Six Pack After Columbia
(BGA Oct. 28) – You know the drill, so without further ado . . .
1) The question before last week’s game was whether the upstart Columbia Lions were ready for their first star turn on the big stage near the corner of Broadway and 218th Street. Even head coach Jon Poppe admitted afterward to wondering about that as his team fell behind, 10-0, in the opening half. As for the Big Green, it had just one first down until the midway point of the second quarter – that the result of a 15-yard hands-to-the-face penalty – but the moment never seemed too big for Dartmouth. The Big Green looked like a team that had been there before, maintaining its poise while methodically building 17-0 and 24-7 leads.
But then the tables turned. Dartmouth showed a surprising lack of composure down the stretch, allowing Columbia to close within three points and possibly force overtime or steal the win if it could recover an onside kick. That has to be a one-off if the Big Green is to win another title.
2) With Grayson Saunier playing at an All-Ivy League level while filling in for injured starting quarterback Jackson Proctor the BGA Overtime mailbag has been flooded with inquiries wondering what is happening at that critical position. The general rule is that you don’t lose your job because of an injury but given how Saunier has played since taking over as starter, the curiosity about what’s going to happen if and when Proctor is ready to go is understandable. How the situation will play out is yet to be seen, but wouldn’t it be interesting to have both QBs on the field at the same time on occasion? Both have a completion percentage in the neighborhood of 65 percent, neither throws interceptions and both can tuck it and run. Good luck to defenders trying to figure out what is going to happen if we do ever see the two of them in the backfield at the same time.
3) While playing two QBs at the same time might be a useful gimmick, the last thing you want to do is take the ball out of the hands of the Dartmouth running backs. With his 182 yards last week Q Jones now has 556 yards on the season (second in the Ivy League) and a 5.1-yard average. Desmin Jackson has 177 yards and a 4.5 average while DJ Crowther has 152 yards and a 6.0 average. And in case you are wondering, Saunier has 222 yards, a 6.0 average and a team-high five touchdowns on the ground. As a team, the Big Green is averaging a league-best 187.5 yards per game on the ground. Coach Sammy McCorkle talked in August about Dartmouth’s talent and depth at the position and the Big Green running back “room” is living up to its preseason billing.
4) While a case can be made that last Saturday was not a three-point game, the scoreboard at the end said it was. If you toss out the season-opening victory over still winless Fordham, Dartmouth’s other five wins have come by 1, 2, 3, 3 and 4 points. Finding a way to win close games is the sign of a championship team, but there’s been a little bit of a “playing with fire” aspect to the season to date. You can be sure McCorkle would like nothing more than to have an occasional breather, starting this week against Harvard.
5) The Big Green has not proven to be a particularly high scoring team. Again discounting the game against Fordham (which was missing its best players both on offense and defense), Dartmouth has tallied between 16 and 24 points in four of its other five wins. The 44-43 victory over Yale is a bit of an outlier with one touchdown the result of an onside kick and another coming in overtime. As terrific as the defense has been outside of the Yale game, at some point before the season is over the offense is probably going to have to put a few more points on the scoreboard to avoid a stumble.
6) How important were the three interceptions Dartmouth recorded Saturday at Columbia? The easy answer is very. Zach Farris’s pick put the Big Green in field position for its first points of the afternoon. Even without gaining any yardage, it enable the Big Green to take a 3-0 lead on Owen Zalc’s field goal. Tyson Grimm’s interception stopped a Columbia drive on the plus-37 in the final minute of the first half that not only might have allowed the Lions to pull within 10-7 at the break, but could have given them game-changing momentum when they took the second-half kickoff. And Danny Cronin’s interception early in the fourth quarter at the plus-34 didn’t seem all that important at the time, but not giving up points on that drive proved to be critical given that it was a three-point game at the end.
And the bonus you knew was headed your way . . .
