BGA Overtime is the successor to BGA Premium, a site that covered Dartmouth football with daily stories starting in 2005. The OT is written and edited by Bruce Wood, a former beat writer who has covered Dartmouth sports since the early 1980s. It is not affiliated with Dartmouth College and is supported by your generous donations..
HANOVER – The problem for football coaches in an intrasquad game is, if the offense is looking like world beaters, you start worrying about your defense.
And if the defense is dominating, you can’t help but worry about your offense.
All of which is why the series bridging the third and fourth quarters of Saturday’s highly entertaining Green-White Game played out almost perfectly in Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle’s view.
HANOVER – In part because it led to the poaching of their players in the transfer portal, a significant number of FBS football coaches stopped holding spring games and replaced them with one final practice.
The NCAA closed the second portal window this year but the number of spring games at the FBS level still continued to fall.
As they used to say in these parts, “It’s different at Dartmouth.”
HANOVER – The goal for Dartmouth’s final week of spring football is to reach a crescendo in Saturday’s Green-White Game.
Unfortunately, getting to that point might be a little easier than expected after the week kicked off Tuesday with practice coach Sammy McCorkle finding the offensive performance flat.
HANOVER – Sammy McCorkle came into the ninth practice of the spring with one clear objective and added a second along the way.
Mission accomplished.
Make that missions – plural – accomplished.
Over 15 seasons as Dartmouth’s defensive coordinator, Don Dobes posted up on Memorial Field’s home sideline for 75 Big Green games.
But he’s logged upwards of 1,000 practices – counting the spring, preseason and in season sessions – almost exclusively on the other side of the field.
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| Sammy McCorkle keeps an eye on the proceedings Tuesday. |
HANOVER – Sammy McCorkle's most forceful message to the Dartmouth football players Tuesday evening after they returned to the field following their "bye" week was much the same as it has been all spring.
And all last year.
And all through his tenure as head coach, for that matter.
HANOVER – If you’ve been following along, you read the other day that Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle made a point of avoiding the word “concern” while talking about rebuilding an offensive line that lost four of five starters to graduation.
After passing the midway point of spring practice Saturday morning, there was another word McCorkle avoided when talking about his coaches heading out recruiting during the team's week off.
Oops.