Tigers can’t stop Smith, Dartmouth offense in 42-37 defeat
By: Justin Feil
In the highest scoring game in Princeton – Dartmouth series history, the Tigers couldn’t get the ball back for one last drive that could have produced the eighth lead change of the day.
Instead, the Big Green’s junior quarterback Greg Smith rolled out to his left for nine yards and a first down on third-and-seven with 1:46 to play to seal Dartmouth’s 42-37 win and prevent the Big Green from going winless in the Ivy League for the first time since the league’s inception in 1956.
Dartmouth improved to 2-8 overall and 1-6 in Ivy play while Princeton concluded its season 3-7 overall and 3-4 in league Saturday at Princeton Stadium.
"Certainly 4-3 is much better in the league," said PU head coach Roger Hughes. "You have a springboard, you have a nice taste in your mouth. It carries over. But we try to find the silver lining in everything. I thought we played well today. Obviously, there’s effort in there. We have to get much stronger. We’ve got to get quicker. Hopefully we can use this as a motivating factor so it doesn’t happen any more."
A year ago, Hughes was decked out in Green-and-White and calling plays for the Dartmouth team in his eighth season as their offensive coordinator. Now wearing the Orange-and-Black of Princeton, the first-year head coach came within a possession of a winning Ivy League record.
After amassing 375 yards of total offense, including 288 through the air from senior quarterback Jon Blevins, the players were confident the outcome would have been different with one more offensive possession.
A resounding chorus of "Yes!" greeted the question of whether Princeton would have scored had they gotten the ball back for one last try after Blevins’ quarterback sneak with 3:19 to play cut the deficit to five, 42-37.
But as was the case all day, the Tigers had difficulty stopping Smith on third down. Dartmouth converted 9 of 14 third-down situations and both fourth-down attempts to help control the ball for more than 36 minutes of the game. The Big Green offense totalled 477 yards of total offense against the Tigers.
"I think it hurt the morale a little bit when they’re in third-and-long, I think they converted a good percentage of third-and-long," said PU linebacker Michael Higgins. "I don’t think we were tired or the time of possession really hurt us, but I think your psyche gets hurt a little when they make big conversions at crucial times. It wasn’t as much a physical thing as a mental thing."
Higgins, Princeton’s lone captain, finished his career in style with 13 tackles. Smith, the 6-foot-3 junior with good mobility and a rifle arm, finished his day 20-for-27 for 308 yards and two touchdowns. Hughes had worried about how one of his former pupils would perform before the game. As it turned out, he had reason for concern.
"He played the best football I’ve ever seen him play," Hughes said. "When we recruited him at Dartmouth, I felt he had that capability. But, by far, this is his best game."
After an interception on the Big Green’s first possession that the Tigers converted into a Taylor Northrop 42-yard field goal for their first lead, 3-0, Smith found only Dartmouth receivers. His third-quarter interception went through the hands of intended target Matt DeLellis, one of the 6-foot-3 wide receiver’s only mistakes on the day. DeLellis finished with eight catches for 164 yards and two touchdowns, and Smith seemed to find a new guy inside frequently for first-down yardage.
"They ran a few more slant patterns," Hughes said of Dartmouth’s play-calling. "We’ve seen the flea flickers they scored on. Against Yale, they ran five in the first half. So we’ve seen those, but we came out of coverage and they threw them over the top of our heads."
The second of those flea flickers turned out to be the deciding score. After Smith found tight end Casey Cramer for a 12-yard touchdown strike with 10:04 to play in the game, Dartmouth took the seventh and final lead change of the contest at 35-31. Then after Dartmouth’s defense held Princeton to a three-and-out series, the Big Green opened their lead to 42-31 with a 26-yard flea-flicker pass from Smith to Jay Barnard to cap a five-play, 43-yard drive.
In the first half, Princeton overcame a similar 11-point deficit to build a 24-21 halftime lead on two scores in the final four minutes of the half. Sophomore Cameron Atkinson went around the right side and in for a 4-yard touchdown with 3:58 to play. Then, the Tiger special teams came through to help Princeton regain the lead.
Sophomore Paul Simbi shot through a gaping hole to block a Dartmouth punt and give the Tigers the ball back at the Big Green 8-yard line. Two plays later, Chisom Opara took a direct snap and went five yards into the end zone to give Princeton the lead again, 24-21, with 40 seconds left in the first half.
Opara, who would finish his sophomore season with a 10-catch, 134-yard receiving day, also helped Princeton take a 10-7 lead when he leapt high between two Dartmouth defensive backs to catch a 41-yard touchdown from Blevins.
Shortly after halftime, Dartmouth recovered a fumble by Atkinson, and then drove 38 yards in six plays with Smith finding DeLellis for the receiver’s second touchdown catch of the game. The extra point by Todd Catlin gave the Big Green a 28-24 lead that was short-lived.
Blevins on the ensuing possession marched Princeton 75 yards in seven plays, the key play being a swing pass that Ismael El-Amin took down the sidelines 47 yards. Three plays later, the sophomore running back burst into the end zone. Northrop’s extra point game the Tigers’ their last lead, 31-28.
When Dartmouth scored on two of their next three possessions, it was too much for Princeton to overcome. But the Tigers never stopped trying, as was their character all season.
"The one thing is in the locker room afterwards," Hughes said, "there were a lot of tears shed in the locker room. I go back to the passion that these kids are putting into this game. That’s the first step. Again, I’m very excited that they care a lot about what happened.
"It’s not like the game’s over and these kids are in laughing and joking. These kids were shedding tears because it means that much to them. That emotion and that passion will carry us a long way in the off season."