The Six-Pack After Fordham
HANOVER (Sept. 23 BGA) – Here’s your Week 1 Six Pack of Observations from Dartmouth’s 45-13 win over Fordham in this year’s season-opener:Paxton Scott with the first of his six catches for 121 yards in this screen grab from ESPN+
1) For openers, this was the running back-heavy offense coach Sammy McCorkle said he wanted to use. Although Jackson Proctor is a gifted runner, the quarterback carried just four times for 22 yards, a far cry from a year ago when QB Nick Howard led the team with 138 attempts, 11 more than Q Jones and 80 more than Tevita Moimoi. Against Fordham, Jones had 16 carries, one shy of his career high despite playing just three quarters. DJ Crowther mixed in nine carries. While Proctor had nothing to prove as a runner after posting runs of 78 and 64 yards the past two seasons, soph Grayson Saunier showed he’s a quarterback with a pretty good set of wheels by reeling off a 30-yard TD run.
2) Proctor was a solid 14-of-18 for 185 yards and two touchdowns. In the final preseason scrimmage of camp his composure behind center was obvious and nothing changed in the opener. While Fordham certainly had its share of blown coverages, it was up to Proctor to find them and put the ball on his receivers and that’s exactly what he did. He didn't at all look like a quarterback beginning his first season as the clear-cut starter. He’d certainly like to take back the interception he suffered on the ball he threw at the end of the first half toward Chris Corbo, but at worst the 6-foot-5 tight end probably makes that a 70/30 ball instead of 50/50.
3) With a year under his belt, special teams coordinator Joe Castellitto is making things interesting, never more than in the third quarter of the opener. With Fordham receiving the ball to start the second half, Dartmouth chose to try to capitalize on a weakness Castellitto saw on video, trying an onside kick. Although the Rams recovered, the strategy demonstrated both McCorkle’s faith in the coach who succeeded him as special teams leader, as well as a willingness to take chances. Castelllitto had to be smiling several minutes later when Jordan Washington not only blocked the field goal attempt after Fordham’s drive bogged down, but returned it 60 yards for a touchdown.
4) It was great to see Paxton Scott have a breakout game with six catches for 121 yards. The fifth-year senior has been capable of that kind of output since his first season but since the graduation of Derek Kyler ’21 Dartmouth’s passing yardage has gone down each year. That could change this fall with Proctor settling in and if it does, Scott will be a big part of the equation. With his six catches, Scott passed Ryan Fuselier, David Shula, Timmy McManus, Victor Williams and Jack Daly to move into fifth place on the all-time Big Green list for career catches. He needs two more grabs to move ahead of Craig Morton and into the top five in Dartmouth annals. While Jay Barnard's school record of 216 catches is probably out of reach, Scott can move into second place with 55 catches this fall. For context, he had 51 a year ago.
5) Not to be outdone, the Dartmouth defense allowed the Rams 42 yards of total offense until their final drive of the first half. They had just 84 yards of total offense before the drive that finally got them on the scoreboard midway through the third quarter. A 80-yard drive midway through the final period when Dartmouth was substituting liberally allowed the visitors to run their total offense number up to 257 yards (70 rushing, 187 passing) ,but the Big Green defense on this day looked as if it hadn’t lost a step from a year ago.
6) To be sure, Fordham was a decimated team coming in without its star quarterback, star running back, top receiver and All-America linebacker. But the Rams were supposed to be a strong contender for the Patriot League championship and Dartmouth did not let them look like that on Saturday. Beyond the final score, anyone watching saw a clear difference in speed and athleticism between the two teams.
And just because . . .
7) Sorry, but I just can’t give the nod to the black pants with green shirts.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Linebacker Josiah Green and nickels Cam Best-Alston and Tyson Grimm each had a team-high four tackles for the Big Green, with seven others registering three stops each. Linebacker Cameron Lee was credited with two sacks with Green and linebacker Danny Cronin each collecting one. Lee and Cronin each had two stops for a loss.
Patrick Campbell had two pass breakups, with Lee and Jordan Washington each having one.
