Harvard Comes to Hanover for Dartmouth Homecoming Tilt

Saturday, October 29

Hanover, N.H.

1:30 PM

Dartmouth College

Harvard

Photo by: Eli Burakian

Harvard Comes to Hanover for Dartmouth Homecoming Tilt

10/27/2022 1:50:00 PM | Football

Saturday, Oct. 29 NESN+ESPN+Audio Broadcast Live Stats Teevens Teleteaser @DartmouthFTBL Series History Dartmouth Notes Harvard Notes

The Big Green have the opportunity to win their fourth straight showdown with the Crimson

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (2-4, 1-2) vs. Harvard (4-2, 2-1)
Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022 | 1:30 PM
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.
NESN+, ESPN+ — Matt Corsetti play-by-play, Steve Goldberg analyst
Audio — Dick Lutsk play-by-play, Wayne Young '72 analyst

Hitting Up Harvard on Homecoming
Dartmouth would like nothing more than to carry over the emotion from last week's thrilling 27-24 victory at Columbia into its homecoming tilt against Harvard. To have any hope of defending the consecutive Ivy League crowns, nothing less than a win over the Crimson will do.

It seems like every time these two teams meet, the game goes down to the wire with seven of the last eight contests decided by one score, and six of those by three points or fewer. The Big Green have won the last three in the series, including the last showdown at Memorial Field four years ago, 24-17.

Last week, Dartmouth took advantage of several Lions miscues on special teams to pull out the three-point triumph in the final seconds, including a punt of negative-1 yards, a muffed kickoff at the 5 and a muffed punt that set up a Big Green touchdown. But the most notable play came in the third quarter when Robert Crockett III blocked a punt in the end zone and Tevita Moimoi recovered it for his first career touchdown.

Both teams missed field goals in the final five minutes, but Ryan Bloch got a second chance to win the game and nailed the 32-yard field goal with four seconds on the clock.

The Dartmouth offense sputtered a bit in the first half with its longest drive covering 32 yards. The second half brought some more consistent offensive play but produced just one field goal prior to the final possession. That's when Nick Howard was handed the reins to guide the two-minute offense (well, 1:11 was on the clock), and he completed all four passes to pick up 70 yards and set up Bloch's field goal.

Howard will split time with Dylan Cadwallader behind center with the two combining for 864 passing yards while completing 57.6 percent of their throws. Paxton Scott was the favorite target last week as the junior hauled in six passes for 104 yards (first career 100-yard game), plus threw a 5-yard TD pass to Jarmone Sutherland, his first career score.

The defense has been beat up this season with three key starters out this week and perhaps others. But LB Braden Mullen stepped up and posted a career-best 10 tackles, and DL Josiah Green had six stops in his first extended action. Leading tackler Macklin Ayers is not expected to play, but another LB in Joe Heffernan ranks third in the league in tackles per game.

Last year, Dartmouth outgained Harvard by a 393-223 margin but still needed a last-minute 25-yard field goal from Connor Davis to dispatch of the Crimson, 20-17. Both Howard and Derek Kyler threw for a touchdown in the game.

Scouting the Crimson
Harvard won four of its first five games, including wins over Cornell and Brown by identical 35-28 scores, but last week the Crimson suffered their first league loss to Princeton at home, 37-10.

It was a tight game against the Tigers through the half as the Crimson trailed 14-10, but it was all Princeton after the intermission as the visitors scored 23 unanswered points. Harvard hurt its chances by turning the ball over three times and failed to convert either of its two fourth-down plays, plus did not manage even one takeaway.

Charlie Dean heads up the offense as the QB, completing 58.4 percent of his passes for 1,336 yards and 11 TDs against only two interceptions. The senior has connected on at least 15 throws in every game and topped 200 yards four times.

Running back Aidan Borguet has made a case to be a finalist for the Bushnell Cup on offense, leading the league in rushing by a wide margin at 119.3 yards per game while adding seven touchdowns. The Crimson will mix it up occasionally and give the ball to Sone Ntoh (27 carries, 104 yards) or Shane McLaughlin (17-50, 2 TDs).

More than 40 percent of the pass completions have gone to WR Kym Wimberly, he of the 45 catches for 528 yards (third in the league) and three touchdowns. Ledger Hatch is an excellent deep threat, averaging over 20 yards on his 15 grabs with three more scores, and Tyler Neville (15-16, 2 TDs) is another solid option.

As is usual, the Crimson defense is excellent against the run, ranking 12th in the FCS. And this is a disruptive group with three of the top five in the league in tackles for a loss, led by DL Truman Jones with 9.5. He and DL Nate Leskovec have 4.5 sacks apiece, helping Harvard lead the league in that category as well.

The kicking game is solid with PK Jonah Lipel a perfect 21-21 on PATs and 5-8 on field goals while Sebastien Tasko averages 38.6 yards per punt.

