Dartmouth Scouting Report

This week's opponent is the Big Green of Dartmouth, who apparently have been spending the past two weeks filming this video as opposed to playing some games:

Click on the image to view a little team movie!

D is for Determination! D is for Dedication! D is for... D'oh!

Sorry Ivy fans, I couldn't help but make light of the production. The technical quality of the piece is excellent, but the subject matter leaves something to be desired. Show some highlight film stuff; the work-out theme with "D is for..." is like nails on a chalkboard!

Now, back to the subject at hand, Colgate travels to Dartmouth this weekend to greet the Big Green to the start of another season. It's a new but old coach in Buddy Teevans at the helm for the boys from Hanover for the second time around, and after last year's 1-9 season, Coach Teevans has his work cut out for him.

The Big Green are led on defense by seniors #91 Anthony Gargiulo at end and #48 Josh Dooley at linebacker. Five other starters return from a defense that gave up an average of about than 20 points per game. Last year's team was no slouch when they came to Hamilton as they only allowed 17 points and contained the Colgate offense much of the day. It will be interesting to see how that group has grown under a new coach.

Senior #15 Charlie Rittgers returns as quarterback to lead an offense that, under Teevans, claims to like to throw the ball. He is joined by fellow senior #67 Daniel Tootoo at offensive tackle as the only returning starters on offense. That can be either a bad thing or a good thing looking at last year's record. Sophomore tailback #45 Chad Gaudet will be asked to step up to the starter's role and senior wide receiver #13 Ryan Fuselier will be the top go to guy for Rittgers.

It will not be an impossible task for Dartmouth to beat Colgate, for while the Big Green lost to Columbia 9-6, they also lost to Harvard 13-12 last year and could have easily walked out of Andy Kerr with a 'W'. But the winning ways just haven't been around in Hanover for some time; the best the current seniors have tasted is five wins their sophomore year. If any person is up to the task of turning around this program, it is Teevans; however he will most likely need more than one year, much less one game, to get this team going in the right direction.

This game will not be handed to the Raiders on a silver platter. Colgate will need to continue playing good defense and mistake free offense to get this win. There is still a lot of work to be done for this team to get ready for the Patriot League season. My hope this week is after getting a solid grasp on the game, Colgate is able to work out some offensive kinks and continue to grow.

As always, LET'S GO 'GATE!