Football seeks Ivy win against Dartmouth

“If we don’t show up to play Dartmouth, they’ll beat us—bottom line.”

Dartmouth may be winless this season and riding a 17-game losing streak, but as evidenced by the above statement by Columbia head coach Norries Wilson, the Lions aren’t taking the Big Green lightly.

The Light Blue is coming off its sloppiest game of the season—a 27-13 loss to Penn in which it turned the ball over seven times—and will have to shake off that loss to prepare to head up to Hanover, where it hasn’t won since 2001. According to Wilson, the Lions “closed the book on Penn” on Tuesday at practice and are readying themselves to take on the Big Green, which has taken on some of the best competition the Football Championship Subdivision has to offer.

“Our guys, they’d better understand that Dartmouth’s played five good football teams,” Wilson said. “You know, look at the 0-5—they’ve played three ranked teams and all five teams have got winning records,” Wilson said.

The Big Green has been playing against strong competition and has been unable to stop opposing offenses. Through five games this season, Dartmouth’s defense has allowed at least 30 points each game, giving up an average 36 points per game. Columbia enters Saturday as the second-highest scoring offense in the league this season—averaging 25 points a game—despite its offensive struggles against Penn.

If the Lions can execute and maintain possession like they have shown they can do this season, a trip to Hanover could be the perfect medicine for an offense that has scored just 13 points in the past game-and-a-half. Executing and holding onto the ball starts with senior quarterback Millicent Olawale, who has performed well against the Big Green in the past. His first chance to see the field came against Dartmouth in 2006 and he led the Light Blue on a scoring drive to cut into the Big Green’s lead. Last year he led the Lions to their first win of the season in his first start of the year against none other than Dartmouth.

Olawale had his worst game in a Light Blue uniform against Penn as he was responsible for six turnovers, but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

“I would hope it [Saturday’s game against Penn] makes him start thinking that he’s got to be more secure with the football,” Wilson said. “He’s shown that he can secure the football and he has to get back to that mentality of making sure that when we’re in possession of the football we just don’t hand it to the other team.”

While Olawale, and the Columbia offense as a whole, have a history against Dartmouth, the Big Green will send out a relatively young offense against the Light Blue on Saturday. Dartmouth entered the season with one of the more experienced quarterbacks in the league in Alex Jenny, but he will not play this Saturday and is out for the season with a dislocated elbow. Last week against Holy Cross, sophomore Conner Kempe made his first start of the season and threw for 312 yards in the Big Green’s 34-14 loss to the Crusaders.

“[Kempe] was productive, threw for a good number of yards, protected the football fairly well, and, replacing starter Alex Jenny, I thought he performed well,” Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens said. “That was inspiring for his teammates and certainly we’ll count on him to perform well for the remainder of the season.”

Another new face that the Lions will need to take account of is sophomore running back Nick Schwieger. The Big Green sophomore trails Columbia’s Ray Rangel for the league lead in rushing yards, and he poses another threat as he runs the Big Green’s version of the wildcat offense.

Last year the Lions counted on its staunch defense in its win against Dartmouth as it held the Big Green to just 174 total yards and 11 first downs. Many of the main playmakers who contributed to that win will be on the field again on Saturday and looking to make sure that Dartmouth’s losing streak doesn’t end against them.

That sentiment is one that isn’t confined just to the defense, but regards the team as a whole. The Lions may enter Saturday’s game with a chip on their shoulder, as Wilson thinks that Dartmouth is looking to this week as its best chance yet to get in the win column.

“I think that they’re going to look at this as their opportunity to get off the losing track,” Wilson said. “I think ... they’re going to look to this week as a week that they going to feel like they should win the football game.”