Alert eyes have spotted a commitment Tweet from John Ballowe, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound linebacker from Collegiate School in Richmond, Va. Find the Tweet HERE and his highlights HERE. His self-reported list of offers per Twitter includes Columbia, the U.S. Naval Academy, West Point, VMI, Georgetown, Fordham, Campbell, Wofford and LIU.
Ballowe brings the list of identified Dartmouth football commits to nine. In alphabetical order they are:
• John Ballowe, 6-2, 215, LB, Collegiate School/Richmond, Va.
• James Coslet, 6-3, 255, OL/DL, Watchung Hills/Watchung, N.J.
• Cayman Duncan, 6-6, 295, OL, Kinkaid School/Houston
• Remington Gall, 6-4, 185, WR, Avon/Avon, Ind.
• Alex Geraci, 6-4, 215, TE/DE, Don Bosco/Cornwall, N.Y.
• Davis Golick, 6-2, 200, P, Woodward Academy/College Park, Ga.
• Sean Harmon, 6-5, 225, TE, Bishop Blanchet/Seattle
• Jackson Proctor, 6-2, 195, QB, Kent HS/Kentwood, Wash.
• Painter Richards-Baker, 6-2, 170, ATH, Christ SchoolArden, N.C.
Corrections, updates and additions aren't just accepted, but are encouraged and appreciated ;-)
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Associate head coach Sammy McCorkle and offensive coordinator Kevin Daft will be joined by wide receiver Drew Hunnicutt '19 and nickelback Kyran McKinney-Crudden '18 to discuss the strategies and plays that went into the game as well as their Dartmouth experience. Once again, the play-by-play announcer for Dartmouth Football on ESPN+, Tyler Murray, will host.
(Note the stream will be at 7 tonight.)
BGA Daily is reproducing previews for each revisited game as they appeared on the BGA Premium site. Apologies for typos, errors and grimace-inducing sentences, but this is what ended up on the site without an editor ;-)
Another High Flying Offense Will Test Dartmouth
BGA Premium, Oct. 7, 2017
HANOVER – For just the second time since 1970 – but the second time in three years – Dartmouth and Yale will bring unbeaten records into their annual meeting.
The Big Green can only hope Saturday’s game finishes the way the last one ended.
in 2015 the Bulldogs were flying high coming to Hanover with wins over Colgate, Cornell and Lehigh, but it was the Dalyn Williams air show bringing them back to earth as the Dartmouth quarterback passed for 435 yards and four touchdowns in a convincing, 35-3, win. Yale would go on to lose its next two Ivy League games and finish 3-4 on the conference while Dartmouth would close out the season 9-1 overall and earn a share of the Ivy League championship with a 6-1 conference mark.
The biggest difference between this year and that one? In 2015 Dartmouth came into the game having won all three of its games by at least three touchdowns, whereas this year its last two games have gone down to the wire.
The 2015 Bulldogs, meanwhile, squeaked by Colgate, 29-28, topped Cornell by just a touchdown and outlasted Lehigh, 27-12. This year they are the ones recording blowout wins with romps at Lehigh (56-28), over Cornell (49-24) and at Fordham (41-10).
Although Yale’s 48.7-point scoring average and unblemished slate have come against teams with a combined 1-12 record, Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens isn’t underestimating the Bulldog firing power or the sophomore at the controls.
“They are ranked in the top 10 in just about every offensive category and it all starts with the quarterback,” Teevens said. “He has really impressed me.”
After juggling quarterbacks last fall, Yale coach Tony Reno finally finally settled on 6-foot-2, 210-pound Kurt Rawlings, who started the final three games of the 2016 season. Although just a freshman, he helped engineer the team’s season-ending, confidence-building 21-14 win over Harvard by throwing two touchdown passes and running for 74 yards. Through three games this season he has been the most accurate passer in the nation, completing 76.2 percent of his attempts.
With freshman Zane Dudek running for 120 yards per game (at a 10.3-yard clip) and Deshawn Salter averaging 101 yards rushing (at a 9.2-yard clip), the Bulldogs sport a balanced attack that includes 275.7 yards per game on the ground and 206.7 yards through the air.
“(Rawlings) is throwing the ball accurately and his completion rate is basically unheard of,” said Teevens. “They’ve got two running backs that are very, very talented, a good corps of wide receivers, and an offensive line with experience that is playing well as a group.”
While the matchup of unbeaten Yale and Dartmouth teams is familiar to the Big Green’s upperclassmen, the matchup against an Ivy opponent racking up pinball numbers on offense is familiar to the entire team for one simple reason. It’s the second week in a row that Dartmouth has been involved in that scenario.
