Football Hosts Princeton on National Television Friday Night

Friday, November 3

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 PM

Dartmouth College

Princeton

Tickets

Q Jones

Photo by: Gil Talbot

Football Hosts Princeton on National Television Friday Night

11/1/2023 10:30:00 PM | Football

Friday, Nov. 3 Tickets Game Program ESPNU Broadcast Audio Broadcast Live Stats @DartmouthFTBL Series History Dartmouth Notes

The game is being played on the 100th anniversary of Memorial Field

By: Rick Bender

Dartmouth (3-4, 2-2) vs. Princeton (4-3, 3-1)
Friday, Nov. 3, 2023 | 7 PM
Memorial Field | Hanover, N.H.
ESPNU — Eric Frede play-by-play, Jack Ford analyst
Audio — Brett Franklin play-by-play, Wayne Young '72 analyst

100 Years of Memorial Field
The game against Princeton marks the 100th anniversary of the first game played at Memorial Field — to the day — and Dartmouth would like nothing more than to celebrate the occasion with a victory. The Big Green have played a total of 428 games at the facility (though they've been playing on the site since 1893) with the team sporting a .652 winning percentage (275-145-8).

In order to add to that win column, Dartmouth will need to solve a Princeton defense that ranks in the top three in the FCS in fewest points and yards allowed. But the two teams are pretty evenly matched with defense being their true strength with both sides surrendering fewer than 300 yards a game.

The Big Green were able to use that defense to hold a Harvard team averaging over 35 points a game to under half that, but the offense was unable to crack the goal line in a 17-9 defeat. Place kicker Owen Zalc did convert three field goals to account for all of Dartmouth's points, including a 47-yarder to match a lifetime best, earning Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors for a third time this year.

The Dartmouth defense completely smothered the Crimson passing attack, which managed only 36 yards on 6-of-17 attempts with two interceptions — courtesy of safety Sean Williams — and no first downs through the air. Three of the Big Green's four sacks were provided by linebacker Marques White, a 2021 All-Ivy selection seeing his first action of the season who also missed all but two games last year. And nose tackle Josiah Green led the team with 10 tackles, more than double his previous best total.

But after Dartmouth closed the gap to one point on Zalc's second field goal, Harvard responded with a 75-yard drive to reach the end zone. And when an interception led to a Crimson field goal, Zalc's final field goal with 15 seconds to play left only enough time for an onside kick and maybe three plays at most should the Big Green have recovered it (which they did not).

Now Dartmouth will attempt to right its offense against this formidable Tiger defense. Quarterback Nick Howard, the program's eighth-leading rusher of all-time, was limited to just 24 yards last weekend. The running game provided a total of 83 yards, 50 courtesy of RB Q Jones.

Dylan Cadwallader, the passing half of the Big Green QB tandem, completed 24-of-37 throws for 186 yards with leading receiver Paxton Scott hauling in seven passes for 72 yards and Daniel Haughton six more for 50. Scott is fourth in the league with 38 receptions and fifth in yardage (499), and at his current pace could move into Dartmouth's top-10 receivers in both categories before the end of the season.

Scouting the Tigers
All seven games that Princeton has played have been decided by no more than 11 points, and four by three or fewer. Following a 28-27 heartbreaking loss at Brown, the Tigers have roared back, handing Harvard its first loss of the season, 21-14, before smothering Cornell last weekend, 14-3.

The offense, seventh in the Ancient Eight in scoring, is led by QB Blake Stenstrom, a second-team All-Ivy selection a year ago, completing 60 percent of his passes for 1,607 yards and nine touchdowns with only four interceptions.

But the ground game ranks last in the Ivy League at just over 90 yards a game. John Volker averages close to 5 yards a carry and leads the Tigers with 326 yards on 68 attempts, four of which have gone for touchdowns. But he missed the Harvard game and has had only 51 rushing yards in his last two appearances, leaving the load for Jiggie Carr (52 carries, 228 yards, 2 TDs).

Stenstrom may not have the services of current NFL receiver Andre Iosovas anymore, but the tandem of Luke Colella (31 catches, 354 yards, 3 TDs) and A.J. Barber (30 for 481, 2 TDs) have served him pretty well.

On the other side of the ball, Princeton has been terrific, allowing barely 13 points a game, second among FCS programs. Linebacker Ozzie Nicholas, another All-Ivy Second Teamer in 2022, leads the league with 72 tackles to go with 3.5 sacks. Six different players have intercepted a pass, and another six have forced a fumble. Will Perez has been the top cover man with four PBUs and a pick.

Brady Clark handles the punting duties, averaging 38.4 yards per boot, though Stenstrom has punted five times as well. The Tigers have attempted just four field goals, making two, neither longer than 29 yards.

