Homecoming Clash with Yale on Saturday

Saturday, October 9

Hanover, N.H.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Yale

Marques White is among the top 10 nationally in sacks.

Photo by: Gil Talbot

10/7/2021 11:25:00 AM | Football

Saturday, Oct. 9 ESPN+ Broadcast Audio Broadcast Live Stats Teevens TeleTeaser @DartFootball Dartmouth Notes Series History

The last time the football team met with the Bulldogs, the Big Green came away 42-10 victors

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (3-0, 1-0) vs. Yale (2-1, 1-0)
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2021 | 1:30 PM | ESPN+
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.

Clash of the Ivy Champions
You can be forgiven for the unnerving sensation of déjà vu that has overcome your senses. The last time these two teams met was for Dartmouth's 2019 homecoming game, from which the Big Green emerged with a convincing 42-10 triumph. Now with both teams trying to defend their 2019 Ivy League title, can Dartmouth wow the homecoming crowd with another victory?

As a matter of fact, the Green have won each of their last four homecoming battles with Yale, dating back to 2013. The most thrilling of those games came in 2017 when Dartmouth defeated the Bulldogs, 28-27, after falling behind, 21-0, in the first half, the largest comeback victory in program history.

The coaching staff would likely prefer the 32-point margins the Big Green enjoyed in both 2019 and 2015 (35-3). But with Yale picked to finish second in the preseason poll and Dartmouth third, it will more likely be a battle to the end.

The Big Green are coming off a dominant 31-7 win at Penn last Friday, nearly tripling the total yards of the Quakers (413-141) while limiting their host to 37 plays of offense. No other Dartmouth opponent of the last 50 years has run fewer plays.

The defense was led by LB Tanner Cross, who had just four tackles to go with an interception and a pass breakup. Safety Niko Mermigas added another interception, and four players pitched in on a pair of sacks, including team leader Marques White, as the entire unit smothered the Penn attack.

On the other side of the ball, Dartmouth absolutely controlled the game, maintaining possession for more than 41 minutes. The pair of QB Nick Howard and RB Zack Bair amassed a total of 194 yards on the ground with the former twice reaching the end zone and the latter catching an 8-yard scoring strike just before halftime. Howard became just the fourth Big Green player in the Ivy League era with consecutive games of at least 100 rushing yards and two rushing TDs.

QB Derek Kyler continued to pick apart opposing defenses, completing 15-of-22 throws for 160 yards and the touchdown to Bair. He is second in the country in completion percentage (74.1) and third in passing efficiency (179.65), not to mention the active career leader in the latter category (168.31).

Kyler's favorite target turned out to be WR Paxton Scott for the second time in three games as the sophomore hauled in seven passes for 49 yards. The longest reception belonged to WR Jamal Cooney on a 47-yard bomb, and he finished the night with his first four catches of 2021 for a team-high 70 yards.

The play of the game belonged to special teams, however, when Robert Crockett III blocked a first-quarter punt, scooped up the ball and scored his first career touchdown for an early 7-0 lead. And with the return of place kicker Connor Davis, who drilled a 35-yard field goal and all of his PATs, Dartmouth is settling into the season in all facets of the game.

Scouting the Bulldogs
The last time these two teams met, Dartmouth enjoyed a raucous homecoming in 2019, handing Yale a resounding 42-10 defeat on this very field. It turned out to be the only loss all year for the Bulldogs, and they eventually ended the season tied atop the Ivy League standings with the Big Green, sharing the conference crown. The question is for today: Can Dartmouth repeat its homecoming performance from two years ago?

The Yale offense has been quite good in racking up yards, ranking 24th nationally with nearly 400 per game while averaging about 25 points. The air attack, led by 2018 Ivy League Rookie of the Year Griffin O'Connor, has thrived as he has completed 55.3 percent of his passes for about 225 yards per game with five touchdowns and just one interception.

