Win Over Columbia Has Dartmouth Alone At The Top
(BGA Oct. 27) – Columbia came into Saturday’s showdown for the Ivy League lead ranked ninth in the nation in run defense and first in the conference in rushing offense.
Dartmouth began the day ranked dead last in the country in turnover margin.
In no small part because each of those things changed dramatically the most noteworthy ranking for either team could change as well.
That would be the Big Green’s No. 22 national ranking.
Spurred by a career-high 182 yards from senior tailback Q Jones, Dartmouth ran for 271 yards while limiting the Lions to 84 and picking off three passes in a 24-21 win that was nowhere near that close.
“It was a good win for our football team,” said Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle. “The guys prepared well this week. … They came ready to play and beat a good football team."
With the win Dartmouth improves to 6-0 for the first time since starting 8-0 in 2019 on the way to claiming a share of the Ivy League title. More importantly, the Big Green is 3-0 in conference and alone atop the standings heading into Saturday’s Homecoming matchup with Harvard (5-1, 2-1).
Columbia, which lost promising sophomore quarterback Chase Goodwin to injury in the closing seconds of the first half, fell to 4-2 and 2-1 in conference in front of a Homecoming crowd of 12,642 on a windy afternoon on the northern tip of Manhattan.
The Lions entered the contest allowing opponents just 103.4 yards rushing per game only to see the Big Green more than double that as Jones bested his previous career high of 158 yards. With the veteran Dartmouth offensive line dominating, Jones spinning and juking past would-be tacklers and DJ Crowther pounding his way to 52 yards on eight carries, the Big Green grew a 10-0 halftime lead into a 24-7 advantage through three quarters.
Dartmouth was cruising along with that same 17-point cushion until a flurry of penalties fueled a 14-point Columbia comeback in the final 2:05, forcing the Big Green to recover an onside kick with 33 seconds remaining to finally ice a win that had seemingly been in hand just minutes before.
Jon Poppe, Columbia’s first-year head coach, admitted afterward that the way his upstart team opened its first all-the-marbles showdown against a seasoned opponent had him wondering.
“I thought that maybe we're not ready for this moment in the first half,” he said. “In the second half we relaxed a little bit and just got back to being who we are and doing what we do. (It’s) my fault as a coach how we came out in this game and maybe let the moment get too big. …But I'm really proud with how the guys finished.”
Dartmouth, which had just one interception in the first five games of the season, got a boost after a scoreless first quarter when Zach Farris picked off a pass standout Columbia receiver Bryson Canty couldn’t bring in and returned it 28 yards to the Lions’ 14 early in the second. After the Columbia defense held, Owen Zalc came on to boot a 35-yard field goal for a 3-0 Dartmouth lead.
Although the Big Green was kept out of the end zone, Farris’s interception on a pass play that could have fired up Columbia did just the opposite according to the Lions' coach.
“(We had) a guy wide open and unfortunately he doesn't secure the catch and it falls right into the Dartmouth defenders' hands,” said Poppe. “If we hit that play he might still be running with what was shown on tape. So that was a big one in terms of a momentum booster for them.
“And we never really recovered, I think, even though our defense did a great job holding to a field goal there. I just think that the psyche there was a little bit shook.”
A Columbia three-and-out on the ensuing possession led to a Big Green drive that called to mind the march that sewed up the win over Penn three weeks ago. This time the drive went 81 yards in 12 plays, and unlike the marathon march against the Quakers, this one ended with a touchdown as Grayson Saunier hit tight end Chris Corbo slanting across the end zone for a 10-0 lead with Zalc’s kick.
Saunier would finish the day 10-of-15 for 70 yards and throw just one pass in the second half as the Big Green stuck with what was working – the overpowering run game. They ran for 214 yards in the second half alone.
"I just think we ran into a buzzsaw a little bit with how they're coached and how their running backs played, how their O-line played," said Poppe. "I mean, that running back is talented and all the credit to (offensive line coach Keith) Clark and (offensive coordinator Kevin) Daft for designing their run game today. And we just didn't execute the right way and we probably didn't put our guys in the right positions."
Trailing, 10-0, the Lions had a chance to cut into the lead at the end of the first half and if they did, perhaps take the lead after receiving the second-half kickoff. Instead they suffered a double-disaster.
Facing a third-and-five at the Dartmouth 37 with 38 seconds left in the opening half, Goodwin rolled out under pressure and took a big hit getting off a pass. Tyson Grimm ended the Columbia bid by making the Big Green’s second interception of the half, and the hit ended the afternoon for Goodwin, who spent the second half on crutches.
Although the chance to double-up disappeared with the pick, Columbia still had the opportunity to make it a one-possession game with a scoring drive to open the third period. But Dartmouth forced a quick three-and-out and then made it hurt with an all-Q, all-the-time touchdown drive. On consecutive carries the senior tailback ran for 27, 6, 1 and 35 yards, the last for the touchdown that made it 17-0 with the kick.
Jones was quick to credit the Dartmouth offensive line for his big afternoon.
“Like I always say, my one job is just to hit the hole,” he said. “Today, in the trenches, they were handling their business. I was seeing the hole and I was hitting it."
Columbia finally got on the board with an 11-play, 83-yard drive that saw Dartmouth whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct and twice for unnecessary roughness. Aided by the help from the Big Green defense, backup quarterback Cole Freeman got the points on a one-yard run to make it 17-7 with 1:40 left in the third quarter.
But the third-quarter scoring wasn’t over.
The Big Green needed just three plays to go 75 yards – without benefit of a pass – in response to the Lions' first score.
This time it was Jones getting things started by taking a handoff from the 25 and breaking tackles on a 39-yard run to the Columbia 36. After a three-yard Jones run it was Crowther’s turn to get in on the fun and sprint 33 yards for the touchdown on the final play of the third quarter, making it 24-7 with the Zalc kick.
Knowing full well a 17-point, fourth-quarter lead isn’t safe after the Big Green erased a 21-point Yale lead with just over seven minutes remaining two weeks ago, the Dartmouth defense bowed up after Columbia drove from its own 25 to the 22 on the first possession of the final period. First Braden Mullen sacked the Lions’ QB for a loss of seven yards, and on the next play Danny Cronin recorded Dartmouth’s third interception of the afternoon, collecting his own tipped ball.
But it wasn’t all a stroll in Central Park as things did get a little uncomfortable for the Big Green down the stretch and it had itself largely to blame.
Taking over at its 34 after a fourth-down stop with 6:10 left, Columbia benefited from two roughing-the-passer penalties to march to the 6-yard line before second-team QB Cole Freeman found Canty in the back of the end zone. That made it 24-14 with 2:04 remaining and brought about an onside kick recovered by Jordan Washington.
And still the game wasn't over.
Hampered by a false start penalty, Dartmouth ran three plays interspersed by Columbia timeouts before Crowther was stopped on a fourth-and-one at the Columbia 41 with 1:41 remaining.
Aided yet again by a personal foul penalty, Columbia drove 58 yards in 10 plays, the last a seven-yard Freeman pass to Canty to make it a three-point game with 34 seconds remaining.
Two weeks ago it was an onside kick that helped Dartmouth beat Yale.
On this day it was Sean Williams cleanly fielding and falling on the final onside kick that sealed the win that left the Big Green perched alone atop the Ivy League standings heading into this week's Homecoming showdown against Harvard.
