Football Hosts No. 16 Princeton Friday on ESPNU

Friday, November 5

Hanover, N.H.

6:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Princeton

Painter Richards-Baker

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Football Hosts No. 16 Princeton Friday on ESPNU

11/3/2021 3:30:00 PM | Football

Friday, Nov. 5 ESPNU Audio Broadcast Live Stats Teevens TelesTeaser @DartFootball Dartmouth Notes Series History

Dartmouth can climb into a tie for first with a win over the Tigers

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (6-1, 3-1) vs. #16 Princeton (7-0, 4-0)
Friday, Nov. 5, 2021 | 6 PM | ESPNU
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.

100th Meeting
Welcome to the 100th football game between Dartmouth and Princeton! Two years ago, the two teams celebrated 150 years of college football and the 250th anniversary of Dartmouth College by playing at Yankee Stadium. Big Green fans just might recall that their 13th-ranked team beat the ninth-ranked Tigers, 27-10, in the battle of the unbeaten Ivies.

The year prior, the two teams were also unbeaten when they clashed in an epic battle at Princeton Stadium with the Tigers emerging 14-9 victors. While Princeton is undefeated entering this contest for a third straight campaign, Dartmouth needs to beat a Tigers team that has won 12 straight road games — longest in the country — to remain in the race for the coveted Ivy League championship.

In order to be in this position, the Big Green had to rebound from a 19-0 loss to Columbia two weeks ago by taking on nationally ranked Harvard on the road. Dartmouth came through in the clutch, knocking off the Crimson, 20-17, on a last-minute, 25-yard field goal by senior Connor Davis.

The Big Green offense got back on track, piling up 393 yards, 276 coming through the air. Derek Kyler completed 20-of-27 throws for 230 yards and a touchdown, while Nick Howard tossed a 31-yard scoring strike late in the third quarter, the first of his career.

Rookie Painter Richards-Baker was on the receiving end of that Howard pass, the first touchdown of his career as well. Paxton Scott led the team in receptions for the sixth time this year, hauling in six throws for 60 yards, while Dale Chesson returned from injury for his first action and grabbed five passes for 72 yards.

The running game gained a modest 117 yards, but that came against a Crimson defense that was the stingiest against the run in the FCS at fewer than 50 yards allowed per game. Noah Roper had the most success, picking up 55 yards on nine carries. But Howard and Zack Bair remain among the nation's leaders in yards per carry at 5.9 and 5.4, respectively.

The defense was quite stout, yielding just 223 yards (a season low for Harvard), one touchdown and a pair of field goals (the other Crimson touchdown came on a kickoff return, the first in 10 years against the Big Green).
Both CB Isaiah Johnson and LB Jalen Mackie posted 11 tackles (Mackie leads the Ivy League with 65 stops), while NB John Pupel made the play of the game with a stop for a 3-yard loss on 3rd-and-goal at the 1 in the fourth quarter. Harvard settled for a 21-yard field goal attempt that was wide right, which obviously proved critical.

Dartmouth also came away with two takeaways while not coughing up the ball once. DE Shane Cokes recovered a fumble in the first quarter in Big Green territory, and S Quinten Arello picked off a long Crimson pass on the first play after Howard's TD pass gave the team a 17-14 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Scouting the Tigers
The Tigers have won their first seven games for the third straight season, last accomplished in 1901-03. There have been a couple of close calls, however, beating Monmouth on a field goal with 10 seconds left, and outlasting Harvard two weeks ago in a controversial 18-16 victory in five overtimes, the longest game in league history.

Princeton also enters this contest with a 12-game road winning streak on the line, the longest in the FCS (although the Yankee Stadium game in 2019 was hosted by Dartmouth, it still counts as a neutral-site contest). A Big Green win would not only boost them into a tie for first with the Tigers but also make their current 10-game road win streak the longest in the nation.