Harvard is coached by Tim Murphy (Springfield '78), now in his 29th year in Cambridge and 36th overall as a collegiate head coach. The boyhood friend of Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens is 190-85 during his Crimson tenure with nine Ivy championships to his credit, and 222-130-1 in a career that included stints at Maine and Cincinnati. In 2007, he was inducted into his alma mater's Athletic Hall of Fame.

Annual Clash of Boyhood Friends
Buddy Teevens, the Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach at Dartmouth, and Tim Murphy, the Thomas Stephenson Family Head Coach at Harvard, grew up together and still maintain their friendship, even vacationing together with their families. But when it comes to the game on the field, they are straight-up rivals. Murphy got the better of Teevens for more than a decade, winning the first 13 meetings on the gridiron, but Teevens has emerged victorious in the last three contests by a total of 13 points, including the "Miracle in Cambridge" in 2019 when Derek Kyler threw a 43-yard Hail Mary pass to Masaki Aerts on the game's final play to lift Dartmouth to a 9-6 triumph.

Wild Win Ends Skid, Avenges 2021 Defeat
Dartmouth had lost four straight games for the first time since 2011 when it took the field at Columbia on Oct. 22 against a team that handed the Big Green their only defeat of the 2021 season via a shutout on national television, no less. The Green built up a 24-9 lead in the third quarter thanks to a bad punt, a muffed punt and a blocked punt, which all produced touchdowns. But when the Lions tied the game in the fourth quarter, Dartmouth got the last laugh on a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Bloch with four seconds left to seal the deal.

New Miami Vice Team-Up?
As mentioned above, special teams played a big role in the 27-24 win at Columbia, and one of the biggest plays was provided by the duo of Crockett and … Moimoi. So it's not Tubbs and Tevita Moimoi is from California, not Florida like Robert Crockett III, but we'll make it work. With the Lions punting from their own end zone in the third quarter, Crockett snuck through and blocked the punt — the second of his career. Moimoi tracked the bouncing ball in the end zone and pounced on it for his first career touchdown. Definitely more exciting than working vice in Miami I'm sure.

Howard Armed and Ready
Armed in the sense that the right arm of Nick Howard was ready during the final drive at Columbia. With Dylan Cadwallader dinged from the previous drive, Howard had 1:11 to move the Big Green from their own 20 down the field and give them the chance to break a 24-24 tie. The running QB demonstrated that he can be a throwing QB, too, completing all four passes (and another that was negated by a penalty) that covered 70 yards and put Dartmouth in position to kick the game-winning field goal.

Special Teams Player of the Week
The 2022 season has been a wild ride for PK Ryan Bloch. After leaving the team last spring to focus on academics, he was coaxed back barely a week before the season opener when injuries left the Big Green without a kicker. He has converted all 17 of his PATs, kicked his first career field goal at Sacred Heart, had a field goal blocked in overtime in a loss to Penn, then connected on one field goal at Columbia before having a game-clinching 39-yarder bang off the left upright. But the senior got a second chance against the Lions, drilling a 32-yard field goal with four seconds left to break a 24-24 tie and end Dartmouth's longest skid (four games) in 11 years. His resilience in kicking the game-winner garnered him Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

Paxton Armed and Ready
Yep, I'm doubling up on the titles here, again referring to a right arm, this time that of WR Paxton Scott. Not only did the junior record his first 100-yard game receiving for the Big Green, hauling in six passes for 104 yards, he also threw the team's second touchdown of the afternoon. Dartmouth ran a reverse to Scott, who then threw a 5-yard pass to a wide-open Jarmone Sutherland in the end zone for his first career scoring reception. It was the first touchdown toss by a non-quarterback since Drew Hunnicutt threw a 21-yard score in 2018 … at Columbia.

Mullen It Over
Dartmouth has suffered several key injuries on the defensive side of the ball, including LB Macklin Ayers, the second-leading tackler in the FCS, and LB Marques White, a 2021 All-Ivy performer. Those losses mean opportunities for younger players, and sophomore Braden Mullen stepped up at Columbia to provide a team- and career-high 10 tackles, none more important than his second stop in the opening quarter. That ended a Lion run at the 1-yard line, and on the very next play, Columbia snapped the ball over the head of the QB, and Dartmouth's Tyson McCloud recovered it, keeping the Lions off the scoreboard.

Living Up to the Name
How appropriate is it for the Dartmouth Big Green to have three players with the last name Green and another that is Greene? Three of those colorful players saw action at Columbia, and each played a part in the win. Josiah Green helped plug holes on the defensive line, stepping in for injured teammates and providing six tackles in the second half (three on consecutive plays in the fourth quarter). Tyler Green got into the act on special teams, making a stop on a kickoff coverage. And Josh Greene was right on target on his 10 long snaps, but even more impressive was him hustling down the field to recover a muffed punt in the second quarter, setting up the Big Green's second touchdown.