7) How cool would it be for Saturday’s game against Harvard to be the first sellout since the dedication of Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field? The five-day forecast is calling for 50 degrees and partly sunny weather Saturday It doesn’t hurt that it’s Homecoming. Dartmouth is trying to do its part with this posting on social media:
Your #22 Dartmouth Big Green remain undefeated (6-0) and we’re celebrating by offering $6.00 off each Homecoming ticket purchased for the next 48 hours! Join us by visiting http://dartmouthsports.com/tickets and using promo code: UNDEFEATED
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Ejike Adele led Dartmouth with nine tackles including 3.5 for a loss, with two going as sacks. Danny Cronin added nine stops, an interception and a forced fumble. Patrick Campbell added eight tackles and Tyson Grimm seven. Braden Mullen had six stops, with two sacks and a pass breakup.
Paxton Scott had four catches for 42 yards but was the only Big Green player with multiple receptions as the run game put the passing attack in the cooler for the second half. Davis Golick averaged 39.6 yards per punt with a long of 48 and three of his boots being of the inside-20 variety. And Matisse Weaver had all five of his kickoffs go for touchbacks.
Among team stats, Columbia actually had a 20-14 advantage in first downs, with six coming via penalty. Dartmouth outrushed the Lions, 271 yards to 84. Thanks to a 252-70 advantage in passing, Columbia nearly matched the Big Green in total offense. Dartmouth finished with 341 yards to the Lions’ 336. Even possession time was pretty even with the Columbia having the ball for 30:30 and Dartmouth 29:30.
The Big Green’s lone possession reaching double figures in number of plays was a 12-play, 81-yard drive in the second quarter. Columbia had four double-figure marches, starting with an 11-play, 83-yarder for a touchdown in the third quarter followed by fourth-quarter drives of 11-for-41 yards (interception), 12-for-66 (touchdown) and 10-for-58 (touchdown).
QUOTABLE
Gently edited thoughts from players and coaches . . .
Columbia coach Jon Poppe on why the Big Green run game was so successful: “They were just running power. And power probably went for 150 rushing yards. If you can't stop that, you've got other issues. That's what we have to really evaluate. … To me it came down to block destruction and tackling and reading your keys the right way.”
Q Jones on the importance of the run game: “I think it means a lot. I mean, in the game of football, the one thing you want to establish is the run. And for you to be able to do that, it just opens up the rest of the offense. It gets a defense on their heels. You have 10, 11 guys looking in the backfield. And that's when big plays happen.”
Tyson Grimm on his interception: “We knew we had to get a stop going into halftime because we knew they were getting the ball coming out of halftime. We know they're a great team. And we just had to make the plays that come to us. It just came to me and we just made the play.”
Grimm on the Big Green getting three interceptions on the day when it had just one on the season coming in: “We've been waiting on these turnovers all season long. We had a great week of practice harping on the fact that we need the ball, we need the turnover ball. So finally getting it going and putting together some turnovers was great for our defense.”
Sammy McCorkle: “Playing Columbia with their coaching staff and their players, every play was going to be important. And you knew that every yard was going to be big, and every point that you got was going to be big. … Every time we were out there, offensively, defensively, special teams, we wanted to execute. We knew that they weren't always going to be pretty. But we couldn't panic. You've got to stay the course. And I felt like our offense, defense, and special teams did that.”
McCorkle on the key forcing turnovers, in this case interceptions: “Coming off the ball, playing hard, playing fast, being aggressive, doing a good job (knowing) it's not just the ones that you get the sacks on (that are important). It's that breathing on the neck of the quarterback. Making that quarterback have to make a little bit quicker decisions than he normally would want to.”
McCorkle on the penalties that turned a breather into something else: “When you play hard, you play fast, but you've got to be in control. Our guys were pinning their ears back and putting pressure. But we just have to do a better job. We have to clean that up. … Those are the things that give a team a chance to come back. Hats off to Columbia. They battled back and put themselves in a situation to potentially tie the game there at the end. Those are the little things that will matter and that will catch up to you.”
