When the Dartmouth football team met Colgate last Sept. 25, the young Big Green offense floundered while the veteran defense held tough in a 35-3 loss. On Saturday, the team's youthful defense gave up several big plays while the now-experienced offense played effectively against the Red Raiders.
Despite these major changes to the Green, the game's final score was similar to last year's, as Colgate won 42-24.
"Offensively we moved the ball well," said Dartmouth Head Coach John Lyons after the game. On defense, "we weren't able to shut them down."
Red Raider sophomore quarterback Tom McCune tied a school passing record with four touchdowns, three of which came within eight minutes of each other in the first half. Colgate's running attack gained 292 yards.
Colgate scored the game's first 21 points.
With 3:40 left in the opening quarter, Colgate completed a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a wobbly 15-yard touchdown pass from McCune to wideout Joe Parker in the right corner of the end zone to take a 7-0 lead.
On the third-down-and-13 play, McCune threw over the top of Dartmouth's defensive backfield to hit Parker -- who caught three touchdowns last year against Dartmouth.
On Dartmouth's first offensive play following the score, running back Aaron Pumerantz '02 was hit almost as soon as he took a handoff from quarterback Brian Mann '02, and fumbled the ball away to Colgate at Dartmouth's 23-yard line.
Colgate immediately went for the end zone.
McCune underthrew a rainbow pass to wide receiver Ryan Ojeda and Dartmouth cornerback Richard Efem '03 was perfectly positioned to make the interception. But, pressured by Ojeda, he batted the ball up in the air and it came down in the hands of the Red Raider receiver. 14-0 Colgate.
"We had some really young guys in the secondary and it showed today," Lyons noted after the game. "That [play] should never happen."
Colgate forced the Big Green to punt on their following possession and drove 86 yards for their third unanswered touchdown of the game with 10:44 left in the first half. The drive nearly stalled deep in Red Raider territory, but Colgate coach Dick Biddle opted not to punt on fourth-and-one from his own 23-yard line, and his team earned the first down.
On the second fourth down of the drive, fourth-and-four from the Dartmouth 33, McCune threw into the end zone past two Dartmouth defensive backs to tight end Barry HoAire for a 21-0 lead.
"I think our offensive line controlled the line of scrimmage," Biddle said after the game. When "you get protection, you should be able to complete the ball."
McCune was sacked twice in the first half, but he had plenty of time to throw on each of his touchdown passes.
"We just weren't getting enough consistent heat on the quarterback," Dartmouth's Lyons explained.
Tough luck
Dartmouth actually came within several yards of an early lead after it took the game's opening kickoff 76 yards in 10 plays. On the last play, Mann hit tight end Brian Hood '02 over the middle for what looked like it would be a touchdown.
But Hood fumbled the ball just short of the goal line and Colgate recovered it in the end zone, ending the Green scoring chance.
The fumble was the first of several Dartmouth miscues that cost the team on the scoreboard.
"We had a great first drive [and] we didn't capitalize on it," Lyons said. "You just can't make mistakes and turn the ball over against good teams like that."
In addition to Hood and Pumerantz's fumbles in the first half, a fumble by Mike Gratch '02 on a kickoff return in the third quarter kept the Dartmouth defense on the field.
The Red Raiders did not score off the turnover, but Dartmouth players admitted later that the defense was worn down by the fourth quarter after spending most of the third period on the field. The Green defense did not come up short on effort, but on inexperience and tiredness.
"On some drives we shut them down," said defensive end Dan Hutchinson '01, who led the Green with two sacks. "Then on others we let it get away from us. I think we have a lot to build on."
Upside potential
Despite the mistakes that should be expected early in the season, one should not overlook Dartmouth's remarkable offensive maturation.
Before he was knocked out of the game by a hard hit early in the fourth quarter, Brian Mann had completed 17 of 28 passes for 187 yards. In the first half, Mann passed for 146 yards while spreading the ball evenly among his wide receivers, tight ends and running backs on short throws.
Mann hit five for six on the opening drive and nearly came away with a touchdown pass. After the Red Raiders took the 21-0 lead, Mann led the Green 65 yards in eight plays and capped the drive with a 20-yard scramble up the middle for Dartmouth's first touchdown of the season.
Three and a half minutes later Mann led another drive that ended with a Pumerantz 15-yard touchdown run.
For the game, the Dartmouth offense gained 414 total yards, evenly split between the passing attack and the ground game.
"We ran the ball better than we have in a while," Lyons said.
Tailback Reggie Belhomme '00 tallied 64 yards on 13 carries, though more than half of those came in the fourth quarter after the game was out of reach. Pumerantz had 76 yards on five carries, including a 52-yard scamper with just over three minutes left in the game.
Mann himself gained 41 yards on three scrambles.
The offensive line provided good protection for Mann and holes for the running backs.
"We took it to them pretty well," offensive lineman and team Captain Caleb Moore '01 said.
And while the offensive line let Dartmouth's running game chew up yards, the defensive line was holding down Colgate's ground forces before tiring. The Raiders gained only 64 rushing yards in the first half.
"I thought we did a really good job with the inside run game," Lyons said.
