Big Green, Tigers Set For ESPNU

 (BGA – Nov. 7) Over the past eight seasons, the winner of the Dartmouth-Princeton game has won at least a share of the Ivy League title no fewer than six times.

It could happen yet again this fall, but if it does, it won’t be the Tigers hoisting the hardware on Nov. 23.

Princeton is having a decidedly un-Princeton-like season at 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the conference, but Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle is wary of the Tigers heading into Friday night’s nationally televised game.

“They’ve got talent, they really do,” he said. “They’ve just had some turnovers here and there that have turned games into a different type of outcome for them.

“We’ve got to prepare ourselves for a physical football game. It’s a Friday night in their home stadium and they’re going to be ready. They’re going to be jazzed, ready to play us.”

Princeton comes into the contest against the Big Green (6-1, 3-1) off a 49-35 home loss to Cornell last week in which first-year starting quarterback Blaine Hipa completed 26-of-40 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns. On the season, Hipa is completing just 53.7 percent of his attempts for 1,094 yards with 12 interceptions to seven touchdown passes.

Despite the loss, Princeton coach Bob Surace saw the kind of growth he was hoping to see last week from Hipa, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior who had thrown just one varsity pass coming into the season.

“What’s standing out with Blaine is he's growing,”Surace said. “His decisions have been getting better and better. …  He's limiting those bad decisions. He's throwing the ball away more and getting the ball out on time better.

“His accuracy has never been an issue. His athleticism is off the charts. But when you have a quarterback who is that athletic – and we recently had one in John Lovett – sometimes they think every play can be a touchdown. It’s like when you're playing cards, knowing when to hit, when to fold. And he's getting much better at that.”

The Princeton run game features arguably one of the most formidable backs in the conference in speedy John Volker, who has been hampered by injury this fall. He leads the Tigers with 49.3 yards per game, a 5.7-yard average, and a 66-yard long. He had two touchdown runs in Princeton’s 23-21 loss in Hanover last fall.

Ethan Clark is averaging 45.4 yards per game and 4.8 yards per carry.

Heading up the receiving corps are Luke Colella and AJ Barber.

Colella has 26 catches for 377 yards and four touchdowns, with a long of 60. He had a 62-yard TD catch against Dartmouth last fall.

Barber, the son of former New York Giants running back Tiki Barber, has 27 catches for 287 yards and one touchdown. He posted a season-high nine catches last week at Cornell.

The biggest issue on the offensive side for Princeton this fall is no secret. The Tigers have surrendered 32 sacks on the season, including six in last week’s loss to Cornell. Only Fordham has allowed more than the 4.7 sacks Princeton has suffered per game. (Dartmouth is allowing 0.9 per game.)

“We’ve got to fix our negative play problem,” said Surace. “We’ve given up over 30 sacks, and that's not acceptable. It's not just the line. It's three areas: the play call and design, the quarterback getting it out on time, and the protection, which could be line, running backs, or tight ends. That area has got to be fixed.”

Defensively, the Tigers have surrendered at least 34 points in five of seven games and have allowed a whopping 94 points over their last two contests. Opponents are completing a healthy 67.3 percent of their pass attempts against Princeton – second-worst in the Ivy League – and are running for 166.9 yards per game. Only Yale and Cornell are giving up more yards on the ground.

Linebacker Chase Christopher leads Princeton  with 46 tackles, while defensive back linebacker Tahj Owens has 41 and Marco Scarano 40 with eight tackles for loss.

Defensive back Torian Roberts has three of the Tigers’ nine interceptions along with three pass breakups.

Challenging that defense will be a Dartmouth attack that saw starting quarterback Jackson Proctor return to the lineup last week against Harvard after missing three games following an arm injury during a sack at Penn in week three. Proctor completed 18-of-26 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns without an interception in his return to the lineup.

Per McCorkle, Proctor could have played a week earlier against Columbia but instead watched Grayson Saunier lead the Big Green to the win over the Lions out of an abundance of caution for getting the green light last week.

“We made the decision on Sunday that he was going to be the starter,” McCorkle explained. “His (arm) strength is back. He had a great practice (Tuesday) and was zipping it around, threading the needle. He’s back to where he was before, for sure.”

Surace knows his team will have its hands full trying to slow down Proctor and a Big Green offense working behind an offensive line that he considers one of the best he’s seen in his 14 years at the Princeton helm.

“This is as good a coached, disciplined, fundamentally sound, and big physical offensive line as I've seen,” he said. “They are impressive. (If you) watch their previous films, it’s a clinic tape. Credit coaching, but also credit their players. They are really bought in.”

Kickoff on ESPNU is at 6 p.m.

NOTES

Dartmouth is bidding for a 7-1 record – or better for the third time in five seasons. … The Big Green has won three of the last four games in the series and 11 of the last 14. … The last two Princeton-Dartmouth games have been decided by a total of five points. The Tigers won in 2022, 17-14, and Dartmouth won last year, 23-21.