Dartmouth beats Yale in fourth quarter comeback

Dartmouth linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown and his teammates celebrate their come-from-behind overtime win over Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. The 44-43 win extends the Big Green's undefeated streak to 4-0. (Dartmouth Athletics - Maria Golick)

Dartmouth linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown and his teammates celebrate their come-from-behind overtime win over Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. The 44-43 win extends the Big Green's undefeated streak to 4-0. (Dartmouth Athletics - Maria Golick) —

Dartmouth quarterback Grayson Saunier is ready for the snap during their game against Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Down 30-7 late in the third quarter, the Big Green defeated the Bulldogs 44-43 in overtime. It is the largest comeback in the team's history. (Dartmouth Athletics - Cade Bettinger)

Dartmouth quarterback Grayson Saunier is ready for the snap during their game against Yale in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. Down 30-7 late in the third quarter, the Big Green defeated the Bulldogs 44-43 in overtime. It is the largest comeback in the team's history. (Dartmouth Athletics - Cade Bettinger) Dartmouth Athletics — Cade Bettinger

By ALEX CERVANTES

Valley News Staff Writer

Published: 10-13-2024 7:32 PM

Modified: 10-15-2024 8:53 AM


NEW HAVEN, Conn. — How did this even happen?

Sophomore Grayson Saunier, a 6-foot-2-inch quarterback from Lafayette, La., joked that he had never played more than 10 snaps in a game for the Big Green. But on Saturday he engineered a miraculous 21-point fourth-quarter comeback that led to a 44-43 overtime win at Yale to keep the Big Green’s perfect early season start alive.

This isn’t supposed to happen in a football game — teams don’t just come back from 30-7 down in the third quarter or 37-16 down in the fourth quarter, especially away from home. Yale had a 99.5% chance to win the game following David Pantelis’ third touchdown reception of the game with 11 minutes remaining in the final frame, according to ESPN’s win probability chart.

But against all odds, that’s what Dartmouth did. Three straight touchdown drives, aided by a pair of missed Yale field goals, saw the Big Green force overtime. A fourth consecutive touchdown from offensive coordinator Kevin Daft’s unit — this one from senior running back Q Jones, who had 84 rushing yards on 18 carries — and a Yale failed two-point conversion later, Dartmouth was the victor.

Pandemonium ensued from the Big Green sideline as a wave of white jerseys flooded the Yale Bowl field in celebration of a remarkable comeback.

“We had hope,” said Jones, whose overtime rushing score handed Dartmouth its first, and only, lead of the game. “It was us versus them.”

Said Saunier: “It was a huge team win. And it’s huge because we’re undefeated right now. At a certain point in the game, you could think about and be like, ‘Oh, wow, our backs are against the wall right now. We’ve got to keep pushing back.’ So … we kept pushing and we felt good. It worked for us.”

For linebacker Braden Mullen, the final play of the game was a moment of deja vu.

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On Oct. 9, 2021, Mullen was just three games into his career in Hanover. The Big Green welcomed Yale to Memorial Field, ultimately forcing overtime and winning the game after the Bulldogs failed to convert on a fourth down. The victory maintained Dartmouth’s undefeated start.

Three seasons later and once again trying to keep a perfect record intact, Mullen and the Dartmouth defense needed one more stop. Although the situations differed, Mullen said it was “a flashback.”

After calling a timeout following Chase Nenad’s 10-yard receiving touchdown, Yale spurned a chance to send Saturday’s frenetic clash into a second overtime period, opting to instead try and win the game.

“So I love that they decided to go for two. I was like, ‘All right, let’s play ball,’ ” Mullen said.

Yale’s Grant Jordan, who had gashed Dartmouth with 412 passing yards and six total touchdowns, faked a handoff and lofted a pass toward Pantelis. Big Green senior cornerback Jordan Washington had slipped — Pantelis was open. But Jordan overshot him and the ball trundled out the back of the end zone. Game over.

After starting October with a win over Penn, Dartmouth now has wins against a pair of Ivy League teams pegged to finish higher than the Big Green in the conference’s preseason polls.

Dartmouth is 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League. Yale dropped 2-2 overall and 0-2 in the Ivy.

“We just have a fight, a certain fight that we each knew we had, but it never really showed,” Saunier said. “Penn was a great game, we fought our butts off, but this one was just different. … It shows our identity. We’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to keep pushing.”

