BETHLEHEM, Pa. – If Dartmouth needs proof that an Ivy League team playing its opener can knock off a nationally ranked team that already has three games under its belt, it doesn’t have to look back very far.
Or very far away.
Just 364 days ago, the Big Green opened its season on Memorial Field with a 27-20 win over No. 23 New Hampshire.
There are a few differences, of course. Dartmouth’s 2026 opener is at Lehigh, not in the friendly confines of Buddy Teevens Stadium. And instead of narrowly making it into the top-25 as UNH did, the Mountain Hawks are firmly in the top-10, coming in at no. 7.
One more difference, but not as much as you might think. While Lehigh is undefeated at 3-0 and New Hampshire was 2-1 at this juncture last fall, the Wildcats’ only loss was by just five points at FBS member Ball State.
Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle knows his team faces a stiff challenge against the defending Patriot League champions, and it is one he welcomes.
“It forces your players to really prepare in the preseason,” he said after Thursday’s practice. “They know they have to be ready to play a ranked team.
“A game like this is a great opportunity to measure where you are and what you need to do to get where you want to go. It’s a chance to see how you match up against a top-10 and potentially a top-five team.”
But don’t get the wrong idea. Not in so many words, but McCorkle made it clear his team is in it, to win it.
“The key for us doing that is physicality,” he said. “We’ve got to battle and win up front, on both sides of the football. It’s about that and effort. We’ve got to play with max effort every single snap, no matter if that’s 60 or 120, it’s every single snap.”
Lehigh is coming off a 44-20 win over No. 16 William & Mary. The Mountain Hawks piled up 366 yards on the ground against the Tribe, with 5-foot-11, 205-pound senior tailback Luke Yoder finishing with 169 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries. Yoder is averaging 139.7 yards per game, with nine touchdowns and a 6.9-yard average per carry. He ran for 1,409 yards and 15 touchdowns last year, highlighted by a 234-yard, four-TD outing in the Patriot League-clinching showdown with rival Lafayette.
Asked if Yoder reminds him of any running backs he’s coached against since he arrived at Dartmouth in 2005, McCorkle pointed to a former Ivy League standout who went on to play in the NFL.
“The Canadian kid back at Yale,” he said before being reminded of his name. “Yeah, Tyler Varga. But this kid is a lot more elusive. Tyler was more of a pounder. (Yoder) will run through you, but at the same time, he’s so quick and athletic he’ll jump over you, he’ll spin on you, do a jump cut, and make you miss.”
As impressive as Yoder is, Lehigh is hardly a one-man team. Junior quarterback Hayden Johnson was chosen to the all-Patriot League first team last year when he threw for 2,510 yards and 18 touchdowns and ran for 451 yards and four TDs. With the ground game as dominant as it has been through three games, Johnson hasn’t been called on to throw much, but when he has, he’s been efficient. He’s completed 29-of-43 passes (67.4 percent) for 472 yards and three touchdowns.
Against William & Mary last week, Johnson left the game with an apparent leg injury in the second quarter. He reentered the game for just one play, ran 50 yards for a touchdown, and didn’t see any more action. He’s listed as the starter in Lehigh’s game notes, but McCorkle knows public depth charts aren’t worth the paper they are no longer printed on.
Is he sure the QB is playing? McCorkle, who you can be certain did some digging about that, offered a curious answer. “We’re sure we’re expecting him to be there.”
Whether he knows the quarterback’s status or not, what he knows for sure is he’s a good player.
“He’s got a little Johnny Manziel in him,” McCorkle said, referencing the Heisman Trophy winner known as Johnny Football. “He’s athletic, he’s quick, and he can make you miss. He can sling it and doesn’t make bad decisions. He takes what teams give him.”
Nick Palumbo, a big target at 6-3, 225, leads the Mountain Hawks with eight catches for 130 yards and two TDs. He’s averaging a healthy 16.3 yards per catch, but that number pales compared to the 24.8 yards per catch Anthony Feaster averages on six catches for 149 yards.
Lehigh’s opening two games were against Georgetown and Holy Cross, and while both have struggled in the early going, Lehigh’s defense didn’t make it easy on them, holding the Crusaders to one touchdown in a 35-10 win in Worcester and Georgetown to a pair in a 45-14 walk-over.
“They are good at what they do,” McCorkle said of the Mountain Hawk defense. “They make you work it down the field and try not to give up big ones.
“They force you to chip away at it. And when you have to do that, they’re banking on you eventually making a mistake and taking advantage of it.”
NOTES
Dartmouth had a 22-game unbeaten streak (21-0-1) and a 15-game winning streak snapped when Lehigh handed the Big Green a 46-26 defeat in 1997. Dartmouth is looking to return the favor against Lehigh, which has won 20 consecutive regular-season games. … The Big Green won the last meeting between the teams, 34-17, on Memorial Field in 2023. … Lehigh has a 3-2 advantage in the series, its only all-time winning record against an Ivy League opponent. … Dartmouth won the most recent meeting at Goodman Stadium, 21-14 in 1996 on the way to a 10-0 season. … The only previous meeting at Goodman was in 1991 when Lehigh escaped with a 30-28 win over a Jay Fiedler-led Big Green in a controversial finish when officials ruled Matt Brzica out of bounds on a reception that would have given Dartmouth a chip-shot field goal for the win. At the post-game presser, the Lehigh coach asked his SID what the TV replay showed, and the SID quipped that they never should have put TVs in the press box.
Back to today’s game, asked which freshmen, if any, were traveling, McCorkle reeled off a surprising list that speaks to the quality of the most recent class of first-year players: linebacker JJ Bolz, linebacker Gavin King, defensive lineman Quinn Enguita, defensive back James Rush, running back Jacob Henry, wide receiver Kareem Fisher, defensive lineman Roman Sosnovyy, longsnapper Will Hester. … Dartmouth is bidding to win its season opener for the 15th time in the last 16 seasons. The only loss was to New Hampshire in 2023 by a 24-7 score … The Big Green’s last game against a top-10 opponent was in the 2019 Yankee Stadium game when 13th-ranked Dartmouth took down No. 10 Princeton, 27-10. … Lehigh lost a narrow decision to Villanova in the FCS playoffs last year to spoil an undefeated season and finish 12-1. Along the way, the Mountain Hawks went 3-0 against Ivy League teams, defeating Penn (44-30), Yale (31-13), and Columbia (31-7). … Dartmouth defeated three playoff teams last year: New Hampshire, Yale, and Central Connecticut.