Lions Set to Kickoff at Big Green

Coming off of a homecoming loss to Penn, Columbia travels to Hanover this Saturday to play Dartmouth, a 1-4 team that unexpectedly beat Penn three weeks ago.

Dartmouth has had a tough early schedule, taking on some of the best teams in New England in Yale, New Hampshire, and Holy Cross. Even though all three teams put up over 40 points each on the Big Green, Dartmouth was able to accomplish something positive in every game. As Columbia head coach Norries Wilson put it, “They’re no slouch team.”

Dartmouth doesn’t pose any unique challenge to Columbia, however, which means the Lions—1-4 at the midpoint of their season—might be able to focus more on getting their game plan back on track as opposed to taking down any element of Dartmouth’s.

Dartmouth quarterback Tom Bennewitz fell into the starting position after former starter Josh Cohen was ruled academically ineligible for the season. He’s adapted to the job exceptionally well in a short space of time, passing for a 57.6 percent completion rate and running for 106 yards so far this season. Bennewitz is not a breakaway running threat, but he moves the ball well in the backfield. It’s a challenge the Lions should be prepared for after facing the fastest quarterback in the conference in Princeton’s Bill Foran.

“I’m more concerned about them [the defense] containing the quarterback, because Dartmouth does a good job getting the quarterback on the edge with a lead blocker,” Wilson said. “We’re going to really have to be on our toes reading what the quarterback does, whether it’s a handoff or if he’s faking it.”

Columbia should gain some help on defense in the return of linebackers Bayo Aregbe and Drew Quinn to game-ready status. The two combined for five assisted tackles last week, and could bolster the young linebacking corps this week now that they are fully recovered from earlier injuries.

Dartmouth’s running game has been less effective than its pass attack so far, but since Columbia hasn’t shown on tape that it can stop the run, Wilson surmised that this would likely be the Big Green’s focal point on offense.

“I think if they look at the tape, they’re going to try to run the football ... they’ll say, ‘These are the runs that are going to work against them, if we don’t already have them, let’s put them in our package and let’s go.’”

Dartmouth’s leading rusher, junior Milan Williams, is on the small side at 5 feet 9 inches, 175 pounds, but he runs behind an offensive line that has been playing well so far this season. Penn’s offensive front was the key to the team’s running success last week, enabling Joe Sandberg to frequently get past the line of scrimmage untouched. Columbia will have to do a better job beating blocks and closing holes at the line of scrimmage in order to force Dartmouth away from conservative inside run plays.

Columbia’s passing game has steadily improved throughout the season, which is all the more impressive considering that opponents have come to expect a pass-first attack centered around wide receiver Austin Knowlin. This week could show a renewed attempt to establish a running game. Sophomore Ray Rangel had two touchdowns last week and could get more carries going into the second half of the season. Rangel should be able to give Jordan Davis a break and brings a good quickness to run the ball around the edge of opposing defenses—that ability to turn the corner led to one of his two touchdowns against Penn last week. More variety in the backfield could help the running game, which has been the root cause of much of the Lions’ trouble this season.

“We’re not running the ball very well,” Wilson said about the first half of the season. Speaking for the second half that begins against Dartmouth, Wilson stated that his goal was to simply do what it took offensively to pick up a win. “It would be nice if it were a balance [between running and passing], but we’re going to do whatever we feel like we have to do to win the football game, and if that’s air the ball out, it’s air the ball out.”

Dartmouth beat Penn in front of a home crowd at Memorial Stadium, and it’ll have the support of an even larger homecoming crowd this Saturday at 12:30 p.m.