Hanover
“What running game?” he said with a wry grin.
The man has a point. After twice rushing for a little more than 200 yards during victories over New Hampshire and Holy Cross to open the season, the Big Green’s ground attack has all but ground to a halt.
Dartmouth managed 122 rushing yards during a loss to Pennsylvania, 69 in a setback to Yale, 136 in a defeat of Towson and 74 last week in a loss to lowly Columbia that Teevens this week described as “embarrassing.”
Three-time Ivy League champion Harvard, ranked 23rd among NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams, visits this afternoon for Homecoming.
The problem “is really up front,” said Teevens, whose 3-3 team needs to prevail in its last four games if it wants to post its fifth consecutive winning season. “We’ve got a good group of running backs, but we have to come off the ball and be more physical up front, maintain blocks and move our feet.
“There have been times we’ve popped some pretty good runs and others when there’s no place to go. What we need is consistency.”
Dartmouth, 0-3 in the Ivy League, is averaging 135 yards rushing per game, fifth in the conference. When only Ivy games are counted, however, the average drops to 88 yards, seventh-best in the Ancient Eight.
The Big Green defense, which lost 10 of 11 starters after last season, was initially the bigger concern, but it’s been respectable, especially when myriad injuries are taken into consideration. The offense is healthier, but playing worse, converting just 1 of 17 third-down chances last week, a statistic that makes Teevens grimace.
“We could be and should be much further ahead right now,” the coach said. “In games we’ve played hard physically, we’ve won. When we haven’t, we’ve lost. We can’t come out like we did against Columbia and Penn and Yale when we’re against Harvard.”
To that end, Teevens has been noticeably more involved in practices this week, specifically on the offensive side. Asked if he’d be involved in play-calling against Harvard, however, he demurred, saying offensive coordinator Keith Clark and passing game coordinator Chris Rorke will retain those duties.
Still, the head coach said he’s pushing for more offensive creativity, particularly in getting the tight ends involved. Cameron Skaff and Stephen Johnston are touted at that position, but they and reserve Blake Orvis have accounted for just 13 of Dartmouth’s 129 receptions.
Clark, deeply respected throughout the Ivies for his experience and savvy, said he and Rorke try to target the tight ends, but that opposing defenses have often taken that option away, along with the running game.
“I don’t have a great answer there, but we’re trying to make them more viable and first-read receivers,” Clark said of the tight ends. “We’re halfway through the season and we haven’t identified who our go-to guy is in the passing game.”
Freshman Hunter Hagdorn leads the team with 21 catches for 302 yards and a touchdown. He’s also had some cringe-worthy drops, however. Sophomore Drew Hunnicutt has 19 catches for 228 yards and two scores, but senior Houston Brown, with similar numbers, is hurt. Without respected receiving threats, Dartmouth is seeing opponents key on the run.
The offensive line has two experienced seniors in right tackle Dave Morrison and right guard Zach Davis. Another senior, Jack Friedman, has played solidly as a fill-in at center, while sophomores Matt Kaskey and John Kilcommons start on the left side. The latter two could be standouts in another year or two, but for now, they’re sometimes overmatched.
Without the type of featured running back who can gain yards himself through speed, power and/or shiftiness, Dartmouth is left hoping it can get a good push with its developing line and then execute its blocks perfectly. Senior running back Ryder Stone is a grinder, while sophomores Miles Smith and Rashaad Coper show more big-play promise, but haven’t stayed healthy.
It all adds up to an offense that sputters. First-year starter Jack Heneghan, a junior, has performed as well as could be expected, throwing for 240 yards per game, second-best in the Ivies, and displaying feet more nimble than many expected. Dartmouth has allowed the fewest sacks (six) in the league and, Clark noted, is allowing fewer to this point in the season than it ever did with uber-athlete Dalyn Williams under center the past four years.
The third-down issue? It’s really spread over the first three downs, Clark said. An inability to gain enough yards on first and second downs brings about third-and-long situations in which it’s harder to succeed. Adding to the Big Green angst, it’s last in the Ivies in punting at 32.9 yards per boot.
“I look out there sometimes and we’re starting five sophomores and a freshman,” Clark said. “We’re going through growing pains with young kids, some of whom don’t realize they need to practice to get better. They think they can just show up.”
Notes: Harvard (5-1, 3-0) has won the teams’ last 12 meetings and the last 10 at Memorial Field. The Crimson’s only loss in the series since 1997 came in 2003. … 2015 Dartmouth graduate and center Jacob Flores has been signed to the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad. … The injury bug continues to bedevil Dartmouth, which has likely lost starting center Patrick Kilcommons (toe) and reserve cornerback Micah Croom (finger) for the season. Croom, a freshman, tore a tendon and without quickly undergoing surgery, the digit would have been crooked and perhaps useless in the future. Alex McCrory, a senior linebacker and special-teams ace, is also done, the victim of a knee injury. … Clark said sophomore Vito Penza, a powerfully-built sophomore running back the Big Green had expected to unleash this fall, has missed 36 practices because of injury since the start of this year’s spring drills. … Buzz is slowly growing over freshman receiver Zack Hawkins, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound freshman from Maryland. “He’s a big, rangy, athletic guy who has wonderful hands and is physical,” Teevens said. “He can engulf guys and finish blocks.”… Harvard has converted 51 percent of its third-down opportunities. Dartmouth? Just 29 percent. … Seven Dartmouth teams play at home today, and it’s expected that more than a dozen visiting team buses will be shoehorned into the parking lot alongside Leverone Field House.