HANOVER – If retooling a football team that took a heavy graduation hit is a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle, Dartmouth found one of the most important missing pieces in Saturday’s loss to Monmouth.
After graduating its top tailback and managing just 62 yards rushing in the season-opening loss at Lehigh, the Big Green exploded for 235 yards on the ground in the narrow loss to the Hawks. Leading the way was sophomore Myles Craddock, who carried 22 times for 140 yards, while quarterback Grayson Saunier was adding 66 yards on 11 runs.
“One thing we talked about all week is we've got to get better there,” coach Sammy McCorkle said after Saturday’s game. “You've got to have a foundation there. I thought our offensive line did a good job preparing this week, and did a good job in the game. And I thought our running backs did a good job running downhill. “
The run game was never more devastating than it was when the Big Green scored its second touchdown to pull within 21-14 on a three-play, 75-yard drive midway through the second quarter. All three plays were runs with Saunier getting things started with a fake that drew the entire defense to Craddock going left, leaving the QB free to gallop 29 yards to the right. One snap later it was Craddock going up the middle for 18 yards. The tailback closed out the drive by running right for 28 yards before somersaulting over a defender for the touchdown.
Craddock, who ran for 46 yards in last year’s finale at Brown, had just 72 rushing yards in his career coming into the season, but he topped that with 109 yards in the first half alone against Monmouth. He averaged 6.4 yards per carry as the Big Green made the work it had done since Lehigh pay off.
“That was a big point of emphasis,” Craddock said of the focus before Monmouth on cranking up the run game. “We knew we were better than last week. I thought the O-line did a great job coming off the ball early. We kind of got in a good rhythm.”
Although he was disappointed Dartmouth didn’t get the win, Craddock felt the Big Green showed promise of what’s to come.
“I think there’s something to build off of,” he said. “But again, it’s the small stuff. We’ve got to keep building into next week, but definitely an improvement from last week.”
This week Dartmouth will face a Penn team that allowed Bucknell just 40 yards in week one before limiting Lehigh All-American Luke Yoder to a season-low 74 yards and no touchdowns on 19 carries Saturday. McCorkle made it clear the Big Green needs to pick up against the Quakers where it left off against the Hawks.
“We did a good job of running the football and that’s important,” he said. “Especially in our league you better be able to run the football. I thought that we did a good job offensively. That's something we want to continue to grow on and build on.”
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
Dartmouth safety Harrison Keith led the Big Green with 13 tackles (two for a loss), one breakup and one quarterback hurry. . . . Linebacker Johnny Stephens added 10 solo tackles (11 total) and a forced fumble. . . . Cameron Best-Alston had eight tackles while defensive lineman Bruce Williams had seven stops with a tackle for loss. . . . Jorden Barnes had two pass breakups.
Ky’Dric Fisher had four receptions for 61 yards but no other receiver caught more than a single pass or had more than 20 yards receiving. . . . Saunier had an uncharacteristically tough day with 11 completions in 27 attempts for 148 yards with two touchdowns.
Monmouth finished with 31 first downs, more than Dartmouth surrendered in any game last year. . . . The Hawks had exactly 100 more yards of offense than the Big Green, 483-383. . . . Monmouth’s quick-tempo offense resulted in the visitors running 86 plays to Dartmouth’s 71. . . . Only once did a Big Green opponent surpass 70 plays last year (Central Connecticut ran 76).
Monmouth drives in order (plays/yards/result) 11/75/touchdown; 3/7/punt; 14/80/touchdown; 8/72/touchdown; 12/52/missed field goal; 1/-1/half; 9/68/lost fumble; 9/50/touchdown; 8/29/downs; 13/56/field goal.
Dartmouth drives in order (plays/yards/result): 12/75/touchdown; 5/23/punt; 3/6/punt; 3/75/touchdown; 12/67/touchdown; 15/75/touchdown; 5/18/punt; 6/15/lost fumble; 4/13/punt; 7/33/missed field goal.
THEY SAID IT
(Gently edited for clarity and brevity)
Monmouth coach Jeff Gallo on kicking the field goal at the end (per the Asbury Park Press): “We did a good job of getting down there. We just had to try to make that kick. (Dartmouth) was out of timeouts. There was 1:11 left in the game, so it was going to be tough for them to do it. Our defense had played well in the fourth quarter, so I felt like it was a chance right there to take the lead, and let's close the game out."
Gallo: "When you win on the road and beat an Ivy school – this team was undefeated last year at home. This team has had football, probably over 100 years more than us. To go up here and take a win on the road, I love that for our program."
Tailback Myles Craddock on another tough loss: ”It stings right now and it's going to sting for 24 hours. But we always talk about the 24-hour rule. (Sunday), get back out and get ready for Ivy League play.”
Safety Harrison Keith on his message to the team as a captain: “Keep your head up. . . . There were a lot of little things that we didn't do right. I think if we clean that stuff up, we can be a heck of a team. But obviously starting off 0-2 doesn't show that. It's a long season. We’ve got a lot of games left. Those are two good teams. You can't stay down on it. The only thing you can do is keep your head up and keep moving forward. Come attack this week with everything we’ve got.”
Sammy McCorkle on who deserved a mention after the game: “I thought Nick Lemon had some big plays for us. He's a competitor. He comes out there and prepares himself ready to play. I thought Will Prince and our offensive line. They battled the entire game. Our tight ends did a really good job getting involved in the pass game and blocking on the run game.
“Secondary wise, Harryison doesn't he want (to hear it) but he was out there making plays, running up, making tackles, covering guys. He was all over the map. Overall, I thought the effort was there. We just have got to clean some stuff up.”
McCorkle on the importance of the game: “We're going to learn a lot from this game. Against good teams, it's hard to play a perfect game, but you better be dang close, because all it takes is one play here, or two plays there, and that's the difference in the game.
“But our guys are resilient. Our guys play hard. We'll learn from this. As coaches we'll learn from this. There's a lot of stuff that we as coaches have to look at too, and make sure that we prepare our guys because it's Ivy time now. It's playoff time.”