The Princeton offense is once again one of the most formidable in the country, averaging nearly 37 points a game (11th in the FCS). Quarterback Cole Smith has thrown for nearly 2,000 yards with 11 TDs but has also been picked off six times.

Collin Eaddy is the featured running back as he leads the league with 108 rush attempts and 10 touchdowns on the ground. But as a team, the Tigers are just fifth among Ivy schools with about 130 rushing yards per game.
Princeton's leading receiver is 5-9 Jacob Birmelin with 45 catches for 597 yards, both of which rank second in the circuit. But Smith also has Andrei Iosivas (27 for 558 and 5 TDs) and Dylan Classi (24 for 444) that he targets regularly, along with tight end Carson Bobo.

The Tiger defense has posted two shutouts this year (in the first two games) and has surrendered more than 16 points just twice. Linebacker Jeremiah Tyler, the preseason favorite to be the league's defensive player of the year, has lived up to his billing with a team-high 44 tackles, six for a loss and a pair of sacks. Princeton has registered 25 sacks this fall, led by end Samuel Wright (6.5), tackle Uche Ndukwe (6.0) and linebacker Cole Aubrey (5.0).

The Tigers are under the care of the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. '25 Head Coach of Football, Bob Surace, in his 11th year (10th season) with the Tigers and enters today with a record of 63-44 with three conference crowns (2013, '16, '18). An All-Ivy first-team center in 1989 at Princeton, which won a share of the conference crown, Surace is one of only two coaches ever to win Ivy titles as a player and a head coach — the other is Buddy Teevens.

Third Time is Charming
Dartmouth's 20-17 victory at Nov. 21 Harvard is the third straight win for the Big Green over the Crimson, something the team had not done since taking five straight in the series from 1979-83. Since those five wins, Dartmouth is just 10-26-1 against Harvard, and overall the Crimson have a 71-48-5 advantage since the first meeting in 1882.

Getting Defensive
The Big Green defense has been excellent all year, ranking in the top five in the FCS in pass defense (second), total defense (fourth) and scoring defense (fifth). Only one team has scored 20 or more points (UNH, and just barely at 21). And Harvard managed to gain just 223 yards, its fewest against Dartmouth in 26 years.

Davis a Chip Kicker Off the Old Block
Senior PK Connor Davis has come up big since returning to the field in week three. His most recent heroics came at No. 21 Harvard as he booted a 34-yard field goal as time expired at the half for a 10-7 lead, then converted a 25-yarder with 49 seconds to play to lift the Big Green to a 20-17 triumph. Earlier this season in the win at No. 23 New Hampshire, he drilled a career-long 51 yard FG, the first of 50 or more yards by a Dartmouth kicker in 18 years and one yard shy of the school record. And the week prior, Davis calmly booted a 32-yard field goal from the right hash mark with Dartmouth trailing Yale by three and only 18 seconds remaining, sending the game into overtime. When the Big Green scored the go-ahead touchdown, he added his 52nd consecutive PAT, breaking the program record that was set by one of the great scorers in NFL history, Nick Lowery '78. Davis's record has now reached 59 extra points made in a row, and he is 10th all-time at Dartmouth with 148 points. All of these accomplishments undoubtedly make his father — Judd Davis, the 1993 Lou Groza Award winner as college football's top place kicker while at Florida — quite proud.

Snaring the Catch
While Nick Howard has predominantly been a rushing QB for the Big Green this season, he will throw the occasional pass to keep opposing defenses honest. At No. 21 Harvard on Oct. 30, Howard let loose a 31-yard strike to freshman Painter Richards-Baker, who reeled in the catch like it was a walleye on Lake Winnipesaukee. Richards-Baker's grab put him just past the goal line for his first career TD catch (and fourth reception of his career), while Howard posted the first TD pass of his career.

Chesson Makes His Move
Junior WR Dale Chesson was expected to be in the starting receivers corps but missed the first six games with an injury. When he returned at No. 21 Harvard, he showed he hasn't lost a step, catching five passes for a team-high 72 yards in the 20-17 victory. As a rookie two years ago, he had eight grabs for 82 yards and is ready to show off his development as a play-maker.

