Standing outside Harvard Stadium on a cold November Saturday, the Dartmouth Big Green was somber. They had just been handed a 31-10 loss at the hands of rival Harvard University. Still in their jerseys, a group of Dartmouth defenders stood in a circle, their arms around each other. Safety and team captain Sean Williams ’26 offered some advice for his downcast team.
“Move forward,” he said. “Look ahead.”
What else was there to be said?
They broke the huddle, went into the locker room to pack up their bags and eventually made their way to the awaiting buses for a long ride back to Hanover.
“It is what it is,” head coach Sammy McCorkle said. “We didn’t play the game we wanted to. It's not the outcome we wanted.”
As the game began, a huge number of Dartmouth fans consumed the stadium, riding high from their tailgates. On the field, however, Dartmouth sputtered out the gate. The Big Green defense allowed Harvard to convert three third downs on the opening drive and fell behind 7-0. On offense, Dartmouth was forced to punt after just three plays on their first drive.
“We came out excited, ready to go, and we didn’t have a great start,” starting quarterback Grayson Saunier ’27 said. “We can’t be inconsistent …This is the first time we went three-and-out on the first drive all year.”
Later in the first quarter, Harvard caught a lucky break when quarterback Jaden Craig’s throw miraculously found its way past defensive back Patrick Campbell ’26 to find a streaking Brady Blackburn. The sophomore receiver bobbled but corralled the ball and ran into the endzone to make it a two-score game.
“It was good coverage,” McCorkle said. Campbell “was in good position on him. You can’t give up two big shots like that, because it does put you in that tough situation.”
A well-timed interception by Williams at the end of the second quarter stopped another potential Crimson scoring drive, but the Big Green still found themselves down 17-0, their largest deficit of the season.
Meanwhile, the offense struggled to find momentum, punting four times in the first half. A large part of this drought was due to Dartmouth’s stagnant rushing attack. The second half brought more of the same, and the team finished the game with a measly 61 rushing yards on 32 carries.
“They’re a good defense,” McCorkle said. “We got behind early, too … They did a good job of playing downhill on us.”
With 12 seconds left in the half, Dartmouth fans groaned when Owen Zalc ’27 pushed a 36-yard field goal wide right to stay scoreless through two quarters.
When the game resumed, Dartmouth looked like a different team. Saunier connected with star tight-end Chris Corbo ’26 twice for 41 yards on the drive and then scrambled for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 10.
“In the second half, we came out firing,” Saunier said. “Making the right blocks, making the right reads, right throws — just being aggressive every play.”
Saunier, who has flummoxed defenses with his dual-threat ability all season, could not provide his usual spark. Injuries to key offensive tackles Delby Lemieux ’26 and Vasean Washington ’26 left Saunier vulnerable to Harvard’s deadly pass-rush.
Under pressure all game, Saunier completed just 56% of his passes, 13 percentage points below his season average coming into the game.
“No excuses,” Saunier said. “I needed to get the ball off quicker on a lot of them. I need to make the right reads. A lot of their sacks were on me.”
Facing a 10-point deficit with the third quarter winding down, the Big Green surge intensified when safety Harrison Keith ’27 intercepted Craig, setting up a 46-yard kick by Zalc to cut the lead to a touchdown.
Keith and Williams have been a dynamic duo at the safety position this year, combining for seven interceptions. Williams leads the Ivy League with four interceptions, while Keith is tied for second with three.
“Our coach is putting us in the right position,” Williams said. “Whenever that ball is in the air, having the mentality that it’s our ball.”
The Dartmouth crowd, who filled the away section of Harvard Stadium in spite of strong winds and dropping temperature, held onto hope that the team could turn the game around in the fourth quarter.
“There were definitely times when I thought we could come back and win,” Amelia Kwon ’28, a fan who attended the game, said. “The energy of the Dartmouth fans was super hype and fun, and it gave me hope.”
The fourth quarter instead brought disaster for the Big Green. Harvard converted two third downs as well as a crucial fourth-and-long to retake a two-touchdown lead. On the ensuing possession, Dartmouth failed to convert on fourth-and-inches on their own 34. Harvard took advantage of the short field and Craig tossed his fourth touchdown pass to take a 31-10 lead.
“It’s frustrating because you had opportunities,” McCorkle said. “There was a fourth down there. Once or twice, we had two third downs. We had the coverage. We had the defense. And we didn’t stick to what we needed to do on those critical times.”
After those drives, the Crimson ran the clock down and Dartmouth could not respond, leaving the game at 31-10 in Harvard’s favor.
Dartmouth’s 21-point loss was its largest losing margin since September of 2014, when it fell 52-19 to the then-no. 4-ranked University of New Hampshire. To add insult to injury, Dartmouth is now 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Ivy League Conference play, and has been virtually eliminated from playoff contention with Harvard two games ahead of them. Despite the tough loss, the team will have to dust itself off quickly before another big Ivy League showdown against Princeton next week.