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

Proctor’s absence paves way for Saunier’s dazzling display: Senior quarterback Jackson Proctor, who had started Dartmouth’s previous three games, was dressed on Saturday but did not play, donning a black sleeve on his right arm in the first half. McCorkle said Proctor was “a game-time decision” nursing an unspecified “day-to-day” injury.

Sophomore Woods Ray started in Proctor’s stead before Saunier replaced him on the Big Green’s third drive of the first half. McCorkle said the plan was to play both quarterbacks on Saturday.

“Obviously we were going to go with the hot hand, and that’s what we did,” the second-year coach said. “Grayson went out there and did a very good job. He was composed out there, made really good decisions out there and made some plays for us.”

Saunier had appeared in the Big Green’s opening three contests, running the ball once in each game, but he had yet to attempt a pass in his Dartmouth career before Saturday.

That fact did not seem to dissuade Saunier, who connected on 20 of 34 passes for 276 yards and three touchdowns. His dual-threat capabilities were on full display, too, as he rushed 12 times for 84 yards and two touchdowns, including his game-tying 32-yard touchdown scamper up the middle with less than 90 seconds left on the clock.

“(The coaching staff) didn’t give up on us, and we didn’t give up on each other,” said Saunier, after he accounted for five touchdowns with no turnovers. “The play-calling stayed the same; they were consistent. Things were working in the first half and not working, and coach Daft did a great job play calling at the end of the game, finding open space, getting the ball to our guys and working the field. It was awesome.”

Penalties and special teams miscues galore: Following the team’s season-opening win over Fordham, McCorkle said he’d much prefer to slow his guys down rather than speed them up after the Big Green were flagged eight times.

Dartmouth has now been penalized 34 times through four games, including 11 penalties against Yale. It’s an average of 8.5 penalties per game, which is tied for the 12th-highest mark in FCS.

“We can’t have that sloppiness,” McCorkle said. “We’re very fortunate that the outcome of the game is the way it was.”

Saturday’s game was one characterized by special team miscues on both teams.

Yale kicker Nick Conforti missed two field goals in the fourth quarter, the second of which, a 46-yarder, likely would have won the game in regulation for the Bulldogs.

Dartmouth, meanwhile, saw an early snap sail over the head of punter Davis Golick for a safety in the first quarter. A blocked field goal, a bobbled snap on another punt and a couple of boots that provided Yale with advantageous field position only exacerbated issues for the Big Green. But Owen Zalc’s 48-yard field goal and a superbly executed onside kick in the fourth quarter did provide some remedy postgame.

“We can’t have those kinds of mistakes,” McCorkle said. “Those are stuff that we’ve got to clean up. We’ve got to lock in; we’ve got to focus. We can’t worry about what happened before. You can’t let that carry on later in the game. And that’s what happened.”

Bulldogs offense runs wild in opening three quarters, but Big Green defense holds: The Dartmouth defense entered the game conceding just 14.7 points and 140.3 passing yards per game. Yale coach Tony Reno’s squad eclipsed those two marks by halftime as Jordan’s 240 yards through the air on 12-of-18 passing and three total touchdowns saw the Bulldogs waltz into the intermission with a 23-7 advantage.

McCorkle has spoken ad nauseam at times this season about limiting explosive plays, something the Big Green failed to do on Yale’s second and third drives of the first half, which were capped by 71- and 62-yard touchdown receptions, respectively.

The second half seemed destined for a similar performance from Jordan when he connected with Pantelis for a 17-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, increasing Yale’s lead to 23 points.

But Big Green defensive coordinator Don Dobes’ unit held strong on the Bulldogs’ next five drives, surrendering just one touchdown as Saunier and the Dartmouth offense chipped away at the lead.

Mullen, who dropped a potential interception early in the first quarter and witnessed a double-fumble play in the third quarter, acknowledged that the defense needs to capitalize on opportunities to force turnovers.

Although he said “the score indicated one thing,” Mullen contends that “minus five or six plays,” Dartmouth’s defense outplayed Yale’s offense. But those several plays are exactly “what you’ve got to clean up,” which is why Mullen loves football.

“They still put 37 points on the board, so there’s a lot of work that we’ve got to do,” Mullen said. “That’s the beautiful part of this game: You can always get better and that games like this can happen. And sometimes it’s good to get punched in the mouth because then you understand, ‘OK, what’s our weakness?’ ”

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.