PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle promises his team will be 100 percent focused on the field during Saturday’s game at Brown.
It will probably be different for friends, family and alums in the stands.
Cell phones in the visiting bleachers at Brown Stadium figure to be lighting up throughout the afternoon delivering out-of-town scores because, for the third year in a row, the Harvard-Yale game will have an impact on the Dartmouth season. For the first time, however, not with regard to the Ivy League title.
Although the Big Green was eliminated from Ivy contention last week, The Game will go a long way toward determining Dartmouth’s fate in the first year of playoff eligibility for the Ancient Eight – as long as the Big Green takes care of business at Brown Stadium.
Should undefeated Harvard win in New Haven, the Crimson will gain the Ivy League’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs, and Dartmouth will have the inside track for a potential at-large bid over Yale thanks to a win over the Bulldogs earlier this season.
Should Yale win, it will earn the automatic bid, and Harvard would be a virtual lock to earn an at-large bid to the playoffs. The field for the playoffs will be announced Sunday at noon.
That’s all on the table in The Tussle Saturday, but as McCorkle made clear again Thursday after practice, none of it matters if Dartmouth (7-2 overall, 4-2 Ivy League) slips up against Brown (4-5, 1-5).
“It’s a great thing for our league,” McCorkle said of the jockeying for a playoff berth. “It gives you another thing to play for, but we can only control what we do on Saturday. That has to be our entire focus.”
Given that not even a win over Brown and a Harvard victory over Yale would guarantee Dartmouth an at-large bid, would an impressive performance in the regular-season finale help?
“I don’t know, to be honest,” McCorkle said. “I’m not sure. But our main goal is to do whatever it takes to win. If that means we have to win by one point, that has to be our goal, our main thing. We can’t control the rest, so we just have to go out there and hope for the best.”
Brown comes into the game after snapping a four-game losing streak with a 32-29 win at Columbia last week. While Dartmouth has had its way with the Bears in each of his first two seasons at the helm (wins by scores of 56-28 last year and 38-13 in 2023), McCorkle is wary of a team that posted a 28-21 win over No. 9/10 Rhode Island earlier this season.
“We’ve got to be ready,” he said. “Look at their games. They beat Rhode Island. They scored a lot of points and shut out Georgetown (40-0). They’ve taken teams to the wire. We have to be at our best.”
With former Ivy League record-setting quarterback James Perry at the helm of his alma mater, Brown is once again a pass-happy team. James Murphy, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound junior who saw his first significant action last year in relief against Dartmouth, is second in the nation in passing yards per game this fall with 286.2. He has thrown for at least 340 yards in the last four Brown games, and five of the last six.
“Offensively, they put up some big numbers, and the quarterback is a big reason why,” said McCorkle. “He’s got a live arm and can sling it. He has good good vision and a quick release. That’s the thing about him. He gets it out quick.”
Murphy is third in the Ivy League with 15 touchdown passes but has 12 interceptions, twice as many as any QB who has started all year.
One of Murphy’s favorite targets is tailback Matt Childs, who is fifth in the Ivy League with 86.9 all-purpose yards per game. Childs has run for 470 yards and seven touchdowns, and caught 36 passes for 280 yards and three more scores.
“He’s a good athlete,” said McCorkle. “He’s a good running back and like a fifth wide receiver. He gets out of the backfield and makes unbelievable catches. We definitely have to be aware of where he's at.”
Receiver Ty Pezza, a 6-4, 225 senior, has caught 42 passes for 556 yards and seven touchdowns this year, and 6-3, 210 sophomore Trevor Foley has 27 grabs for 532 yards, a healthy 19.7 yards per catch.
“They're long, athletic guys,” said McCorkle. “They win the 50/50s, and that's the thing. The quarterback's able to throw it up there, throw it deep, and they go up there and get it. We can't allow them to have space and make plays on us.”
Brown has surrendered 26 sacks this year (second-most to Princeton’s 29 among Ivy League teams), but McCorkle knows the raw numbers can be misleading. The Bears have had 231 pass attempts to Princeton’s 171.
“(Sacks) are going to happen when you throw the ball as much as they do,” the coach said. “Getting pressure on them is important. We can’t let their quarterback sit back there in the pocket and go through his progressions and have time to find the open guy. We’ve got to get him to move around there and get rid of the ball sooner than he wants to.”
Defense has long been an issue at Brown. To the credit of the program’s first-year defensive coordinator, the Bears are allowing almost seven fewer points this year than last. That still has them giving up 26.9 points per game, sixth in the league.
“They’re definitely improved,” said McCorkle. “They fly around and play with energy. They are in attack mode, and that’s the big difference. They are creating a lot of turnovers.”
Brown is 10th in the nation and first in the Ivy League with nine recovered fumbles (while losing just one fumble all season, the fewest in the country).
Causing the most havoc for Brown is 6-3, 235-pound defensive end Ike Odimegwu, who has nine sacks and is two away from the school record. He also has three quarterback hurries. If his unusual name is familiar, it’s because his brother Uche is a freshman linebacker at Dartmouth.
Senior linebacker John Perdue leads the Bears with 80 tackles along with two interceptions, two sacks and two fumble recoveries. Linebacker Sam Smith has 58 tackles and five pass breakups.
While Brown’s scoring defense has improved, the Bears are still allowing a league-high 402.8 yards per game, and only Columbia has allowed more rushing yardage than Brown, which has given up 169.4 yards per game.
NOTES
After exploding for 197 yards last week, Dartmouth tailback DJ Crowther needs 111 yards against Brown to join one of the program’s most exclusive clubs: the 1,000-yard rushers. Only five Big Green backs have ever done it – Al Rosier (1,432 in 1991), Nick Schwieger (1,133 in 2010 and 1,310 in 2011), Shon Page (1,087 in 1990), Dominick Pierre (1,064 in 2013), and David Clark (1,063 in 1989).
Quarterback Grayson Saunier’s 2,256 yards of total offense (1,869 passing, 387 rushing) is ninth in school history. If he reaches his average of 251 yards per game against Brown, he’ll be seventh overall.
Depending on whether Dartmouth advances to the playoffs, sophomore Luke Armistead is challenging the school record for punting average in a season. He’s currently averaging 42.4 yards on 23 punts. The Big Green record is 42.9 by Alex Ware in 2001.
Dartmouth is bidding for its eighth consecutive win over Brown. The Big Green hasn’t lost in Providence since dropping a 14-7 overtime game in 2009.
McCorkle on having to hope for a win by archival Harvard Saturday to improve the Big Green’s chances of making the postseason:
“We’ve had to do that before for other teams, so it’s whatever helps the most.”
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