On Pace for FCS Record
The Dartmouth defense has allowed opponents just 8.75 yards per completion, which is a pretty low figure. How low you ask? The FCS all-time record is 8.88 yards, held by the 2008 Yale Bulldogs. But another team is also close to the mark, and that team is in Hanover on Friday night as well. Princeton has surrendered 8.95 yards per completion.

Punt Remains, Not Returns
If you check the FCS leaders for punt return defense, you'll find that Dartmouth is the only team in the country that has not had even one punt return attempted against it. But the Big Green don't lead the nation in punt return defense because one team (Davidson) has a negative average return yardage against it at -2.0 per return (6 for minus-12 yards).

Penalties Sudden Problem
Through five games, Dartmouth was one of the least penalized teams in the country with just over four penalties and 42 yards per game. But in the last two contests, the Big Green have been whistled for a total of 17 penalties and 76 yards per game, incluidng nine for 92 yards at Harvard. It had been four years since Dartmouth posted those numbers in a single game.

Third-Down Conversions
Not only did Dartmouth have to overcome penalties at No. 21 Harvard, it also managed to win the game despite going 1-for-14 in third-down situations. It was the fewest third-down conversions for the Big Green since going 0-for-9 in a 22-17 loss to Columbia four years ago.

Scoring Drought Ends
When Derek Kyler tossed a 5-yard TD pass to Robbie Mangas late in the second quarter at No. 21 Harvard, it broke a string of five consecutive quarters without putting points on the board. The Big Green had not failed to score over even just three straight quarters in five years, let alone five in row, which last happened 10 years ago. Columbia's shutout of Dartmouth was the first time the Green failed to score in a game since Yale turned the trick in 2011. In between those two games, Dartmouth posted a 68-23 record and were held to single digits just three times, losing two of those contests by a total of seven points while winning the other (the 2019 Hail Mary game at Harvard). And the last time the Lions shut out the Big Green? That would be 1947 in New York, 15-0.

Mugging for the Cameras
Even with the 19-0 loss to Columbia on Oct. 22, Dartmouth has fared quite well in televised games of late, winning 10 of its last 12 on the boob tube (I guess that phrase is no longer in use without vacuum tube television sets … hello, I'm old), including the 20-17 victory at No. 21 Harvard on Oct. 30. Overall, the Big Green are 45-62-1 and 3-4 against Princeton on TV.

Quick Hitters
• The Big Green have beaten their last three ranked opponents and four of their last five.
• Since the start of the 2017 season, Dartmouth is 32-5 with only one of those losses by more than five points.
• Don't expect to see any kickoffs returns this week; the Big Green have only attempted three all season, the fewest in the FCS, and Princeton has the second fewest with four.
• Jalen Mackie is tied for the league lead with 65 tackles, and his 9.3 per game rank 24th in the FCS.
• Quinten Arello picked off a pass at Harvard, his first of the season and second of his career. He had an interception against Yale as a rookie in 2019 as well.
• Harvard returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, the first kick return for a score against the Big Green since Brown's A.J. Cruz brought one back 83 yards back in 2011.
• CB Isaiah Johnson had a career-high 11 tackles at Harvard, matching Mackie's total.

Let's Go Streaking!
Despite the 19-0 loss to Columbia, Dartmouth still has an enviable winning streak in road games that sits at nine games following the 38-21 triumph over No. 23 New Hampshire. That is the second-longest such streak among all FCS teams. Only Princeton (12) has a longer one, only because the meeting with the Tigers in 2019 — a 27-10 Dartmouth win — was played at Yankee Stadium instead of Hanover.
The Big Green also have won 19 straight games against non-conference opponents, a streak that won't be contested again until next season. It is the longest such win streak for Dartmouth in the Ivy League era. You would have to go back to the 1922-28 seasons to find a longer win streak against teams that did not eventually form the Ivy league (26).