Kyler Earns Gold Helmet and Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week

HANOVER, N.H. — The New England Football Writers Association and Ivy League office announced its final weekly award winners of the 2021 season with Dartmouth quarterback Derek Kyler earning the Division I Gold Helmet Award and Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honor, respectively. He was recognized for his performance in the Big Green's 52-31 victory at Brown that gave Dartmouth a share of the program's record 20th Ivy League title.

Kyler, a fifth-year senior from DeKalb, Illinois, capped off a terrific career by completing 18-of-24 passes for 215 yards and three scores while running for a career-high 79 yards and another touchdown on just six rushes in the game. His first of three touchdown passes was a 60-yarder to tie the game at 14 in the second quarter, and barely three minutes later he zipped a 15-yard scoring strike to give the Big Green a lead they would not relinquish.

When the second half began, Dartmouth was clinging to a 24-17 lead, and Kyler promptly kept the ball for a 29-yard run right before throwing a strike in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown. Later in the third quarter, he weaved his way through the Brown defensive line for a 7-yard score on the ground, his first of the season, for a 38-17 advantage.

Kyler leads the Ivy League with a 70.7 completion percentage — the highest ever at Dartmouth and second among FCS quarterbacks — a 162.66 passing efficiency (fourth in the FCS). He threw for 1,972 yards, third in the league, while connecting on 17 touchdowns with just a single interception, easily the best ratio in the league and another school record.

Kyler ends his Dartmouth career with the program's highest completion percentage (69.3), as well as the school record for career passing efficiency (164.55), which is also the highest among any current FCS quarterback. His 42 touchdown passes rank third on the Big Green all-time list, while his 4,789 career total yards rank fifth and his 4,409 passing yards are eighth. In the 30 games that he played behind center, Dartmouth enjoyed a superb 27-3 record, going 9-1 each of those three campaigns.

This is the first weekly award Kyler has received from the Ivy League office but his second Gold Helmet Award, the other coming five weeks ago after the 38-21 win over then-23rd-ranked New Hampshire.

Notes: Dartmouth won back-to-back Ivy League titles for the first time since winning three in a row from 1990-92 … the Big Green had eight weekly award winners from the league office through the year — QB Nick Howard twice for offense, LB Jalen Mackie twice and CB Isaiah Johnson once for defense, WR/PR Jamal Cooney for special teams and WR Paxton Scott for rookies … Johnson also took home a Gold Helmet two weeks ago, giving Dartmouth three this season and 17 over the past dozen years … the win at Brown was the Big Green's 11th straight on the road, the longest active road winning streak in the FCS.

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