Eight days ago Dartmouth faced a Penn team that was first in the nation in total offense with 587 yards per game and second in scoring at 53.5 points per game. All the Big Green did on the nationally televised Friday night game was limit the Quakers to 13 points and 243 total yards. That performance has reinforced the confidence of the Dartmouth defense as well as that of the entire squad after last year’s disappointing finish.
“They know that we are a capable team,” said Teevens. “Certainly, Yale brings a different challenge for us than Holy Cross or Penn did, but the guys rise to the challenge. There’s a lot of trust and belief in each other. … They are amped up and ready to go.”
While the Yale offense is statistically among the nation’s best, the defense has been good –but not dominant– allowing 20.7 points per game (Dartmouth is allowing 15.3) and 368.7 yards per game (Dartmouth is surrendering 243.7).
The Bulldogs already have 15 sacks this year and lead the nation with 5.0 per game. They had just 16 sacks all of last year.
“They are keeping people off the board,” said Teevens. “They are not afraid to challenge you, so our wide receivers have got to get off press coverage. They will blitz on occasion, so we’ve got to be aware and block well with our backs.”
With four players claiming three sacks apiece and the team having made a whopping 27 tackles for loss the Dartmouth offensive line faces a big challenge, but one Teevens is confident it is ready for.
“I called them out for a year-and-a-half,” he said, “and they have come together. (Ben) Hagaman is playing more comfortably. Jack Anderson is playing more intelligently, under greater control, which is huge. The Kilcommons kids (Patrick and John) have grown a little bit and are more physical than they were. And (Matt) Kaskey is more seasoned with the experience he’s had.
“And then (Phil) Berton and (Andrew) Yohe come in right behind those guys with Justin Call. It’s huge to have guys that we can kind of roll in and spell them. They are all seasoned, have all played a little bit, and all play well together.”
A year ago Dartmouth took an early lead at Yale Bowl, 10-0, only to see the Bulldogs score two touchdowns in the final 3:09 of the first half to carry a 14-10 lead into the lockerroom on the way to a 21-13 win.
Reno is on the record as calling Dartmouth the best team Yale will have faced this fall. Teevens, likewise, is impressed with the Bulldogs.
“They are a very talented group,” he said. “They have touted their recruiting classes for the past five years. They’ve got some seasoned guys who are playing well. . . .
“They will be the best team that we’ve played to date and I think we will be the best team they have faced to date. So it should be a pretty good ballgame.’
NOTES
Yale ended a four-game Dartmouth winning streak in the series a year ago. Prior to the Big Green streak the Bulldogs had won nine straight. … Dartmouth’s win at Penn was the Big Green’s first victory on the final play of a game since Ted Perry’s 46-yard field goal with no time left clinched a 16-13 win at Harvard in 1971. … Dartmouth and Yale are two of the most penalized teams in the FCS. The Big Green has been flagged for an average of 82.7 yards per game and Yale for 84.7 yards. That ranks Dartmouth 104th of 123 teams nationally and Yale 106th.
Both teams have topped the 200-yard rushing mark in every game this fall with the Bulldogs running for 342 yards against Cornell. … Dudek, the freshman leading Yale in rushing, set the since-broken Western Pennsylvania single-game rushing record with 492 yards on 38 carries last fall. … Rawlings was 18-for-20 passing against Fordham. … While Dartmouth’s David Smith has had career-long field goals of 42 against Holy Cross and then 43 against Penn, Yale’s Alex Galland hasn’t split the uprights on a field goal yet this fall, missing from 24 and 47 yards. He is, however, 18-of-19 on PATs and is averaging a healthy 41.6 yards per punt.
The game features two of the more exciting punt returners you’ll see. Yale’s Jason Alessi hasn’t broken one yet this fall but he has had 80- and 82-yard returns for touchdowns in his career. Dartmouth’s Danny McManus, meanwhile, is sixth in the country with a 16.5-yard run average. Alessi is averaging 7.8 this fall.
The game will be televised on ESPN3 and streamed live on the Ivy League network.
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EXTRA POINT
A wet and dreary Friday opened up with dramatic clouds over the White Mountains shortly before sunset yesterday:
One day earlier Griff the Wonder Dog and I hiked Wrights Mountain, just a five-minute drive from here, to try to get you some foliage pictures from above. Surprisingly, most of the leaves hadn't yet changed so I punted and instead grabbed several shots of the cool observation cabin built on a rock face at the end of the trail:
And the view from inside . . .