Mason Tipton and J.J. Howland have been big-play receivers, combining for 12 catches and about 26 yards per grab with two touchdowns. Melvin Rouse II, on the other hand, has been a terrific possession receiver with a team-high 13 receptions for 114 yards (8.8 average).

Veteran Zane Dudek heads up the rushing game having gained more than 2,400 yards in his career. This season he is picking up 4.4 yards on each of his 41 carries with one touchdown, while his backup, Spencer Ralston, has the other rushing score.

The defense has been stout, particularly against the pass. Opponents are posting just 12.3 points per game (seventh in the nation) and converting only 20.5 percent of their third-down opportunities, the lowest mark in the country.

The Big Green offensive line will have their hands full with defensive tackle Clay Patterson, who leads the FCS with six sacks on the season. Safety Rodney Thomas II has two of the Bulldogs' three picks, and linebacker John Dean has a team-best 18 tackles.

Jack Bosman handles all of the kicking duties, averaging nearly 41 yards per punt while converting 2-of-4 field goals with a long of 47 yards.

Now in his 10th year as the Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football, Tony Reno enters today's game with a 49-34 record with the Bulldogs, including conference titles in 2017 and 2019. He is a 1997 graduate of Worcester State College and was hired at Yale as an assistant in 2003 after a successful five-year stint at his alma mater.

Ivy-Opening Victory
For the fourth straight season, Dartmouth emerged victorious in its Ivy League opener against Penn, besting the Quakers in Philadelphia, 31-7. The 24-point margin was the largest in the series for either team since 2004 when Penn handed the Big Green a 35-0 shutout. The last time Dartmouth enjoyed such a large victory over the Quakers was in 1989, also a shutout, but this one was 24-0. The Green have won six of the last seven meetings and are 38-48-2 all-time in the series.

Howard Joins Elite Company
Junior QB Nick Howard, third in the FCS with an average of 8.16 yards per carry, became just the fourth Dartmouth player in the Ivy League era (since 1956) to rush for 100 or more yards and at least two touchdowns in consecutive games when he ran for 101 yards and two scores in the win at Penn. The other three players just happen to be the top three rushers in Big Green history — Al Rosier '91, Nick Schwieger '12 and Dominick Pierre '14. Against Yale, he will have the opportunity to be the first to reach those statistical marks in three straight games …

Crockett the Rocket
One of the heroes of the 31-7 win at Penn on Oct. 1 was Robert Crockett III. With the game a scoreless tie in the first quarter, the senior streaked around the edge on a Quaker punt and blocked the kick, sending the ball high into the air behind the line of scrimmage. It eventually landed at the goal line before anyone could track it, but Crockett was first on the scene, scooping it up like queso with nachos and carrying it into the end zone for an early Big Green lead and his first career touchdown. It was the first blocked punt that turned into a TD since Michael Reilly pulled off the feat at Harvard a dozen years ago on Halloween in 2009.

Defense Denies
The Dartmouth defense was on full display at Penn, holding the host to just 141 yards of offense, the lowest total for an opponent since the 2018 season opener. But the more stunning limitation was how few opportunities the Quakers actually had on offense, running a mere 37 plays all night, the fewest for a Big Green opponent in over 50 years. Based on that knowledge, it shouldn't be a surprise that Dartmouth's time of possession (41:36) is the highest for the team in that time span as well.

TD Streak Ends at 13 Quarters
Dartmouth reached the end zone in each quarter of the first half at Penn, extending its streak to 13 consecutive quarters with at least one touchdown. But a fumble into the end zone in the third quarter foiled the Big Green's best chance to match the longest streak of the last 90 years (14), achieved by the famed 1970 team. The 1928-29 teams also put together a 14-quarter streak, but the longest of all-time involved the 1925-26 squads that strung together 17 in a row. That 1925 team was also credited with a national championship.

