The Optimist And The Pessimist between Cornell And Harvard

 BGA (Nov. 19) – The Optimist and The Pessimist, as they have done for 19 years, are meeting for the final time this fall, not in their usual location, but rather in the top row of the home football stands, where the Big Green will close out its season Saturday against Brown.

The Optimist: Memorial Field on the final week of the season always leaves me feeling wistful.

The Pessimist: More so this year, when it’s Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field.

The Optimist: Well said, my friend.

The Pessimist: Thank you.

The Optimist: Now for the business at hand. It’s disappointing that we need some help on Saturday.

The Pessimist: I’m glad you see it my way. I’ll admit Brown’s not all that good, but a little help against the Bears won't hurt.

The Optimist: Very funny. You know I mean we need help from Yale winning at Harvard. But you are right, Brown’s not very good. 

The Pessimist: Of course, neither was Cornell, and we all saw what happened out there.

The Optimist: Ouch. Ten weeks in, and you are still taking cheap shots. After 19 years of this, I’d expect nothing less. OK, if you want to play that way, we’ll start with Cornell, then talk Brown and finally, Harvard-Yale.

The Pessimist: Bring it on.

The Optimist: Say what you will about last week’s game out in Ithaca, I’m telling you the Cornell quarterback should be in the conversation for the All-Ivy League first team, and their wide receiver absolutely will be first-team. And their little running back was surprisingly good. As for their defense, after giving up all those points to Penn the week before, they weren’t going to lay down against us. You match up a potent offense with a defense playing for pride, and that’s what you get. Losing that game was disappointing, but it may say more about them than it does about us.

The Pessimist: I warned you last week they weren’t going to be a walkover. Trust me, Brown won’t be either.

The Optimist: You do realize that the Bears are 2-4 in the Ivy League and 3-6 overall, right?

The Pessimist: And you do realize they are the only team that has beaten Harvard, right?

The Optimist: The Crimson lost that one on a fluke play. And don’t forget, that game was played under the lights in front of a rowdy home crowd in Providence. This will be our crowd. We're playing them here, not down in Rhode Island.

The Pessimist: True, but I rather doubt you are going to have the kind of rowdy home crowd Brown had for that game. In fact, I’m not sure the word crowd would even apply, particularly if the forecast is accurate.

The Optimist: The forecast seems to be improving, but that’s neither here nor there. Brown has lost three straight and six of its last seven games. After starting the Ivy League season with that win over Harvard, they’ve gone in the tank.

The Pessimist: Did you happen to notice who their last win was against? I'll help you. It was over Cornell, the team that just beat you.

The Optimist: The Brown coach was a great quarterback for the Bears, and was supposed to be some kind of QB whisperer who was going to turn them into a scoring machine. Hardly. Against Columbia last week, their only touchdown came with 1:37 left in the game. And that was against Columbia.

The Pessimist: Don’t go knocking the Lions now. They’ve given up the fewest points in the Ivy League this year. Your defense has given up 62 more points in Ivy games than Columbia’s, so getting shut down by the Lions is no disgrace.

The Optimist: Bully for Columbia. As for the fifth-year Brown QB who a lot of people thought would be a Bushnell candidate this fall, he has more interceptions than touchdown passes this year. He’s been picked off 12 times to just 11 TD. His efficiency rating, a number that I have to admit means nothing to me, is lower than any starter in the league other than the new kid at Princeton and the Penn QB who has been replaced, and that’s not good.

The Pessimist: Here’s what I know. The Brown quarterback may not be having the year everyone expected, but he can get hot. He was 21-for-37 for 288 yards and three touchdowns in the win over Harvard, and that tells me he can do it against the best. I've got to warn you, he’s not a bad runner, either. He had 57 yards on the ground against Harvard, 55 against Princeton, and 47 last week against Columbia. You’ve had trouble with quarterbacks who can pass and run like Wang last week, the kid at Yale, and the Harvard duo.

The Optimist: Speaking of Harvard,I’m pretty sure they are going to have their hands full Saturday.

The Pessimist: Of course you are.

The Optimist: Yale’s offense has caught fire. The Bulldogs have rung up 98 points over the past two weeks.

The Pessimist: That was against Brown and Princeton, not exactly paragons of defensive excellence in the Ivy League. Let me remind you, when their Ivy League championship hopes were on life support in Week Seven, the Elis managed to score all of 10 points. And that was against Columbia, mind you.

The Optimist: Didn’t you say, “Don’t go knocking the Lions,” to me a couple of minutes ago?

The Pessimist: My bad.

The Optimist: Your bad? Are you from the ‘70s or what? Listen, Harvard is living life on the edge. They were lucky to get past Penn on a field goal at the end. Sure, they are 8-1, but you’ll be interested to know four of their wins have been by a total of 13 points.

