What They Did & What They Said After Penn

Grayson Saunier scores in the first quarter. (Justin Lafleur photo)

Like so many others, Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle preaches from the “Let’s go 1-0 this week” playbook, and you can be sure that’s the approach the Big Green players and coaches will take after Saturday’s 36-24 loss at Penn.

Looking more than a week ahead is something Nick Saban would probably label “rat poison” for anyone in the program. But for almost anyone else, it’s hard not to think about the championship ramifications when you are used to winning titles only to lose your first conference game.

The good news for Dartmouth? Three times in school history the Big Green has dropped its Ivy opener against Penn and battled back to win the championship.

1973: Dartmouth lost to Penn, 22-16, before finishing 6-1 and winning the outright championship.

1982: Dartmouth lost to Penn, 21-0, before finishing 5-2 and sharing the title with Harvard and Penn.

1990: Dartmouth lost to Penn , 16-6, before finishing 6-1 and sharing the title with Cornell.

While the Big Green hasn’t accomplished the feat for a long time, it has happened in each of the last two years for other teams.

Last fall Harvard lost its Ivy opener at Brown, 31-28, and won a share of the title with Dartmouth and Columbia by finishing 5-2 in conference play.

In 2023 it was Yale dropping a 23-21 decision to Cornell in its opener, and then earning a share along with Dartmouth and Harvard with a 5-2 Ivy mark.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

For the second week in a row, DJ Crowther led Dartmouth with 86 yards rushing. It took him 24 carries against Central Connecticut and 17 against Penn. Saturday’s game saw the emergence of sophomore Dylan Elder, who had four carries for 38 yards, with a long of 16.

Penn quarterback  Liam O’Brien led both teams with 99 yards rushing on 19 carries.

Tight end Chris Corbo led Dartmouth receivers with five catches for 52 yards. Nick Lemon had two for 28 yards, Ky’Dric Fisher two for 23 and Grayson O’Bara saw his streak of 100-yard games ended at three games with two receptions for 16 yards.

Penn receiving standout Jared Richardson, who had two catches for 18 yards in each of the last two meetings with Dartmouth, had three for 37 this time around. Running mate Bisi Owens led the Quakers with four receptions for 46 yards and one touchdown.

Big Green punter Luke Armistead had just one punt for 52 yards and now has punted only five times in three games. He’s averaging 41.8 yards. . . .  Owen Zalc’s 26-yard field goal makes him 3-for-5 on the season.

Defensively, linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown recorded 10 tackles while fellow backer Teddy Gianaris had nine with one for a loss. Tyson Grimm added seven stops and Patrick Campbell six. For Penn, linebacker John Lista – who missed the Quakers’ previous game – returned from injury to lead both teams with 15 tackles, including 10 solos.

Dartmouth finished with a 23-19 advantage in first downs,  but total offense was virtually even with the Big Green having 326 yards to the Quakers’ 323.

The hidden yardage stats favored Penn. The Quaker return game did damage with three kickoff returns for 76 yards and Julien Stokes’ 65-yard punt return. Including kickoffs, Stokes finished with 141 return yards.

Dartmouth was 7-of-13 on third down and 1-of-3 on fourth. Penn was 5-of-12 on third and was successful on its only fourth down conversion.

The Big Green did not have a sack while Penn was credited with the first sack of a Dartmouth quarterback this fall when Grayson Saunier slipped and fell trying to evade a hard rush and lost 21 yards midway through the fourth quarter.

Dartmouth drives in order (plays/yards/result): 6/54/interception; 14/70/TD; 14/67/TD; 1/0/interception; 1/0/halftime; 5/11/safety/ 8/75/TD; 3/2/interception; 8/17/punt; 8/47/downs

Penn drives in order (plays/yards/result): 1/0/interception; 12/59/FG; 3/1/punt; 3/19/TD; 3/7/punt; 7/65/TD; 6/48/Td; 12/49/missed FG; 6/28/TD/6/16/FG; 7/18/end of game.

THEY SAID IT (lightly edited for clarity and brevity)

Penn coach Ray Priore: “Two-thirds of the game was good. I just give everybody credit, because … when you’re playing with some of the injuries like we’re having at certain positions, the effort is incredible. And I’m going to (praise) the staff, because I think you have to put a plan together that meets the talents and abilities of these kids.”

Penn quarterback Liam O’Brien: “The goal isn't beating Dartmouth. It's winning a championship, getting a ring at the end of the year. This is a great start. We needed this to build momentum moving forward, but we still left a lot on the table. There are plays that we missed, reads that I missed, and plays that I want back, and we’ll get back to the film room.” 

Dartmouth quarterback Grayson Saunier on whether Penn made defensive adjustments that turned the game in the second half. “I don't think anything necessarily changed with their approach. I think we just made more mistakes. We were more fundamentally sound in the first half. We made plays when we needed to. In the second half things just didn't go our way and that that's on us. We just have to be more sound, make the right decisions and throw the ball where it needs to go. Don't try and force anything. I'll take a lot of responsibility on some of that, but as a whole offense, we have got to be more consistent in the second half.”

Dartmouth linebacker Teddy Gianaris: “I really do believe that teams beat themselves more often than their opponents do. We came out hot. We had the interception first play of the game. That was huge. It's something we hadn't seen in the season yet. . . . In the second half we had some mistakes early on and things kind of spiraled a little bit. I think we just have to keep the energy up. We've shown that we can do it. We've shown that we have guys flying around out there. You just need to keep it at a constant level throughout the entirety of the game, not just one half.”

Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle: “Obviously it's  very disappointing. Not the outcome that we were wanting. Hats off to Penn. They they came prepared and they they outplayed us. We had opportunities there. They made more plays than us. We just didn't make enough plays. We put ourselves in a situation in the second half to get back in that game and it just didn't work the way we wanted it to.”

The O-line makes sure DJ Crowther has a lot of room to run. (Justin Lafleur photo)

This is what a Dartmouth-Penn game looks like. (Justin Lafleur photo)