The Big Green had eight players credited with rushes with Q jones (17-for-86 without a loss) and DJ Crowther (nine for 79) leading the way. In addition to Paxton Scott’s six catches for 121 yards tight end Chris Corbo caught three balls for 27 yards. Crowther caught three but being taken down behind the line he finished with negative yardage.
Davis Golick recovered from an early 26-yard effort to average 41.2 yards on five punts. Placekicker Owen Zalc, limited in the preseason because of injury, was perfect on extra points and booted a 40-yard field goal in his only attempt. Matisse Weaver handled the kickoffs with two touchbacks.
Both teams finished with 18 first downs. … On the down side, Dartmouth had eight penalties for 60 yards. … The Big Green did not return a kickoff (although to be fair, Fordham kicked off just three times).
THEY SAID IT
(Lightly edited for clarity)
Fordham coach Joe Conlin: “Offensively and defensively credit to Dartmouth. From being in this league, I know their staff. They do a good job and they executed in the first half. We just allowed those two long runs in the second half. We should have been in a decent spot. We’ve just got to figure out a way to clean things up moving forward.”
Conlin on playing a Dartmouth team he hadn’t seen on video yet this fall:
“It's the same staff basically as last year, and they weren't a big departure from what they were last year. So we felt good about understanding who they were going to be. The DC (defensive coordinator Don Dobes) has been more or less the same guy for decades. And offensively, they're a little bit of a departure from when I was in the league, about seven years ago, so there's going to be an evolution there. But they stayed pretty true to what they were. We just we weren't good enough with our eyes on defense.”
Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor: “The offensive line played great. The receivers caught the ball. Q had a really good game. Prepping up throughout this game, throughout the week, I think we did a really good job, and I think that's a testimony to the team we have.”
Big Green tailback Q Jones on what he saw: “A lot of holes, and my job is just to hit those. My tight ends and O-linemen handled their business up front, and to repay them I try to get touchdowns. I try to get first downs because it's just a testament to all their hard work.”
Dartmouth defensive lineman Josiah Green on Fordham’s difficulty protecting the quarterback this year: “We watch a lot of tape (as a) D-line, linebackers and secondary. We knew that their O-line wasn't a strong point of their offense, so we wanted to make sure that we broke them down as much as possible and took advantage of the weak points. Every team has one, and we were able to capitalize off of that.”
Josiah Green on his sack: “A couple of plays earlier I missed him, so I bet my teammates that I was going to get him next time, and I got him. It's just pursuit. Coach (Aashon Larkins) talks about pursuit all day, every day. Angles beat speed, any day of the week. So I knew I messed up the play earlier. I took a better angle, and he got the worst of that.”
Sammy McCorkle on Paxton Scott: “He's a gamer. He does a great job of really knowing the coverages and finding space and putting himself in an open space. Obviously, Proc did a great job of finding him and those were critical big plays for us, especially on third down. He's just a veteran, and he really understands the game. And he does a heck of a job preparing for a game each week.”
McCorkle on the onside kick decision: “Coach Cass has done a phenomenal job scheming opponents.We knew that we can make big plays on special teams, and those are big. Obviously we took a chance to start the second half. We saw it on film. We felt like we had an opportunity. We just didn't quite kick it where we wanted it.”
McCorkle on the field goal block and return for a TD: “I think I about pulled a hamstring running down the sideline. I was racing the ref. I think I had him by a couple strides…. I’m a special teams guy deep down, so you get excited and pumped up for stuff like that.”
McCorkle on what he saw from Proctor: “His composure. Really understanding. We talked about it all preseason. And just making sure to take what the defense gives you. You don't have to go out there and create magic.
“And the good thing about it, he's a skilled-enough guy that he can go make plays. But he has trust and the faith in everybody around him to know to know that hey, if the play's not there, we've got to live another down. Give ourselves an opportunity offensively to do that.
“It helps having a stingy defense like that out there. Knowing as an offense if you've got to punt after three downs or six downs, that's OK. We'll punt it. And if the defense forces a three-and-out, you actually end up having a better field position.That's the kind of mindset we want them to have. You don't have to try to make up for it in one play.”
