The Dartmouth football team has two missions this week. The first is to write thank-you letters to the Yale football players who beat the previously unbeaten Princeton Tigers on Saturday. The second is to prepare for next week's meeting with the Tigers, a game which may decide the Ivy League championship.
Yale's upset, combined with the Big Green's 10-7 victory against Brown, creates an interesting situation for next Saturday. Dartmouth (4-2 league) will play Princeton (5-1 league) at home. Pennsylvania (4-2 league) will play Cornell (5-1 league) at Penn.
A combination of Dartmouth and Penn victories would vault all four teams into a four-way tie for first place. Since the Ivy League has no tie-breaking procedures all four would share the championship.
Dartmouth was well aware before playing Saturday that it was still in the running for the Ivy League championship. However, the Big Green also knew they must defeat Brown first and foremost.
Coming into the game many expected this game to be a battle between Dartmouth's league-leading defense and Brown's formidable offense led by the arm of quarterback Jason McCullough. They were correct.
McCullough threw for 323 yards and yet had only seven points to show for his efforts as the Dartmouth defense, ranked one in the conference, consistently held its position.
"It's really satisfying to go against the most productive offense in the league and do so well," co-Captain Taran Lent '96 said.
Dartmouth's defense was especially potent in the red zone, turning Brown back from the 12, 12, 26, 33 and 36 yard lines throughout the day.
"You've got to credit Dartmouth because they did what they had to do to win," Brown coach Mark Whipple said. "It was their red zone defense that beat us."
The only score the Bears could salvage out of the day was late first quarter touchdown by Stephen Smith, who had five catches for 186 yards on the day. The score was set up by a 12-play, 86-yard drive.
While the score gave Brown an early lead, the Big Green were not about to let down.
Offensively, the Big Green were somewhat disappointed by scoring only 10 points, but this low score surprisingly turned out to be enough. Dartmouth's first points came midway through the second quarter when Dave Regula '98 split the uprights from 22 yards. The first half ended with Brown up 7-3.
Heading into the locker room, the Big Green were somewhat baffled by the mere 110 yards on offense and five first downs. Without star running back Greg Smith '97, who played sparingly in the first quarter because of a cracked a rib he suffered last weekend at Columbia, the Big Green rushing was shaky at best.
But Dartmouth looked to make the needed adjustments and came out of the locker room after the half by promptly driving 53 yards on 10 plays.
Ambrose Garcia '97 capped off the drive with a four-yard run for the touchdown that gave the Big Green the 10-7 lead.
Quarterback Jon Aljancic '97 picked up some of the rushing slack and ran for 70 yards of his own.
During the second half Brown had several chances to score. With just over a minute left to go in the game, with the Big Green already well aware of the Princeton upset, the Bears held the ball at their own 44.
But like it had done all day, the Big Green defense held strong and stopped a Brown fourth-and-eight try to take final possession of the ball.
"I never thought that 10 points would win this game," Dartmouth Coach John Lyons said.
Now the Big Green must look to extend their six game winning streak to lucky seven next week against Princeton.
"We have got to take care of business next week," Aljancic said.
Regardless of whether Dartmouth wins or loses next week, this team will be one that has consistently improved its play. After starting the season 1-2, the Big Green went on a tear picking up six consecutive wins.
This momentum, combined with the Big Green's top defense, is what many feel enough to upset the Tiger.
"Both teams are real good," Whipple said, "but things are moving in the right direction for Dartmouth."
