HANOVER — A year after the Dartmouth College football team put up 604 yards of offense and 38 points against New Hampshire, those totals were 198 and zero, respectively, for the Big Green on Saturday in a 14-0 defeat at Memorial Field.
Dartmouth’s first game this year using a two-quarterback system did not go according to plan, with neither senior Nick Howard nor junior Dylan Cadwallader able to establish a rhythm. The Big Green repeatedly failed to finish drives, and the defense — despite giving up just 14 points — looked porous at times as Dartmouth (1-4) lost a fourth consecutive game for the first time since 2011.
“We had opportunities on both sides of the ball and didn’t capitalize,” Big Green coach Buddy Teevens said. “It’s obviously a disappointing defeat.”
The Wildcats (5-2) set the tone on the first play from scrimmage, when quarterback Max Brosmer hit Joey Corcoran on a slant that turned into a 56-yard gain to the Big Green’s 10-yard line. Three plays later, after Dartmouth fifth-year defensive end Luca Di Leo was carted off the field with an arm injury, Brosmer found Brian Espanet, who had nobody near him just across the goal line, for the touchdown.
Each of the Big Green’s first three drives started out well before stalling out for no points. Howard and Cadwallader alternated series early in the game, and Howard found sophomore running back Q Jones for 15 yards on Dartmouth’s first offensive play. But after a pair of Howard runs yielded just three yards between them and a short pass to senior running back Noah Roper netted just one, the Big Green were forced to punt.
Dartmouth picked up three first downs in a row on Cadwallader’s first drive — two on runs by Roper and one on a 22-yard play-action pass to junior receiver Paxton Scott. Again, however, that was all the Big Green could muster.
“There is definitely frustration,” Scott said. “Some people want to vent, but we’re keeping it in-house. We’re trying to be the best version of ourselves and hoping to win out.”
Cadwallader spelled Howard on a third-and-long on Dartmouth’s third possession and hit Roper for 24 yards. But on fourth down from the UNH 10, the Big Green lined up for a 27-yard field goal and Cadwallader, the placekick holder, pulled the ball out for a fake and was immediately hit for a loss.
The Wildcats turned that into another touchdown just before the half, keyed by a 41-yard deep ball from Brosmer to Heron Maurisseau. Brosmer then bulldozed over multiple levels of the defense for an eight-yard scoring run to take a 14-point lead to the locker room.
UNH was without leading rusher Dylan Laube, who entered the game second in the FCS in all-purpose yards, but backup running back Isaac Seide ran for 127 yards on 26 carries.
“If we were going to win this game, we needed to run the football, we needed to establish a ground game and we needed to control the time of possession,” Wildcats coach Rick Santos said. “How hard Isaac ran and how hard the offensive line blocked allowed us to do that.”
Dartmouth had another chance to cut into the deficit on the first drive of the second half after Howard found Scott for 21 yards but, two plays later, Jones fumbled on the Wildcats’ 25. The Big Green never got past their own 40 for the rest of the game, going three and out on their next four possessions.
The defense also lost its best player, junior linebacker Macklin Ayers, to a leg injury. Ayers entered Saturday second in the FCS in tackles per game, and with Marques White already out for the year, the Dartmouth linebacking corps is beginning to resemble the walking wounded. Roper also limped off the field on the Big Green’s final drive.
“Both of them are going to be hard-pressed to play next Saturday,” Teevens said. “We’ll wait to find out exactly. There were no breaks in either case, and that was the fear right off the bat.”
Howard was Dartmouth’s more accurate passer, completing six of his seven throws for 54 yards, while Cadwallader was just 8-of-20 for 86 yards and an interception on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half. Roper and Jones each carried just five times, for 35 and 32 yards, respectively.
With the UNH offensive front winning the line of scrimmage, just as Yale’s did last week, the Wildcats picked up 23 first downs to the Big Green’s 11 and possessed the ball for nearly 39 minutes. Dartmouth’s 198 offensive yards was the program’s lowest total in 11 years.
With no more margin for error, the Big Green are back on the road and back to Ivy League play next week against Columbia.
“We got beat by their front. We didn’t stop the run. We didn’t hit the big pass. We need to eliminate some of those long throws,” Teevens said.
“The more that you lose, the harder it is to find those positives. But you rely on the character of your team, play hard, respect the game and work to get better.”
Benjamin Rosenberg can be reached at brosenberg@vnews.com or 603-727-3302.