HANOVER – It’s a harsh reality, but given head-to-head results this fall, Dartmouth’s 31-20 loss at Harvard last week has the Big Green’s hopes of advancing to the FCS playoffs dangling by a hair.
And for as much as coaches preach about not looking ahead and going 1-0 each week, Dartmouth players surely understand what their second conference loss has done to their chances for a third-consecutive Ivy League title as well.
For the record, the Big Green (5-2 overall, 2-2 in the Ivy League) needs Harvard to drop two of its last three, and for Penn and Yale to both lose again to earn a share of the title. All of that can happen, but it won’t matter, Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle reminded his team, unless the Big Green wins its final three, starting Saturday against Princeton (3-4, 2-2).
“I’ve told them I’ve been here long enough and seen enough of these situations that you just never know,” McCorkle said. “We can’t control what other things happen. We can only control what we do.”
Key to Dartmouth’s hopes against the Tigers is making sure there’s no hangover from the Harvard game.
“The biggest thing is you cannot allow the disappointment and lack of execution at Harvard to beat you again,” McCorkle said after Thursday’s practice on chilly Memorial Field. “You’ve got to learn from it, and our guys do a good job with that. They wipe it, and all of us coaches do the same thing.
“It’s learning from that game and making sure we don’t repeat the mistakes we made at Harvard.”
While McCorkle had a few pointed words for his players at the end of Thursday’s practice, he has liked most of what he’s seen heading into the matchup with Princeton.
“Guys came out ready this week,” he said. “They were disappointed on Sunday watching the film. But we had a good meeting. Guys really, truly held each other accountable, and held themselves accountable.
“What happened at Harvard was nothing to do with a lack of effort. Our guys played hard. It was about execution. They came out here and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to make sure I fix what I could have done better against Harvard.’ ”
Princeton comes into the game off a 20-17 double-overtime loss at resurgent Cornell, which scored 11 points in the final four minutes to send the game into overtime. Their signature win was by a 38-28 score at a 6-3 Lafayette team that is ranked 26th in the Coaches Poll.
“They’re a very good football team,” said McCorkle. “It seems like every game they play they get on you fast and score early. We’ve got to come out prepared and ready to go.”
The Tigers led San Diego in the first quarter, 21-0, before dropping their opener, 42-35. They built a 28-7 lead over Lafayette and last week had a 14-0 first-quarter lead over Cornell.
Maybe even more notable, against Harvard two weeks ago the Crimson was clinging to a 21-14 lead heading into the fourth quarter before pulling away, 35-14.
Leading the Princeton offense is senior quarterback Kai Colón, who had just one pass attempt in his first three years in the program but is throwing for 181.1 yards per game with nine touchdowns and just three interceptions this fall. His efficiency of 136.4 is on par with the 138.2 of Dartmouth QB Grayson Saunier. The big difference is on the ground where Colón has negative rushing yards and no touchdowns while Saunier has run for 319 yards and nine touchdowns.
The Tigers can also roll out former starter Blaine Hipa, who has completed 62.0 percent of his throws for 339 yards this fall. Princeton’s quarterbacks have been sacked 20 times, the most in the Ivy League.
“We’ve got to make him move out of the pocket and force him to make some quick decisions and hopefully some wrong decisions,” said McCorkle. “But you can tell (Colón) is feeling a little bit more comfortable. The protection is giving him more time to go through his progressions. And they’ve got some wide receivers that are stepping up.”
Chief among those receivers is 5-foot-7, 165-pound freshman Josh Robinson, selected four times already this season as the Ivy League rookie of the week. He has a team-high 26 catches for 318 yards and two touchdowns and made the SportsCenter top-10 last week for this eye-catching reverse-reversal.
“He’s not big but he’s got speed and can make you miss,” said McCorkle. “He’s a very aggressive player and does a really good job blocking on the perimeter.”
Ethan Clark, a 6-1, 210 junior, has run for 399 yards, third in the Ivy League behind Yale’s Josh Pitsenberger (816) and Dartmouth’s DJ Crother (596).
Defensively, Princeton is allowing a league-high 410.6 yards per game of total offense, and only Columbia is allowing more points per game than Princeton (27.7). Opponents are completing 66.9 percent of their throws against the Tigers, the highest completion rate in the league.
Conversely, Princeton has picked off nine passes, second in the Ivy League only to Harvard.
Topping the Tiger tackle statistics is linebacker Marco Scarano, who had 18 stops in the opener against San Diego and has 58 tackles this fall. Pushing for the team lead is fellow linebacker Chase Christopher, who had 14 tackles at Lafayette and has 56 on the season.
Corner Evan Haynie has a team-best three interceptions after picking one off and recording a forced fumble and recovery last week. Fellow corner Torian Roberts has two interceptions this fall, including a 38-yard pick six in the win over Lafayette.
Princeton always seems to have solid special teams, and this year is no exception. Punter Brady Clark leads the Ivy League with a 45.7-yard average with 10 kicks of 50 or more yards and 13 inside the 20, both conference highs. Placekicker Esteban Nuñez Perez is 5-for-6 on field goals, and Kenny Jordan is averaging a healthy 26.8 yards per kickoff return.
NOTES
For the numerologists out there: Dartmouth is converting 52.9 percent of its third downs. Princeton is converting an identical 52.9 percent on fourth down.
On third down, the Tigers convert just 38.3 percent, just a little better than the 36.3 percent Dartmouth is converting on fourth down.
The Big Green has won the last two games in the series and 11 of the last 14. Princeton coach Bob Surace has won four Ivy League titles since taking over his alma mater in 2010 but has never beaten Dartmouth in Hanover. He’s 0-6 on Memorial Field as head coach but was a center on Princeton teams that won in Hanover in 1987 and ’89. His son, AJ, is a sophomore backup quarterback at Rutgers.
Dartmouth defensive coordinator Don Dobes was on staff at Princeton for 16 seasons before arriving in Hanover.