Cornell QB The Center Of Dartmouth's Defensive Attention

 BGA (Nov. 15) – Given how many points Cornell is capable of putting up (98 over the past two games) and how many it can surrender (102 over the same two games) it was a legitimate question to ask of Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle.

“Is the idea Saturday to outscore Cornell, or to keep them from outscoring you?”

McCorkle pondered the question for a second and then, special teams guy that he’s always been, he punted.

“We’ve just got to go out and play,” he said. “We’ve got to do what we need to do on offense, we’ve got to do what we need to do on defense, and we’ve got to do what we need to do on special teams.

“That’s what we’ve got to focus on. What we can do.”

All true, of course, but Dartmouth (7-1, 4-1 Ivy League) also has to focus on quarterback  Jameson Wang, the all-purpose straw who stirs the Big Red (3-5, 2-3) drink. 

A case can be made that no Ivy League team relies on any one player more than Cornell relies on 6-foot-1, 197-pound Wang. Through eight games this fall he leads the Ivy League in yards passing per game (270.9), touchdown passes (22) and total offense (316.1 yards), and oh by the way, is ninth in the conference in rushing (362 yards).

In last week’s wild, 67-49, loss to Penn, Wang completed 33-of-54 throws for 401 yards and five touchdowns. He also ran nine times for 48 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown. A week earlier he tossed three touchdowns and ran for another score in a 49-35 win at Princeton.

McCorkle has been around the Ivy League since 2005 and he’s helped draw up schemes to slow down a lot of talented quarterbacks, but the first name he came up with for a comparison with Wang is someone he saw not once, but 10 games a year.

“He’s a little bit of a Dalyn Williams kind of guy,” McCorkle said, reference the Big Green’s all-time passing leader who led Dartmouth to the 2015 title. “He does a very good job of hitting his targets, he’s quick and athletic and does a very good job of keeping plays alive.”

For perspective, should Wang equal his season averages to date, he would finish his career with 8,909 yards of total offense. Williams finished his career with 8,952. The Dartmouth standout was responsible for 75 touchdowns in a Big Green uniform (56 passing, 19 rushing). Wang has been responsible for – you guessed it – 75 touchdowns to date (49 passing, 26 rushing).

The biggest difference between Dartmouth’s three-time All-Ivy League honoree and Wang, who can match that on his resumé with an all-conference nod this fall? Taking care of the football.

Williams finished his career with just 13 interceptions while Wang has tossed 26 interceptions in 986 attempts, including three last week.

Although Cornell has allowed just five sacks all year – the team's 0.63 sacks per game is third in the country – forcing Wang off his spot will be a key for the Big Green as it tries to add to that total.

“That’s our hope,” said McCorkle. “We’ve got to get some pressure on him. We’ll try to do it with a four-man (front), but if we’ve got to bring some extra, we’ll do it. We’ve got to mix it up and at the same time do a good job in our coverages.

“We've got to make sure we're in the right spot, take away his first reads, and make him have to hold the ball. And that's going to be the critical thing. Make him have to check down his stuff and go through his reads to buy some time for our D-line and linebackers.”

A focus of the Big Green pass coverage will be Samuel Musungu, who has come out of nowhere to lead the Ivy League in receiving this fall. A 6-1 sophomore who caught just 14 passes last fall, he leads the Ivies this year by a wide margin in catches (69), yards (808), touchdowns (nine) and longest catch (82 yards). Musungu torched Penn last week with 14 receptions for 148 yards and three touchdowns.

“He’s a heckuva player who is having a really good year,” said McCorkle. “He’s quick, he’s fast and does a good job of catching the ball and making people miss in the open field. You’ve got to be aware of him at all times.”

The Big Red also has a big target in 6-5 tight end Ryder Kurtz, who caught four passes for 101 yards a week ago and has 44 grabs for 416 yards and four TDs this fall.

“He’s a very good football player,” said McCorkle. “Probably one of the better tight ends in the league. They do a good job of putting him (and Musungu) in position to have success.”

Now add in Doryn Smith, a 6-3 junior who has caught 15 balls for 231 yards over the last three games, and Wang has his share of weapons.

His main help in the backfield comes from Ean Pope, a 5-7, 176-pound sophomore running back who has 363 yards rushing this year, one yard more than Wang. He had a 111-yard game in a win over Bucknell and carried 11 times for 72 yards in Cornell’s eye-catching 47-23 victory over Yale.

“He’s not real big but he’s quick as a hiccup,” said McCorkle. “He can go. He’s physical and gets yards after contact.”

The Achille’s heel for Cornell is what it has been so often in the past – defense. The Big Red has allowed a league-high 34.9 points per game and has given up more first downs and more total offense than any team in the league. It’s also last in red zone defense.

Despite its troubles getting stops, Cornell always seems to have linebackers who post big numbers and that’s the case again this year with senior linebacker Luke Banbury having 66 tackles (four for a loss) and four pass breakups. Banbury had a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, seven tackles, three pass breakups and a pick six while winning national defensive player of the week honors in a win over Bucknell earlier this fall.

Corner Michael O’Keefe has 51 stops while safety Damon Barnes and linebacker Joey Cheshire have 47 apiece.

First-year head coach Dan Swanstrom had great success as head coach at Ithaca College (32-11) and most recently was offensive coordinator at Penn. Although he kept longtime defensive coordinator Jared Backus on staff the Big Red has continued to struggle on that side of the ball. They finished next-to-last in scoring defense a year ago after finish seventh in points allowed each of the three previous seasons.

“They mix things up and create some confusion with movements and different looks,” said McCorkle. “Obviously, some teams have put them in a situation where they are catching them blitzing or out of place, but their linebackers are tough, physical guys who play downhill. They do a good job when they bring them, and they are showing some different looks.”

NOTES

A Dartmouth win and a Harvard loss at Penn would clinch at least a tie for the Ivy League title for the Big Green. A win this week and another against Brown next week add up to at least a tie, regardless of what Harvard does. … The Big Green won last year in Hanover, 30-14, and Cornell won the most recent meeting in Ithaca, 17-13 when Dartmouth’s potential winning touchdown pass on the final play of the game was ruled to have carried the receiver just over the back line of the end zone. … Dartmouth leads the all-time series with Cornell, 62-42-1, but the teams have split the last four meetings. …. The only time the teams have not played since 1919 was the COVID year of 2020. ... No fewer than 15 of the 27 Cornell players who graduated last year are using their final year of COVID eligibility elsewhere, including tight end Manny Adebi, who played in Vanderbilt’s win over then-No. 1 Alabama. Among other schools, Cornell alums have seen action this fall at Northwestern, Syracuse, Duke and Boston College.