UNH-Dartmouth football: Big Green look for balance in intrastate battle
Oct. 12—The Dartmouth College offense has moved the ball consistently through the air and on the ground this season, but has had trouble doing both in the same game.
The Big Green rushed for 894 yards in their first three games, but failed to pass for more than 120 yards in any of them. Then Dartmouth passed for 248 yards in Saturday's 24-21 setback against Yale, but was held to 20 yards rushing in the loss.
Dartmouth will be looking for offensive balance when it faces the University of New Hampshire on Saturday (1:30 p.m.) at Memorial Field in Hanover. One thing that would help the running game is the return of quarterback Nick Howard and fifth-year running back Zack Bair, neither of whom played against Yale. Howard is the team's leading rusher (351 yards on 63 carries), and Bair is second on the team in rushing (39 carries for 291 yards).
"We were guarded with them last week," Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said. "I expect both of them to play this week. Nick was our leading carrier and just took some shots — and probably more than we would have liked him to take. Nick is a very physical, aggressive runner.
"Losing basically your leading rusher in last week's game certainly affected our run outcome a little bit. We'd like to be a little more balanced with him back in the mix."
UNH (4-2, 4-0 Colonial Athletic Association) is ranked 25th among FCS teams and second in the CAA in rushing defense, allowing an average of 115.8 yards per game.
Dartmouth (1-3, 0-2 Ivy League) is 11th among FCS teams in rushing offense (228.2 yards per game). Howard carried the ball 18 times for 96 yards and three touchdowns in last year's victory over UNH, which evened the series between the programs at 19-19-2.
With Howard not in the lineup, the Dartmouth offense had a much different look last week, when backup QB Dylan Cadwallader, a junior from Frisco, Texas, completed 28 of 45 passes for 248 yards and two touchdowns. If Dartmouth favors an aerial attack Saturday, it will be facing a UNH defense that's averaging 3.5 sacks per game (13th in the FCS).
Sophomore defensive end Dylan Ruiz has 6.5 sacks in six games, and Josiah Silver, also a sophomore defensive end, has recorded 5.5 sacks in six games.
"Listening to Buddy Teevens's press conference this week it seems like he wants to get back to a two-quarterback system," UNH coach Rick Santos said. "I know they've been extremely successful doing that the last couple years. I don't know if that's going to be this week.
"Dylan Cadwallader is somebody who can throw the ball all over. He complements what they had last year in their dynamic quarterback (Howard). We have two plans of attack defensively. We have to tackle extremely well. I thought last year we fit them up decently, but he (Howard) was physically imposing. He ran through some arm tackles, so we can't rely on just one or two guys running to the football. All 11 have to do that — we have to put a net around them."
Dartmouth has lost three straight since it opened the season by beating Valparaiso 35-13. UNH and Elon (5-1, 3-0) are the only CAA teams unbeaten within the conference.
The 20 yards Dartmouth had on the ground against Yale was its fewest rushing output since a 2012 game against Harvard.
"We opened up the offense a little more (last week) and were more productive with the passing, but still the run game needs to be used," Teevens said. "The challenge for us offensively is to try to keep their team off-balance. Try to control the football. Then, obviously, field position, which brings in special teams play, is going to be very, very important on Saturday."
