Big Green Head to Colgate for First Time in 15 Years

Dartmouth (2-2) at Colgate (1-4)
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 | 1 PM
Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium | Hamilton, N.Y.
ESPN+ — Jeff Bishop play-by-play, Terry Dow analyst
Audio — Brett Franklin play-by-play, Matt Corsetti analyst

Respite from Ivy Play
As has been the case since 2000, Dartmouth will play its final non-conference game of the season in week five, taking to the road to play at Colgate. The Big Green have won the last two meetings (2011, '19) but historically have struggled against the Raiders with just seven victories and one tie in 26 meetings.

Dartmouth can use the break from Ivy play after suffering a tough, 31-24 defeat against Yale in Hanover last week. Statistically, the Big Green bettered the Bulldogs in most categories except the most important one, holding the ball for nearly 11 more minutes, picking up more than 90 more yards and committing fewer penalties.

But turnovers reared their ugly head as Dartmouth coughed the ball up four times, three on interceptions, one of which was returned 70 yards for a touchdown, the first pick-six against the Green in seven years. And with Yale not turning the ball over even once, the disparity proved to be too much to overcome.

One of the most effective aspects for Dartmouth was the ground game, led by Nick Howard and Tevita Moimoi. The former ran for a season-high 87 yards on 17 carries with a pair of touchdowns, while the latter churned out a career-best 82 yards on only nine rushes. At over 175 rushing yards per game, Dartmouth ranks among the top 30 FCS teams.

The air attack has relied primarily on shorter routes with less than eight yards per catch on the season. Jackson Proctor filled in admirably for an injured Dylan Cadwallader last week as the primary thrower, completing 17-of-23 passes for 120 yards and a game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter. Both of his interceptions came in the final minutes as he was trying to push the Big Green downfield to match Yale's go-ahead TD.

Paxton Scott is on track to lead the team in receiving and yardage for a third straight year after hauling in five catches for 60 yards and a score. His final grab gave him exactly 100 for his career, becoming the 15th player in Dartmouth history to reach the milestone. For the season, he has 20 receptions for 225 yards.

On the other side of the ball, the Big Green defense completely shut down the run, holding Yale to a paltry 36 yards on 27 carries. And though Dartmouth yielded fewer than 300 yards of total offense, it uncharacteristically surrendered some big plays in big moments, most notably a 69-yard touchdown toss to complete the scoring on the afternoon. A 30-yard pass on one drive and completions of 38 and 30 yards on another set up the two other offensive touchdowns for the Bulldogs as well.

Linebacker Braden Mullen continued to terrorize opposing quarterbacks with two sacks, giving him 5.5 on the season and boosting him to second in the FCS on a per game basis (1.38). Joining him in the sack parade was Josiah Green, a 15-yarder for his first career sack.

On special teams, freshman place kicker Owen Zalc continued to perform consistently well, booting his only field goal attempt from 32 yards out and booming all five kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks.

Scouting the Raiders
Colgate may be just 1-4 on the season, but one loss came at Syracuse, another against nationally ranked Holy Cross, and the victory came in its last outing two weeks ago over a Cornell team (35-25) that had knocked off Yale the week prior. So take this squad lightly at your own risk, especially with an extra week to prepare for the Big Green.

While many of the statistics put the Raiders into the bottom 20 of the FCS, they look like they found answers to some of their questions against the Big Red. Quarterback Zach Osborne, filling in for the regular starter Michael Brescia, was solid behind center, completing 16-of-25 passes for 179 yards and two scores with one pick. He also showed he is a dual threat having run for 62 yards and another score in his first career start.

Colgate racked up more than 200 yards on the ground in that game as well (more than double its season average), led by RB Chris Gee's 92 yards on a mere 11 carries. But RB Jaedon Henry has shouldered more of the load on the season with 174 yards on 54 attempts (3.2 ypc).

Treyvhon Saunders is the top target for the passing game as he proved against Cornell with seven snares for 74 yards and a touchdown. His 24 catches, 321 yards and 2 TDs all lead the team, and Winston Moore has been a strong secondary option with 16 catches for 182 yards.

Defensively, Colgate surrendered 384 yards to the Big Red and averages over 460 yards allowed. But it has also recovered six fumbles, picked off a pair of passes and sacked the QB eight times.

Linebackers Tyler Flick and Christian Sweeney top the team with 31 tackles apiece, and watch out for another LB in Drew Frankel who has 1.5 sacks and forced two fumbles.

Punting has been excellent, averaging over 42 yards per boot, and Jacob Jaworski is 4-of-6 on field goals, though his long is just 33 yards.

Stan Dakosty (Colgate '05) is in his second season leading the Raiders, though he has been on staff since 2007 and been a part of seven Patriot League championships and every FCS Playoff win in program history as a player and coach. In his first two-plus seasons at the helm, Colgate has produced a record of 9-18.

Four Years Ago …
It has been four years since these two teams met on the gridiron for what was the Big Green's home opener. And Dartmouth left no doubt as to which was the better team that day, building up a 24-0 halftime lead before finishing off the most lopsided game in the series, 38-3. Jared Gerbino threw for 193 yards and a career-high three touchdowns while mostly eschewing his usual strength on the ground with only four carries (but for 33 yards). Tight end Robbie Mangas posted a career-best 105 yards receiving and a score, while Hunter Hagdorn and Drew Estrada caught the other scoring strikes. The Raiders managed to advance the ball into Big Green territory on five drives, but only twice reached the red zone and failed to score when a 10-minute possession stalled at the 3-yard line.

