PROVIDENCE, R.I. – It’s precious little consolation for the Dartmouth football team on a day that didn’t finish the way the Big Green hoped, but as it turned out, a win wouldn’t have brought a bid to the FCS playoffs anyway.
Minutes after an interception in the corner of the end zone with 1:53 remaining and a Brown first down put the finishing touches on the Bears’ surprising 35-28 win over Dartmouth. Yale put the finishing touches on the Big Green’s season. The Bulldogs not only grabbed a piece of the Ivy League title from Harvard with a 45-28 beat down but also claimed the conference’s automatic berth in the playoffs. That, in turn, means the previously undefeated Crimson now has the inside track for an at-large bid if the Ancient Eight is to get one.
None of that was on Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle’s mind after three interceptions and a lost fumble doomed his team, which finishes the season 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Ivy League. Brown, which won its first conference game of the season when it topped Columbia last week, 32-29, finishes 5-5 overall and 2-5 in conference.
“I’m disappointed for the seniors,” McCorkle said as a group of solemn Big Green players mingled with friends and family outside the Brown Stadium locker room. “It’s a group of guys that I just can't tell you enough about how proud I am of what they've meant to this program, and just the resiliency they've shown through all the tough times they've been through. I just hate for them to have to finish on this note.
“But I told them in the locker room that one game does not signify who you are and what you've done for this program. They've made a huge impact and a huge footprint for Dartmouth football.”
Needing a Harvard win over Yale and a victory over Brown to have a shot at the playoffs, Dartmouth started its final game with a bang. Linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown picked off Bears’ quarterback James Murphy on the second play of the game, setting the Big Green up at the Brown 39.
When DJ Crowther ran for 11 yards and a first down on Dartmouth’s initial play and for 10 yards and another first down on the next snap, it seemed it was only a matter of time until the senior tailback got the yards he needed to reach 1,000 for the season. And when Grayson Saunier capped the five-play opening drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Grayson O’Bara, it seemed just as inevitable that Dartmouth would eventually put its stamp on its eighth straight win in the series.
Neither would happen.
After surrendering 21 yards to Crowther on his first two runs, Brown allowed him just 19 more yards on his next 14 carries. A Dartmouth ground attack that punished Cornell with 254 yards last week managed just 112 against an increasingly confident Brown defense that had been surrendering 168 per game.
Saunier would go on to throw a career-high three touchdown passes but also a career-worst three interceptions, the last returned 74 yards for the touchdown with 4:50 remaining that broke a 28-28 tie and sealed the Big Green’s fate.
“Just too many mistakes,” said McCorkle. “Turnovers hurt us. They put us in really bad situations, and the turnovers turned into points for them. You just can’t do that.”
The first interception near midfield came with the score tied at 7 and led to the touchdown pass that gave the Bears their first lead early in the second quarter. Dartmouth responded with a 35-yard toss from Saunier to a wide-open Chris Corbo before Brown went back in front, 21-14, on a 21-yard Murphy TD throw.
Against one of the best defenses in the Ivy League, Brown had marched 69, 49 and 68 yards for touchdowns on consecutive possessions. But there was still 3:02 before the break, and Saunier has been adept this fall at the two- or in this case, three-minute drill.
Taking over at his own 25, the junior QB proceeded to complete seven passes, the last a 20-yarder to Ky’Dric Fisher, who pulled the ball in at the one and squeezed into the end zone to tie the score at 21 with 12 seconds on the clock.
McCorkle’s teams have been masters this season at scoring to end the first half and doubling up with a score to start the second, and that’s exactly what he was hoping to see when the Big Green received the third-quarter kickoff.
Instead, Dartmouth uncharacteristically went three-and-out on its first two possessions after the break.
“We knew if we just punched that in before the half and got the ball back, we’d feel pretty good about it,” McCorkle said. “Let's go down there and let's score again. The last thing you want to do is go three-and-out.”
“(But) our defense did a good job of bowing up as well and getting the ball right back to our offense.”
Both times.
On Brown’s drive after the first Dartmouth three-and-out, a big hit by Harrison Keith jarred the ball loose from a receiver and forced a punt. Then it was a Niquis Ratliff interception near midfield after the Big Green’s second consecutive three-and-out, setting up the first points of the second half.
After narrowly missing a long TD throw on the first play after the interception, Dartmouth held the ball for 11 plays with freshman tailback Myles Craddock carrying five times for 21 yards, including a five-yard TD run that gave the Big Green a 28-21 lead with 4:25 left in the third quarter. Craddock, who had just nine carries for 26 yards in four games before the finale, finished with 12 carries for a team-high 46 yards and his first collegiate score playing in his home state of Rhode Island.
Dartmouth had a golden opportunity to pad its lead when Brown rolled the dice and went for it on a fourth-and-one at its own 34, only to see Freer-Brown, Jamal Cooper, and friends stop a run up the middle for no gain.
When the Big Green couldn’t muster a first down, Owen Zalc’s 50-yard field goal into a slight breeze came up short.
Taking over at its own 32, Brown made the squandered opportunity hurt by driving 68 yards in seven plays, the last a six-yard bullet from Murphy to Solomon Miller on the goal line to make it 28-28 four plays into the final quarter of the season.
To that point, the two offenses had combined for eight touchdowns. The rest of the fourth quarter – and ultimately the game – would come down to the two defenses.
When Crowther lost a fumble near midfield on the first Big Green possession after Brown tied the game, the defense bailed him out with help from a Bruce Williams sack and a Cameron Lee hit on consecutive snaps, forcing a punt.
Then it was the turn of the Brown defense, and it came through in dramatic fashion.
A hard rush on third-and-six at the Bear 36 forced Saunier out of the pocket, and running to his right, he threw late across his body toward the middle of the field. Alejandro Bello intercepted the pass at the 26, weaved to the home side of the field, and with Dartmouth players in hot pursuit, sprinted 74 yards down the sideline for the first “pick six” against the Big Green this fall. The PAT gave the Bears a seven-point lead with 4:50 remaining.
His team now trailing by a touchdown, Corbo had complete belief his team would respond.
“I’ve been through many games where we've been down and backs against the wall and come back and win,” he said. “So I had the utmost faith in our staff and players.”
A 29-yard O’Bara grab and a 13-yard completion to Fisher Dartmouth brought a first down at the Brown 33 with 3:23 remaining. After a two-yard run by Craddock, it was Saunier spotting the 6-foot-5 Corbo heading for the front-right corner of the end zone, where he was one-on-one with 5-10 defensive back Cap Davis.
But on a day when Brown receivers had made a living high-pointing passes, Corbo never got the chance. The potential tying TD throw came up just short, and Davis pulled it in to end the threat.
Although Dartmouth used its timeouts to save time for a final push if it could get a stop, that stop never came. On a clutch third-and-eight play with 1:47 left, Murphy found Ty Pezza for an 18-yard gain that put the Bears in victory formation for the rest of the game.