Dartmouth Notes

The Bulldogs fell to the Big Green 43-44 in painful fashion on Saturday at the Bowl.

With Jackson Proctor inexplicably out of the lineup and a slew of mishaps on special teams for the Big Green, it seemed like a golden opportunity for Yale to earn its first Ivy League win of the season. Jordan had a tremendous day through the air with 32 completions for 412 yards and 5 touchdowns. Pantelis was dominant with 8 catches for 117 yards and 3 touchdowns. Felton burned the Big Green for a 71-yard touchdown reception and Nenad had his top performance of the season with 6 catches with one touchdown. Shipp, Santiago, Yates, Pitsenberger and Foster all played great in the passing game. The only true weakness for the Bulldogs offensively was along the offensive line where Dartmouth was able to shut down the running game and constantly harass Jordan on passing plays. Jordan was very elusive and was only sacked one time but was often running for his life. Yale’s play calling left much to be desired in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters as drives stalled without burning much time off of the clock and allowed the Big Green to have just enough time to mount a historic comeback. Two-point conversions have been disastrous all season for the Bulldogs, so it was a baffling decision to put the game on the line in the first overtime. The play call itself was decent as Pantelis had some space on a defender, but clearly Jordan did not have the muscle memory in place to complete the pass in the pressure filled moment.

Yale’s defense held strong for the first two and half quarters before completely melting down. McDonough was cited for a targeting penalty that forced him out of the contest, while Yang was injured and did not return. With half of the starting defensive line out, Dartmouth was able to run and pass at will in the second half and overtime. The defensive line was manhandled while linebackers could not get off blocks or provide support on cutbacks often leaving a lone safety to make a touchdown saving tackle. Kamara did not wrap up a tight end who took a short throw for a 32-yard touchdown. Guyton was beat for a touchdown and struggled with pass interference. Daniyan appeared to be injured early on and played through the pain but was often out of position leading to a touchdown reception on him and a terrible pursuit angle on a QB scramble that cost the Bulldogs another touchdown. The Bulldogs did not respect Paxton Scott enough at wideout leaving Shaffer in deep coverage against him that led to a long reception. With no ability to pressure quarterbacks or cover simple routes, the defensive schemes need to be completely overhauled. Tarver has outplayed Daniyan by a large margin through the first four games at safety, so the coaches need to consider sitting Daniyan until he can improve physically and mentally. Haaland was a bright spot for the Bulldogs with a pair of crucial tackles.

The performance of the Bulldogs’ special teams units needed to be perfect to secure a win and unfortunately fell flat. Yale was fooled by an onside kick that gave Dartmouth all of the momentum and a later score. If Conforti would have made just 1 of his 2 field goal attempts, this contest would have had a happy ending. Conforti’s attempts were long, but he was aided by a strong wind at his back. Florio averaged just 26.0 yards per punt as a horrible 9-yard punt brought this average way down.