The Crimson (6-1, 3-1 Ivy), ranked No. 23 in the Football Championship Subdivision last week, shut out the Big Green (0-7, 0-4 Ivy) for three quarters on its way to the win.
Surprisingly, Dartmouth held Harvard's heralded passing offense, currently ninth in the FCS, to just 98 yards. Nonetheless, the Big Green was unable to stop Harvard's rushing attack in any way, as the Crimson ran all over the Big Green for 368 yards on the ground.
Harvard ran the ball 63 times on the day, averaging 5.8 yards per rush. Because of its control in the running game, Harvard was able to dominate possession, holding the ball for a whopping 39 minutes and 32 seconds, including over 11 minutes in both the second and third quarter.
The Dartmouth offense in contrast was completely shut down. Quarterback Alex Jenny '10 passed for just 61 yards through the air, completing nine passes while throwing the ball just 15 times, while his backup, highly touted recruit Conner Kempe '12, threw for just 64 yards, completing seven passes in 16 attempts.
While the passing attack did stall somewhat, the rushing attack was nonexistent in the contest. Dartmouth backs ran for a total cumulative gain of -2 yards and zero first downs on 19 attempts. No Big Green back was able to gain more than 3 net yards.
The Crimson set the pace of the game, gaining first downs almost at will, controlling the tempo and preventing the Dartmouth offense from being able to create or sustain any kind of rhythm. Harvard's dominance on the ground, and, conversely, Dartmouth's ineptitude offensively allowed the Crimson to control all aspects of the game.
"We were beaten by a better football team today," Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens said after the game. "We played hard and did a nice job of covering down field, forcing them to run. There were quite a few plays that were designed to be passes that their quarterback turned into rushes, probably in double digits. But credit him with not panicking or forcing plays -- he kept his head and made good decisions, and we didn't contain him."
Walk-on receiver James Mullen '09, a two-sport athlete (he has played varsity lacrosse since his freshman year) saw his first action, leading the team in receiving yards as Kempe connected with him three times for 37 yards. He credited Harvard's defense with the win.
"The Harvard defense was pretty good," Mullen said. "Up front they were one of the better defensive lines we've played against -- they pressured effectively, and they had a lot of size. They were probably overall one of the better defenses we've played -- they had good cover corners and an aggressive D-line."
Harvard opened up the scoring on its first possession of the game, after a Big Green three-and-out and subsequent penalty gave the Crimson the ball on the Dartmouth 42. Harvard quarterback Chris Pizzotti scored the first of his two rushing touchdowns on an 11-yard keeper. Pizzotti had 52 yards on nine rushes during the game.
Harvard running back Ben Jenkins led the attack for the Crimson, rushing 20 times for 111 yards and an early fourth-quarter touchdown.
The Dartmouth offense wasn't able to get anything going for three quarters, but the team prevented the shutout late in the fourth quarter.
Kempe was able to connect with Mullen three times while orchestrating a 70-yard drive. Kempe was able to find Will Deevy '11 in the end zone for his first career touchdown pass, as well as Deevy's first career touchdown catch.
The drive was the lone highlight in a dismal day for Dartmouth's offense, and really the only time that the team threatened to score all day. Despite this, Mullen saw good things in the loss.
"It was frustrating because there were a lot of preventable mistakes," Mullen said. "We really didn't play like ourselves, or up to our potential. From that standpoint, there are positives that can be taken from this loss, because there's a lot of potential in this team."
Dartmouth has shown potential in nearly every aspect of its play at some point this season, but its has not been able to put it together consistently enough to find a win in a competitive league season. Now, the Big Green must prepare to face Cornell (3-4, 1-3 Ivy) in search of its first win.
"We need to never let ourselves get too down, keep a level head towards everything and prepare like we'd won this game," Mullen added. "Pretty much, we just need to hold our heads up and keep trying for our first win."
Cornell currently sits in sixth place in the Ivy League. The Big Red fell to Princeton on Saturday, 31-26, and is looking for its second Ivy League win.
Dartmouth kicks off against Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. on Saturday at 1 p.m..
