The hope for the Indian attack rests mostly on its confidence in the right arm of Dartmouth's new starting quarterback, sophomore Brian Mann. Mann got some significant playing time towards the end of last season, and despite numerous mistakes, showed some promising pop in his arm. His development will make a lot of difference in what kind of season Dartmouth has. Bunn and Belhomme, last year's leading rusher, are experienced, but Belhomme needs to improve on his average last year of 2.9 yards per carry. Mike Poncy '00 is the Indian's best receiver.
Defense is also a major question mark.
These three will have to lead a young and inexperienced defense that, over the last three seasons, has lost many more stars than it has replaced. One bright spot is the kicking game. Wayne Schlobohm '00 averaged over 40 yards per punt in the first two games and placekicker Alex Ware '03 has shown promise in the first two games. Belhomme produced only 59 yards on 18 carries, while Mann was 12-22 for only 57 yards. They also turned the ball over four times.