Triple Digits
Senior WR Paxton Scott became the 15th player in Dartmouth history to catch 100 passes in a career with the final of his five grabs against Yale on Oct. 7. He has led the team in receiving and yardage each of his first two seasons and is well on his way to making it three this year with 20 receptions and 225 yards. And with 14 more yards, he will pass Matt Brzica '93 on the receiving yardage list into the top 20 for the Big Green.

Pounding the Ground
Running for at least 200 yards in a game is usually a big part of the recipe for success. Since the start of the 1969 season, Dartmouth has amassed 200 rushing yards 156 times, going 139-16-1 in those contests. Unfortunately, one of those 16 losses came on Oct. 7 against Yale, against whom the Big Green piled up 221 yards on the ground, including a season-high 87 by co-captain Nick Howard and a career-high 82 by another co-captain, Tevita Moimoi. Howard boosted his career total to 1,589 yards, tying him for 12th with John Short '71 on the Dartmouth charts and the most by a Big Green QB ever.

Pounding Into the Ground
On the flip side, the Dartmouth defense has severely limited the running game of its opponents of late, holding them to a total of 99 yards over the last three games. The last time the Big Green kept an opponent from running for even 100 yards in three consecutive games was a five-game stretch spanning the 2017-18 seasons. But the last time opponents failed to combine for 100 yards over three straight games was … well, certainly not since 1969 when my data starts. None of the three recent opponents amassed more than 52 yards, but with the loss to Yale, Dartmouth is now 53-2 when limiting an opponent to no more than 55.

Top-10 Defense
The Dartmouth defense has been terrific this season, ranking sixth among FCS schools in yards allowed per game (277.5). Against the run, the Big Green rank third (76.5), and they are allowing opponents to convert third downs just 21.6 percent of the time, the second-lowest figure in the nation.

Mullen It Over
Junior LB Braden Mullen has been the Big Green's best pass rusher this year, and one of the best in the country for that matter. With two more sacks against Yale, the Illinois native boosted his season total to 5.5, which, on a per-game basis (1.38), ranks second among all FCS players. At his current pace, he would break Dartmouth's single-season record of 12, set by George Neos '93 and equaled by Scott Hapgood '97 and Anthony Gargiulo '06.

Third Quarter Shutout
Props to Bruce Wood for catching this fun fact: Dartmouth has yet to be scored upon in the third quarter this season. It has actually been five games that the Big Green has held its opposition scoreless in the third quarter. The last team to score on Dartmouth in the third quarter was Cornell. It's the longest streak in any quarter for the Green since shutting out opponents in the first quarter over seven consecutive games in 2018-19.

Two Touchdowns for Howard
When Nick Howard reaches the end zone in a game, it's a pretty safe bet he will find his way there a second time before the final horn sounds. The fifth-year QB is currently third in program history with 29 rushing touchdowns, and 12 times he has had at least two in a game, most recently against Yale. As a matter of fact, when he scored just once at Penn on Sept. 30, it was just the second time he had just one touchdown in a game. Only legendary Myles Lane '28 has had more multi-TD games (14) at Dartmouth.

Couple of Firsts
Against Yale on Oct. 7, a pair of Big Green players recorded a career first, beginning with junior NG Josiah Green who registered his first sack. And it was a doozy, knocking the Bulldog QB for a 15-yard loss on third down. Sophomore WR Daniel Haughton brought in his first two career receptions as well, the first being a 19-yard gain in the first quarter.

Turnovers (Not the Good Kind)
Over the previous five seasons, Dartmouth has been very good about taking care of the football having not coughed it up more than 12 times in any of those seasons. But after suffering four turnovers against Yale, the Big Green have already lost the ball 11 times in 2023. The last time Dartmouth gave the ball away four times in a game was in a 24-21 loss to Brown in 2016 (which is also the last time three passes were picked off as well). Only once in the previous 12 campaigns has the Green thrown more than seven interceptions; they have six already this year. And the 70-yard pick-six was the first by any opponent since 2016, the first by a league opponent since 2011 and the longest since 2004.

Coach BT
Dartmouth lost its winningest coach in program history with the passing of Buddy Teevens '79 on Sept. 19 from injuries he suffered in a bicycle accident in March. The Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach guided the team for 22 seasons over two stints, including the last 17 campaigns, winning five Ivy League titles along the way. He was named the New England Coach of the Year three times (1990, 2015, 2019) and the Ivy League Coach of the Year twice (2015, '19) while racking up 117 victories, 83 in conference play.

Also on the Big Green's collective minds is Joshua Balara '24, an offensive lineman who passed away last spring following a battle with a lengthy illness. While he never got a chance to play in a game for Dartmouth before his death, his commitment and unselfish dedication to helping the team improve made him a model teammate, and his affable nature and sense of humor made him a friend to all. Both will be honored by the team throughout the season with stickers featuring their initials on the Dartmouth helmets.

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