HANOVER – Yes, it’s that day of the week. Time again for your six pack plus of thoughts and opinions as the 2026 season crosses the midway point.
1) Noah Trigueros’ passing numbers Saturday didn’t jump off the page – eight completions in 16 attempts for 101 yards with 59 of those on one play – but the number that matters is the 20 points he helped put on the scoreboard. Watching practice last fall, through the spring and again in the preseason, it was clear Trigueros was ready for this moment. Whether he will see action at Columbia remains to be seen, but the sense is Dartmouth is in good hands when and if he’s needed to step in.
2) Allowing speedy Luke Rives to return the opening kickoff Saturday seemed like a good call even before he brought it back almost to midfield. First, it gave the Big Green and the home crowd a valuable shot of adrenaline right from the get-go. And second, it gave Dartmouth great field position, which it parlayed into a 7-0 lead on its first possession.
Under Buddy Teevens, the Big Green gave up returning kickoffs entirely and finished well up in the national rankings for starting field position. You can’t block in the back when you call for a fair catch, and obviously it reduced the chance for injuries on a return. Under Sammy McCorkle kickoff returns have been rare but not unheard of, and as we saw Saturday, when they break one, it pays dividends.
3) Having seen it happen in practice, McCorkle had confidence that Owen Zalc could make a 58-yard field goal with a brisk wind at his back in the first half Saturday. But it was a gamble because when the kick came up short, Merrimack took possession with great field position at the 40-yard line. The Warriors proceeded to take advantage of the shorter field by driving for the tying touchdown.
Still on the kicking game, after missing the lengthy field goal attempt in the first quarter, Zalc hit from 50 and 42 yards to provide the Big Green’s winning margin. Getting him back on track is big for the rest of the season. Ironically, it sure looked as if his 50-yarder would have been good from 58 if he’d hit the first attempt as cleanly as the next.
4) How strange was it that after the Warriors scored their opening touchdown that they went for two? Coaches talk all the time about the danger of “chasing the points” and very few would dare make a gamble like that so early in the game. It might have been understandable if their kicker had been struggling with PATs, but coming into the game he was a perfect 12-of-12.
Who knows? Maybe coach Mike Gennetti knew something because when he decided the play it straight after the second touchdown his kicker doinked the ball off the right goal post and it didn’t go through so they still had 14 points. It would have been great to hear Gennetti’s thinking but once again a visiting coach did not come to the interview room.
5) Maybe it’s just me, but games against teams like Merrimack, Central Connecticut and Sacred Heart just don’t get the blood flowing. And frankly, they are a gamble. Beat teams like that and right or wrong, the sense is yeah, that’s a game you should win. Lose to one of them and, well, it comes across as a bad loss. Given my druthers, I’d rather play New Hampshire or old friend Holy Cross. Any of the Patriot League teams works for me, although Georgetown is a haul.
If they are going to travel, for years I've been pitching a home-and-home against Northern Colorado. The Bears haven’t had a winning record since going 6-5 in 2016 so the game should be winnable if that’s what you are looking for. A side benefit: With excellent schools and good football, the state of Colorado has been at times a fertile recruiting area for Dartmouth and exposure in the Centennial State wouldn’t hurt in that regard.
6) The ugly loss to Yale probably sticks in a lot of craws, particularly after the Bulldogs laid an egg (eww) against Rhode Island last week. But here’s the thing you need to remember. Dartmouth’s Ivy League fate is still in its own hands. Regardless what happens around the rest of the league, if the Big Green wins out the worst it can do is tie for the title. Harvard and Princeton are the last two teams without a conference loss at Dartmouth still has games against both of them. While an at-large bid to the playoffs is probably not in the cards with three losses, the Ivy League’s auto bid is still in play and if the Big Green is tied with Harvard or Princeton at season's end, the head-to-head result will be a tiebreaker.
And of course . . .
7) Dartmouth honored the undefeated 1996 team at halftime of Saturday’s game by bringing the players and coaches who returned on the field. Unfortunately, the recognition ended there. It would have been helpful for the fans in the stands to have the former players' names announced over the PA. It would have been special for the players, their significant others who accompanied them back to campus, and particularly their children to have heard their fathers' names announced one final time over the PA system at Memorial Field, where they made history.
Selfishly, I sure wish Dartmouth still published game programs because for many years I would freelance at least one story for each game and I was there for every minute of the 10-0 championship team of 1996. I would have loved to ask them about their 27-24 escape from Brown in week nine, their 6-3 win over Harvard, and wrapping up perfection with a 24-0 victory over Princeton in week 10. I'd also have asked them how much they wished they could have gone to the FCS playoffs and how they felt they would have done.
Maybe I missed it, but for as closely as I follow the program, I had no idea the guys would be back in town. I would have really liked to have had a story for this site. Oh well.