The Pessimist: Given that five of your seven wins have been by that exact total of 13 points, I’d think you would be in the “Good teams win the close ones” camp.

The Optimist: I’m not saying Harvard isn’t a good team. I just think Yale will be better on Saturday, like they were a year ago when they did exactly what they will do this weekend. Deny Harvard the outright championship.

The Pessimist: Yes, Yale did force Harvard to share the title last year. But the situation is different this time around.

The Optimist: Go on.

The Pessimist: Last year, Yale had a dog in the fight. A Bulldog, if you will. They needed to beat Harvard to grab away a share of the title for themselves. You were a beneficiary of their largesse. This year, they are out of it.

The Optimist: True, but in my opinion, that may make Yale all the more ornery. Their focus will be entirely on beating Harvard. There’s no subplot. Nothing else on their minds but defeating their arch-rival. The only thing that can make their season is a win over the Crimson. While I'm at it, please note that Yale has won the last two meetings between the teams and five of the last seven. I’d say the Bulldogs have Harvard’s number.

The Pessimist: The only number that matters to the Crimson is zero. That’s the number of teams with which it intends to share the title. With two talented quarterbacks, their star running back returning last week, and a defense that is second in the league for fewest points allowed, Harvard isn't going to let Yale spoil the party again.

The Optimist: I guess all we can do is let this thing sort itself out on the field, huh?

The Pessimist: It always does.

The Optimist: I think we're done today, and for the season. I'd like to say it's been fun.

The Pessimist: Except when it hasn't. Ciao my friend.

Six-Pack After Cornell

BGA (Nov. 18) – It’s that time of the week again so buckle up for your Sunday Monday Six Pack of assorted Dartmouth football thoughts after the loss at Cornell.

1) On the surface it might seem jarring that a Dartmouth defense that surrendered more than 21 points just twice in the first seven games gave up 39 points to Cornell. Here’s what you might not realize. The Big Red scored 47 points in its win over Yale earlier this season, 49 in its win over Princeton in Week 7 and 49 in a loss to Penn the next week. That's 98 points in the previous two weeks alone. Quarterback Jameson Wang makes his share of mistakes but he makes a lot more plays with his arm and his legs. And with sophomore Samuel Musungu coming of age at wide receiver, soph Ryder Kurtz at tight end and classmate Ean Pope at running back, the Big Red has an explosive offense. In fact, Cornell leads the Ivy League in conference scoring this fall at 37.5 points per game.

2) Turnovers certainly didn’t help the Big Green’s cause. Three interceptions and a scoop-and-score contributed to Cornell running 16 more plays than Dartmouth and holding the ball for 9½ more minutes. All told, Big Red scored 20 points off turnovers while winning the game by 17 points. Yup. Dartmouth came into the afternoon with five turnovers on the season and turned it over four times on Schoellkopf Field.

3) Daniel Haughton is quietly developing into a big-play receiver for Dartmouth. With six catches for 101 yards and a touchdown Saturday he’s now third in yards-per-catch among Ivy League receivers with 15 or more receptions in conference action this fall. He’s had 17 grabs for 298 yards and three touchdowns in league play, an average of 17.5 yards per reception. He trails only Columbia’s Bryson Canty (18.8 yards per catch) and Penn’s Bisi Owens (17.7 yards) among those receivers with a minimum of 15 catches in Ivy League action. Still, Dartmouth misses Mr. Dependable, Paxton Scott, a third-down conversion specialist. The Big Green hasn't been the same since he was lost to injury.

4) Patrick Campbell’s 26-yard interception return against Cornell was highlight-reel worthy. Given the way he ran with the ball and the fact that he showed good hands with seven touchdown catches (and a 20.7-yard average gain) as a senior wide receiver in high school, he would look pretty good on the depth chart along with Sean Williams at punt returner next year. And on the subject of depth charts and punt returners, it’s a little disingenuous to have Scott listed as a starting wide receiver and backup punt returner when his foot is in a boot and he’s not in uniform.

5) What to make of Dartmouth’s two running backs combining to run the ball just 12 times for a total of 16 yards? That against a Cornell run defense which allowed more than 200 yards on the ground in four of its first eight games this fall, including 286 a week earlier against Penn? Granted, there were 13 carries credited to the Big Green quarterbacks (although five of those were actually sacks) but the 60 net yards allowed were a season-low for the Big Red run defense. Finally, Dartmouth failed to reach triple figures in rushing yardage for the first time on the same day it gave up more rushing yardage (175 yards) than it had in any game this fall. The Big Green's worst previous rushing performance: 118 yards against Harvard and Princeton, and 119 against Merrimack. The most rushing yards given up before Cornell: 165 against Merrimack and 123 against Harvard).