Golden Celebration
At halftime of this game, Dartmouth will take the time to honor the 1970 and 1971 teams to celebrate their 50th anniversaries (the 1970 celebration was postponed last year due to the pandemic). The undefeated 1970 team is regarded as the best in program history, winning the Lambert Trophy as the top team in the East while ending the year 13th in the UPI poll and 14th in the AP poll.

Davis Does It Again
Although he did not appear in either of the first two games due to an injury, It didn't look like Connor Davis had missed any time when he finally got back on the field at Penn on Oct. 1. His first and only field goal attempt came from 35 yards out, and the senior split the uprights without any issue. He also converted all four of his PAT attempts, extending his streak to 49 straight dating back to the 2018 campaign. He is now only two shy of the program record set by one of the great scorers in NFL history, Nick Lowery '78, who drilled all 51 he attempted for the Big Green. Davis's father, Judd, was a renowned kicker in his own right, winning the Lou Groza Award as college football's top place kicker in 1993 at Florida.

Stingy Defense
Dartmouth has made quite the name for itself the past few seasons as staunch defenders. In both 2018 and 2019 when the Big Green ended the season ranked among the FCS top 25, only one other team surrendered fewer points per game each season — Colgate in 2018 and North Dakota State in 2019. And Dartmouth was ranked second both years in the top 15 in total defense (4th and 14th) as well. Seems like the Green have picked up after the pandemic right where they left off; entering this game, Dartmouth is fourth in scoring defense (9.3) and third in total defense (217.0 yards).

A Birthday to Celebrate
Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach, celebrated his (ahem)th birthday in style on Oct. 1 as Dartmouth defeated Penn on national television, 31-7. It was just the fourth time in 31 seasons as a head coach that his team played on his birthday, boosting his record to 2-2. All four games have come in his two stints as the Big Green head coach, the first being a 24-3 victory at Davidson in 1988. The other two contests were losses to Penn, so let's consider this win exorcising those demons.

National Top 10
While it is still a bit early in the season, Dartmouth has had several players stand out in the national FCS rankings thus far, including a pair among the top 10 in rushing yards per carry:

Punt return avg. — Jamal Cooney (33.2, 1st)
Completion pct. — Derek Kyler (74.1, 3rd)
Passing efficiency — Derek Kyler (179.65, 3rd)
Rush yards per carry — Nick Howard (8.16, 3rd)
Rush yards per carry — Zack Bair 7.53, 6th)
Sacks per game — Marques White (1.17, 9th)
Rush yds per game — Nick Howard (103.3, 10th)

End Zone Air Raid
With the touchdown toss to Zack Bair at Penn, Dartmouth has had at least one score through the air in 52 of its last 56 contests. The Big Green had one or more in every game in 2017, while missing out only once in the other four campaigns since 2015.

Mugging for the Cameras
There was a time when Dartmouth did not fare well when appearing on TV, but the Big Green have seemingly overcome their camera shyness. With the 31-7 victory over Penn, Dartmouth has now won eight of its last nine televised games, and it has won all five contests that have been shown on ESPNU. The Big Green still have two more games on ESPNU this fall (Columbia and Princeton), plus another on NESN (Harvard).

Kyler Rising the Ranks
Derek Kyler continues to maintain his super efficient passing unlike Dartmouth has ever seen before. With a season completion percentage of 72.6, he has boosted his career percentage to 69.1 (233-of-337), well ahead of Dalyn Williams at 62.7 percent. Kyler is also well ahead of the Big Green field in career passing efficiency with a figure of 168.31, which is also the active career leader among FCS quarterbacks. By the way, the NCAA FCS record for efficiency is 176.68, based on a minimum of 300 completions. So not only would he need to average about 10 completions per game the rest of the season to qualify, he has to boost his mark up about eight points. Kyler is also fifth all-time at Dartmouth with 31 touchdown passes (Brian Mann '02 is fourth with 33) and 11th with 2,880 passing yards (needs 63 to move into the top 10).