QB Sellers '98 Ready for Harvard

By Will Hughes | Sunday, November 2, 1997

Editors Note: The following Interview was conducted by Review Staffer Will Hughes with Peter Sellers '98, the starting Quarterback for the Dartmouth Indian football team and a four year varsity player.

The Dartmouth Review: What's the team's outlook on this Saturday's game against Harvard?

SELLERS: I think we're pretty excited about going against them this weekend. We had a tough weekend last weekend and ... it should be a really big game and I think everybody is pretty excited and we're ready to play a lot better than we did last weekend.

TDR: Some people are calling it the Ivy League Championships, what do you think about that?

SELLERS: I wouldn't consider it a game for the Ivy League Championship because a lot of things can happen afterwards but as of right now both of us are undefeated and there's only one other team in the league that has one loss so the loser of this game will be tied for second. But, it will definitely be a big game and the winner can at least control their own destiny. They keep winning and they're all set. So, I think it'll be a pretty important game.

TDR: How does this game compare in importance to all the other games in your life?

SELLERS: For me, it is probably the biggest game I've played in and I think it's the same for a lot of the other guys. We're in a pretty good spot right now and Harvard is a really good team. Last year they were kind of coming along and it seems like this year they have more experience and their offense is a lot better. So, it's a big game.

TDR: Is there any team you would rather beat than Harvard?

SELLERS: Not really for me. With all of us ready for Homecoming and everything on the line it's definitely a big game for us.

TDR: What kind of edge does Homecoming Weekend give you, if any?

SELLERS: I think that it can work for us as long as we stay focused on the game. There'll be a lot of people there, at the game, and everything is on the line, but for all of us I think it's pretty much that we're going to get ready to play them and we've done everything else and get into the game.

TDR: Do you think the crowd is going to be a big factor?

SELLERS: I think having a big crowd there is going to be exciting for the fans and the players. I guess if it gets a little noisy it might be a factor but for one thing, we definitely have to come out strong to keep the crowd in the game.

TDR: What does the Homecoming tradition mean to you? Is there any special importance or is it just another football game?

SELLERS: It's nice to see everybody that comes back and you get a lot of your former teammates there to watch you play. You definitely want to put up a good showing and I think that there's a lot of tradition at this school. There's a lot of tradition against Harvard too, so it's pretty important.

TDR: Let's talk about the specifics of the team, can you pinpoint any specifics that influenced last week's loss?

SELLERS: I think some of the penalties that we had. We had a couple of turnovers on special teams I thought really hurt us.

Fourth quarter execution, our defense against Lehigh in the fourth quarter, they scored a lot of points and we couldn't seem to stop them. Offensively we turned the ball over a couple of times and we just made a lot of mistakes in the fourth quarter that hurt us.

TDR: So how do you think the team is going to respond to the Lehigh game?

SELLERS: I think following a loss everybody is pretty upset but it really refocused a lot of us and I think that everybody seems pretty focused.
We felt what it's like to lose again. It's been two and a half years since that has happened, and losing isn't where we want to be at

TDR: You said the team has been especially focused, what have they been focusing on this week in preparation for the big game?

SELLERS: More or less, executing. We didn't execute very well at all last week in basically every facet of the game. All the things that we had been doing the last 22 games to win games basically fell apart on us. We turned the ball over, our special teams play wasn't as good as normal. We basically fell apart a couple times on basic techniques and even though we followed our game plan we just made a lot of mistakes.

TDR: What are you expecting from the Crimson, what kind of game?

SELLERS: I'm expecting a really physical game. They have a really physical front seven, they blitz a lot. Both teams are very well coached so it'll probably be a little bit of a chess match between the coaches too. Both teams run a lot of different formations, run complicated defenses. So I think it'll be a pretty exciting game. Both teams plan on laying everything out, I don't think you'll see anything conservative from either team.

TDR: What do you think is going to be the deciding factor in the Harvard game?

SELLERS: I think that we just have to execute and cut out some of the mistakes we made last week. And we can't turn the ball over. I think those will be the biggest factors.

They are obviously going to be very aggressive and we have to respond to it. When they're blitzing seven or eight people and bringing them in, we've got to pick it up and play smarter than we did last weekend.

QB Sellers '98 Ready for Harvard

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