6) The scenario for Saturday is similar in several ways to a year ago. Once again, a Dartmouth team with two Ivy League losses comes into the final game of the season needing a win over Brown in The Tussle and a Yale win over Harvard to grab a share of the title. And once again, the season could end in a three-way tie. Should the Bulldogs defeat Harvard, Dartmouth beat Brown and Columbia outlast Cornell, the Big Green, Crimson and Lions will each earn a share. The difference this year is the title is not on the line for Yale, but you have to believe the Bulldogs would like nothing better than to deny their arch-rival the outright championship. And for a lot of us, if Dartmouth has to share the title, how cool a story would it be for Columbia to be one of the champion for the first time since 1961?

And your bonus (although not one you’ll like if you are planning to be in Hanover):

7) Dartmouth, Ivy League teams and others in the east have been very lucky with the weather this fall. It has been both mild and dry each game but both could change for the finale. As of this writing Weather.com is calling for rain and possible snow showers on Saturday morning with conditions improving as the day wears on. Given the drought conditions in the northeast rain is probably a good thing – but thankfully it seems the system coming through starting Thursday should abate by kickoff.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Patrick Campbell led Dartmouth with 11 tackles and his 26-yard interception return. Micah Green had 10 tackles and a 25-yard interception return. Josiah Green, Sean Williams and Danny Cronin had seven tackles apiece while Teddy Gianaris had the Big Green’s lone sack for a 12-yard loss.

In addition to Daniel Haughton’s six catches for 101 yards Desmin Jackson had five grabs for 27 yards out of the backfield with wide receiver Grayson O’Bara also pulling in five passes.

Davis Golick continued to put up solid numbers punting with four kicks for a 43.5-yard average. He’s now topped 43 yards in each of his last three games and has averaged at least 40 yards in six of nine games. … Owen Zalc’s Ivy League record of 17 consecutive games with at least one field goal came to an end in Ithaca when he missed his only attempt, a 49-yarder that sailed just wide left in the second quarter.

Cornell ran up 26 first downs to Dartmouth’s 18, including three by penalty, with each of the three flags against the Big Green giving the home team a new set of downs. … The Big Red had a 378-327 advantage in total yards. … Both teams batted .500 in third-down conversions with Dartmouth  going 7-of-14 and Cornell 8-of-16. The Big Green converted its only fourth down and the Big Red both of its fourth-down opportunities.

The disparity in time of possession was most pronounced in how long drives lasted. Dartmouth had just one possession that topped three minutes. Cornell had six drives of three-or-more minutes, including two that topped five minutes.

THEY SAID IT

Cornell coach Dan Swanstrom (speaking to the school paper): “Just great. Great performance by everybody. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t clean, but we fought (and) we played hard and competitive.” 

Swanstrom on the improvement from a week earlier when Penn slapped 67 points on his team: “A lot of things needed to change. We needed to play better. (Today) we just ran and hit and knocked people back.”

Swanstrom: “I hope (the seniors) are the original rebirth of this program and take us to a different place. They’re the first guys that bought into all this, so hopefully it’s the start of something really good here at Cornell.”

Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle: “The guys battled and kept fighting. It’s just too many mistakes. We just can't do that and allow a team to have the opportunity to control the ball, control the clock, and allow them to have opportunities to score more points.”

McCorkle: “You’ve got to make plays when you're in third down situations. You’ve got to make stops, and especially with a good offense like they have. And then offensively, when we get the ball, we’ve got to be able to move those chains. We've got to put ourself in a situation and score touchdowns. We just didn't do that when we needed to.”

Mistakes Doom Dartmouth At Cornell

    BGA (Nov. 17) – Ugh.

Make that ugly.

Whatever could go wrong for Dartmouth Saturday did go wrong as Cornell reeled off 23 unanswered points in a 10½-minute span between the third and fourth quarters while dealing the nation’s 24th-ranked team a stunning 39-22 loss that knocked the Big Green out of a tie for the Ivy League lead.

Dartmouth is now 7-2 overall, but more importantly, 4-2 in the Ivy League. While the Big Red was winning its color war with the Green, Harvard was rallying from a 21-7 third-quarter deficit to beat Penn on a 21-yard field goal as time expired to improve to 5-1 in the Ivies.

Dartmouth now needs a season-ending win over Brown next week and the Crimson to stumble against Yale to gain a share of the title Harvard clinched Saturday. Should the Crimson lose The Game, surprising Columbia (6-3, 4-2) can also grab a piece of its first championship since 1961 with a home win over Cornell (4-5, 3-3).

"It's out of our control now, but we can't worry about that,” said a disappointed Dartmouth coach, Sammy McCorkle after the Big Green's second loss in three weeks. “We can only control what we can control, which is preparing for Brown."

