Teevens said that the best way for Dartmouth (1-3, 1-1 Ivy) to stop record-setting Yale (4-0, 2-0 Ivy) running back Mike McLeod was to keep the Bulldog offense on the sidelines for as much of the game as possible. Yet, the Bulldogs kept the ball for 38:46 in a 50-10 victory.
"We had to play a good ballgame against a good football team," Teevens said. "We gave up field position, we gave up possessions, we didn't drive the football to keep the defense on the side. We were not productive."
The Big Green defense did a good job keeping McLeod, who was coming off a five-touchdown performance against Holy Cross, out of the endzone. He scored only one touchdown and racked up 155 yards, 33 yards short of his per-game average. The rest of the Yale offense, however, gave Dartmouth significant problems.
Four other Bulldog rushers combined for 149 yards and four touchdowns, giving Yale a total of 304 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. Quarterback Matt Polhemus was 7-14 through the air, throwing for 78 yards and one touchdown.
"We didn't do our assignments. It was just a complete breakdown of the team," DT Max Copello '09 said. "We knew what we had to do, we just couldn't get it done. On a good day we could have lined up ahead of those guys; we just got outplayed, and the score showed it."
As tough a time as the Dartmouth defense had keeping Yale out of the endzone, the Big Green offense had an even tougher time finding the endzone. In fact the offense did not score at all. Dartmouth's only touchdown came early in the fourth quarter when Pete Pidermann '10 blocked a punt, which Zech Glaize '10 returned 33 yards for a score.
Milan Williams '09, returning from a leg injury that had sidelined him for six quarters, was the lone bright spot for the Big Green. He averaged 4.8 yards per carry on his way to 67 rush yards.
Tom Bennewitz '08 had a rough day, coming off his first collegiate victory. He completed eight passes, mostly short throws, for 55 yards in 14 attempts with one interception. His longest completion of the day was a toss to Williams that netted 13 yards.
Teevens credited the lack of production in the pass game to the poor performance of the offensive line, which gave up a season-high five sacks.
"We didn't protect the pass the way we have," Teevens said. "Primarily it was assignments, guys not doing what they are capable of doing, trying to do too much. Obviously it was a big game for us, and sometimes guys press a little bit. We've got to mature to the point that you're playing big games just like you play any game."
Yale opened the ball game with a pair of easy scores. Kicker Alan Kimball knocked home a 30-yard field goal on the second possession of the game after the Bulldogs started deep in Dartmouth territory because of a short punt, long return and personal foul penalty. The Big Green then fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting up a short touchdown and a 10-0 Bulldog lead.
Things went from bad to worse for Dartmouth two possessions later. After starting a drive on their own 18, Yale pushed the Big Green back to the nine yard line. On third down, as Bennewitz was in the pocket searching for an open receiver, he was stripped from behind, sending the ball rolling into the endzone. Dartmouth recovered to prevent a touchdown, but the safety put Yale ahead 12-0.
Yale received the kickoff following the safety and drove down the field in just six plays, setting up a ten yard touchdown strike by Polhemus, putting the Big Green in a 19 point hole to end the opening quarter.
The second half was all Bulldogs. Yale picked apart the Dartmouth defense on the ground, adding four more rushing touchdowns and sealing the blowout.
The Big Green will try to rebound next week when it travels to Holy Cross. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
