground Dartmouth has seen from him in the past, running for just 31 yards in gains and just one yard net, but he’s always a threat to run or keep plays alive with his feet.
A good pitcher is no good without a good catcher and Holy Cross has two in Blaise Bell, who latched on to 10 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown against UConn, and Richie DeNicola, who had 10 for 87 against the Huskies. Dorsey Martin, who has an 86-yard reception to his credit, averages a whopping 24.3 yards on his nine catches.
Defensively the Crusaders have been opportunistic, forcing nine fumbles and recovering six. Add in an interception and they have seven turnovers that have resulted in four touchdowns and two field goals. The only turnover they did not convert into a score came on an interception on the final play at Bucknell. They are 10th in the nation in the all-important third-down defense statistic.
Linebacker Nick McBeath leads Holy Cross with 34 tackles, two sacks and four tackles for loss. The returning All-Patriot League standout had 14 tackles against New Hampshire. Fellow LB Brady Ryan has 32 tackles with two sacks and for stops behind the line.
While Holy Cross hasn’t traditionally been a defensive juggernaut under head coach Tom Gilmore – the former Ivy League player of the year as a D-lineman at Penn and longtime Dartmouth defensive coordinator – it has been solid this fall.
“They are similar to the way they have been,” said Teevens. “They are little bit more pressure-oriented than they were in the past.
“They’ve got good football players. Their cover guys are doing a good job. Their front guys are pushing hard. The linebackers are good cover people and they pressure as well. They are good football team. They are well coached and well-designed. And they execute it well.”
Special teams have been a strength in Holy Cross’ success to date with kicker AJ Wells hitting 7-of-8 field goal attempts with a long of 46, and two punters averaging 39.9 yards. With help from Darrius Lacy’s 80-yarder the Crusaders are averaging 26.7 yards per kickoff return. They also have the edge over their opponents in punt returns.
Teevens knows the Big Green will have a challenge in the 80th game of a series that has only next year’s game lined up before going into an undetermined hiatus.
“We need to start fast and control the football,” he said. “We need a good game from (quarterback) Jack Heneghan and have to play an A-plus game overall.”
Aiding the Dartmouth cause is the anticipated return of receivers Hunter Hagdorn and Charles Mack, who both sat out the Stetson game because of injury. Tailback Miles Smith could also make his season debut.
“Having those guys back will give us a boost,” said Teevens. “We’ve also got one game behind us, which should make a difference against a real good team.”
NOTES
Dartmouth leads the all-time series between the teams, 38-37-4. … The Big Green has won two in a row and three of four. … Teevens is 4-12 against Holy Cross while Gilmore is 8-3 against the Big Green. … The old rivals have met every year since 2000 with the exception of 2015. Holy Cross has a 9-7 record against Dartmouth during that span.
The Crusaders were picked fourth in the Patriot League preseason poll while the Big Green was voted fifth in the Ivy poll. … Dartmouth will be putting an eight-game nonconference winning streak on the line. The last loss to a non-Ivy team was on Sept. 27, 2014 at New Hampshire (52-19). The last home loss to a non-Ivy was Oct. 19, 2013 against Bucknell of the Patriot League (17-14).
The Big Green’s 324 yards rushing against Stetson last week were the most since a 330-yard outburst at Cornell in 2012. … Stetson’s meager 94 yards of total offense were the fewest by a Dartmouth opponent since Holy Cross had 92 in a 48-0 win over Holy Cross in 1992. … Stetson’s minus-three yards on the ground are the fewest by a Dartmouth opponent since UNH had minus-35 in a 56-6 win in 1965.
Jack Heneghan is 10th all-time in Dartmouth passing yards at 2,835. He needs 108 yards to pass Frank Polsinello ’84 for ninth place. He’s tied with Jim Chasey ’71 for total offense with 3,119 yards. … Ryder Stone needs 77 yards to become the 28th player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard mark. He needs four more scores on the ground to become the 10th player in school history to have 20 career rushing touchdowns.
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EXTRA POINT
Composer George Gershwin was born on this date in 1898. By total coincidence, last night Mrs. BGA and I continued our pandemic movie viewing by watching a recording we made months ago of the 1951 musical comedy An American in Paris, which was inspired by Gershwin's famous 1928 composition of the same name and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. An American in Paris has long been one of my favorite musical compositions.
And for those of you who can't make it to northern New England for leaf-peeping this year, here's the view out our side yard to Mt. Moosilauke in the distance. Trust me, the colors are more brilliant than they show in this shot. We're still not at "peak" but it's getting closer. It's actually my favorite time when the reds are starting to pop and there are still greens for contrast. While the blue sky is pretty, a lightly overcast sky actually makes for better "leave looking."
(Click the photo to enlarge it.)