The Bears will bring a 3-6 record into the finale at Buddy Teevens Stadium, but if Dartmouth’s loss to Cornell showed anything, records and statistics mean nothing. Consider:

• Cornell came into its home finale having given up 67 points and 627 yards of total offense in last week’s loss to Penn. The Big Red limited Dartmouth to 14 points until a late touchdown, and to 327 yards of total offense.

• Cornell was allowing opponents to run for 190.4 yards per game coming in. With leading rusher Q Jones held to four yards on seven carries, Dartmouth’s running backs managed just 16 yards on 12 attempts. The Big Green finished with 60 yards thanks only to quarterback Jackson Proctor’s 46 yards on 10 carries.

• Dartmouth entered the game 10^th in the nation in run defense, giving up just 103 yards per game. Cornell’s 5-foot-7 Ean Pope topped that by himself with 111 yards on 26 carries as the Big Red ran for 175 yards.

• The Big Green was third in the nation for fewest sacks allowed before the game with eight. Cornell collected five sacks.

•  Dartmouth came into the day with 18 sacks. It managed just one against the Big Red.

• A Big Green team that won the time of possession in six of its first eight games saw Cornell have almost a 9½-minute advantage with the ball, and run 16 more plays.

• For the first time since the opening game a year ago, Dartmouth did not manage a field goal while Cornell kicker Alan Zhao, who had just six field goals all season, was a perfect 4-for-4 against the Big Green.

• A Dartmouth team that came into the game having thrown just one interception all year was picked off three times by the Big Red, offsetting the three interceptions the Green had of Cornell quarterback Jameson Wang. Add in a Big Red fumble recovery returned for a touchdown and Dartmouth lost the turnover battle.

“Just too many mistakes,” said McCorkle. “You can’t do that and allow a team the opportunity to control the ball, control the clock, and allow them opportunities to score more points."

Trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter and 13-7 at the half, Dartmouth took a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter on an eight-yard touchdown run by Grayson Saunier.

The Big Green then appeared to dodge a bullet when Sean Williams went high to end a Cornell threat with an interception at the two. But Dartmouth’s second interception in as many Big Red drives was offset six plays later when linebacker Luke Banbury picked off Proctor at the plus-18.

On the third play after the interception,Wang ran 14 yards off the left side for a touchdown that gave Cornell a 19-14 lead with 1:17 left in the third quarter. Looking to stretch the difference to seven, the Big Red went for two with a double pass that failed, but it wouldn’t matter.

After forcing a Dartmouth three-and-out deep in the Big Green's end, Cornell took over at its own 40 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Three first downs later, it was Wang rolling left and then gathering himself enough to throw an off-balance 17-yard touchdown pass to standout receiver Sam Musungu. This time, Cornell kicked the point to make it 26-14 with 10:08 remaining.

It didn’t stay that way long.

Stepping in for Proctor on the Big Green’s next possession, Saunier fired a third-and-eight pass that went off a receiver’s hands and into the arms of corner Michael O’Keefe at the plus 36. When the Cornell drive stalled, Zhao came on to boot a 31-yard field goal for a 29-14 lead with 5:53 left.

Things would only get worse for the Big Green, and yet again, it didn’t take long.

On the first play after the kickoff, Cornell got a big rush on Saunier, and the ball came loose as he loaded up to throw. Defensive end Hunter Sloan scooped it up and ran it 22 yards into the end zone. When a video review ruled that the backup QB’s arm had not started forward and that it was indeed a fumble, Zhao came on to kick the extra point for a 36-14 Cornell lead with 5:41 remaining.

Dartmouth had erased a 21-point deficit with 7½ minutes remaining to win at Yale in overtime earlier in the season, but trailing by 22 points with less than six minutes left would be too tall a mountain to climb this time.

 The Big Green responded to the Cornell scoring blitz (10 points in 12 seconds of playing time) with a 10-play, 70-yard drive capped by Proctor’s four-yard pass to Daniel Haughton and a two-point conversion pass to Jackson Namian. But any chance of another miracle comeback ended when Dartmouth’s onside kick did not travel the required 10 yards. The Big Red then proceeded to run Pope five straight times and add the exclamation mark on the win with a 38-yard field goal with 58 seconds to play.

“Hats off to Cornell," said McCorkle. "Cornell came out ready to play, and they executed and made plays when they needed to. And we didn’t make plays when we needed to.

"It’s just disappointing. Guys don’t want to come out and have this type of showing, but I tell you, the guys battled. We kept fighting.”

Now the Big Green will have to bounce back from a second difficult loss in three weeks.

“It hurts,” said McCorkle. “It should hurt. But you know, we’ve got to do better. And we’ve got to coach better and prepare better. . . .

“I told them, ‘Hey, we’ve got to learn from this.’ Get back, watch it, make the corrections. The corrections we need to make. And then we’ve got to get ready for Brown and finish strong.” 

Get ready for Brown and root hard for Yale.