The Dartmouth Staff
Big Green football started its season in an all too familiar way on Saturday, dropping a second half lead to Colgate for the second-straight year as the Big Green lost to the Raiders, 34-20, in Hamilton, N.Y.
The game was highlighted by great individual play for Dartmouth (0-1, 0-0 Ivy), most notably from quarterback Alex Jenny '10, who threw for 343 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions in just his second career start.
The Colgate (2-2, 0-0 Patriot) backfield, however, stole the show with a record-breaking performance from tailback Jordan Scott, who rushed for a Patriot League-record 239 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries.
Coming off of a suspension stemming from a felony conviction last year, Scott rushed for 239 yards against Dartmouth and broke the 5,000-yard career rushing mark to reach 5,015 rushing yards for his notable collegiate career.
Dartmouth's offense kept up with Scott and the rest of the Raiders in the first half, controlling the time of possession as the Big Green steadily gained yardage and points.
Co-captain Milan Williams '09 found the end zone on a six-yard run early in the second quarter, while new kicker Foley Schmidt '12, the Ivy League rookie of the week, tacked on two field goals in the opening half to knot the score, 13-13, at the break.
The Big Green carried its momentum into the second half, striking first as Jenny connected with Eric Paul '09 for a 49-yard gain. Jenny then found Paul for a three-yard touchdown pass to give the away team a 20-13 lead with 7:32 to play in the third quarter.
On the ensuing possession, the Big Green defense drove the Raiders to the brink of defeat, forcing a third-and-34 situation late in the quarter, thanks to a Colgate penalty and a 14-yard sack by Marlon Alebiosu '10.
However, in the play that would become the turning point of the game, Colgate quarterback Greg Sullivan connected on a 35-yard strike to wideout Sam Breslin to move Colgate to the Dartmouth 15-yard line, setting up Scott to pound his way into the end zone three plays later to once again tie the score, 20-20.
Undeterred, Jenny came out firing to start the fourth quarter, dropping a 33-yard strike into the hands of wide receiver Philip Galligan '09. Galligan hauled in a career-high 146 yards receiving on 10 catches for the day.
Colgate, however, blocked the ensuing 21-yard field goal attempt with 11:15 remaining in the contest, and responded with an 80-yard drive capped by a Sullivan rushing touchdown to take the lead, 27-20, midway through the final period.
With momentum now in their favor, the Raiders stopped Dartmouth's next drive by sacking Jenny and recovering the resulting fumble at Colgate's 33. Sullivan added his second rushing score on a 31-yard scamper on the ensuing drive with just under two minutes to play to give Colgate a two-touchdown advantage, 34-20.
It was another disappointing second-half defeat for Dartmouth football, which has now lost its opener to Colgate two years in a row after owning a late lead. In 2007, the Big Green led 28-0 at halftime but lost, 31-28, in overtime.
Co-captain Alex Rapp '09 found some positive points in Dartmouth's play in the loss but thought the offense struggled scoring when it mattered most.
"I was pretty satisfied with the way we played offensively," he said. "We moved the ball really well and gained steady yards, but we just didn't put it in the end zone when we needed to, and they did. It was one of the best offensive games for them all year."
Quarterback Jenny expressed the same frustration with Dartmouth's inability to finish drives in the end zone.
"We had a lot of yards and we moved the ball easily, but we just couldn't score," he said. "We didn't do well in the red zone, so we need to work on that problem. We'll work on that this week. We did most of the things we wanted to do, we just couldn't finish sometimes."
The rest of the Colgate team put on an offensive showcase as well, as Sullivan rushed for 136 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the first Colgate quarterback in 10 years to rush for over 100 yards in a game. Overall, the Big Green defense gave up 375 rushing yards to Scott and Sullivan alone.
"We showed an ability to move the ball consistently," Rapp said. "We have more depth this year than we've have in years past, so we have more players who are fresher and more athletic, and we were able to use that to our advantage. But we really need to tackle better. Our tackling was a huge issue in this game."
The tackling problem may have been thanks in large part to Scott's running ability. He was named a preseason All-American and owns a number of Colgate rushing records.
Scott has also been the source of some controversy following his arrest last year. According to ESPN.com, Scott was arrested for burglary in December 2007, and pled not guilty to the charge. He was found guilty, however, before serving 21 days in jail.
Despite his conviction, Scott was given just a one-game suspension by the Colgate athletic department.
Regardless of his off-field controversy, Scott exposed major holes in head coach Buddy Teevens' defense. Rapp promised that the team would be working on its tackling this week, and stated that he felt confident going into this Saturday's game against in-state rival the University of New Hampshire. UNH has posted at least 49 points against Dartmouth in the team's last three meetings.
"I will say that we have the best shot of beating them this year," he said. "We match up much better athletically than in previous years. It should be a good game."
Dartmouth kicks off against UNH at noon this Saturday on Memorial Field in Hanover.