The Tigers are under the care of the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. '25 Head Coach of Football, Bob Surace, in his 14th year (13th season) with the Tigers and enters today with a record of 77-50 with four conference crowns (2013, '16, '18, '21). An All-Ivy first-team center in 1989 at Princeton, which won a share of the conference crown, Surace is one of only three coaches ever to win Ivy titles as a player and a head coach — the other two are Buddy Teevens '79 and Jake Crouthamel '60.

Last Year Against the Tigers …
Dartmouth traveled to New Jersey in 2022 to take on 17th-ranked Princeton only to come up three points short in a 17-14 defeat. The Tigers scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter, and the Big Green answered back with one of its own on a 6-yard run on a direct snap to Jace Henry. But the scoring slowed considerably from there with only a second-quarter Princeton field goal and a last-minute 8-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Proctor to Paxton Scott that preceded a failed onside kick to essentially end the game.

Fighting for Title Aspirations
With last week's 17-9 loss at Harvard, Dartmouth is not in the best position to earn at least a share of the Ivy League crown, at least from a historical perspective. Only twice has the league champion finished a season with two conference losses — 1963 and 1982. But the Big Green were among those with two losses in each of those campaigns, and it isn't far-fetched for it to happen again for the first time in 41 years. It is even still possible for Dartmouth to win the Ancient Eight outright if everything were to break just right. Come back next week for a breakdown of how the league could even finish in a seven-way tie …

The Wizard of O.Z.
First-year place kicker Owen Zalc continues to be a weapon for Dartmouth. After booting three field goals at Harvard — his second game with three this season — Zalc was selected as the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the third time, making him just one of three Big Green players to receive the honor that many times (WR Craig Morton '89 earned it four times, DB Shawn Abuhoff '12 three). The last Big Green kicker with two games with three field goals in a season (or even a career) was Tyler Lavin '05 in 2003. Three of his last five field goals have been from 47 yards (two against Columbia), a distance from which he had never converted in his life. And should he kick four more field goals over the final three games, he would break the school record of 15 in one season, set by Dennis Durkin '93 in 1990 and tie the Ivy League record in conference games alone (13). Zalc is third in the nation in field goals made per game (1.71).

You Shall Not Pass
Gandalf would be proud of the Dartmouth defense, which limited Harvard to a paltry 36 passing yards in the 17-9 Big Green defeat on Oct. 28. Those were the fewest yards through the air for an opponent in 36 years (Penn failed to complete a single pass in the matchup in 1987), and over the last 54 years, Dartmouth has held the opposition to 35 or fewer just 10 other times. On top of that, the Crimson did not record a single first down on a pass play, marking just the second time that has happened since 1969 (again, Penn in 1987). But those games did not guarantee a victory as the Big Green are now 4-7 when limiting an opponent to fewer than 40 passing yards.

Whiteout
Actually, Whiteback. Linebacker Marques White had missed every game this season and all but two since the start of the 2022 campaign after earning second-team All-Ivy honors in 2021. He returned to the field with a vengeance at Harvard, recording three sacks among his five tackles, even in a limited role. Only six players in the Ivy League have registered more sacks all season.

Safety Dance
Sophomore safety Sean Williams made his presence known in the secondary in the 17-9 loss at Harvard, picking off two passes in the first half of play. He is the first Big Green player in four years with two interceptions in a game, last achieved by Jack Traynor '19 against Columbia in 2019.

Howard Climbs the Career Charts
Nick Howard crept up Dartmouth's career leaders in rushing yards thanks to 24 at Harvard, moving into eighth with 1,719 yards to his credit, and the most for any Big Green QB ever. In the previous game, he debuted in the top 10, surpassing Curt Oberg '78, the special assistant to the head coach. Of the players in the top 10 (found on page four of these notes), only one — Rick Klupchak '74 — has a higher average per carry (6.06) than Howard (5.24). Howard is also second at Dartmouth in both career multi-TD games (13) and career rushing touchdowns (31, Myles Lane '28 had 33 TDs on the ground) plus is tied with place kicker Foley Schmidt '12 for fifth in scoring with 186 points.

Top-20 Defense
The Dartmouth defense has been terrific this season, ranking 12th among FCS schools in yards allowed per game (298.7). The Big Green are also tough on third and fourth down, allowing opponents to convert just 32.0 percent of their third downs (10th in the nation) and 33.3 percent of their fourth-down situations (seventh).

Turnovers Prove Costly
Although Dartmouth had turned the ball over just once in the previous two games combined, the Big Green coughed up the ball twice at Harvard, both of which led to Crimson scores. A fumble deep in Dartmouth territory allowed Harvard to score a touchdown in the first quarter, and an interception in the fourth quarter set up a field goal to increase the Crimson lead to 11 points with 3:20 to play. The Green have been picked off seven times this year, their most since 2016, and the seven fumbles lost match the most since 2015.