Turnovers did the Dartmouth Big Green in as they gave the ball away four times, including three times in the fourth quarter, and dropped their final game of the regular season 35-28 against the Brown Bears at Richard Gouse Field in Providence, R.I., on Saturday afternoon.
Dartmouth finished the season 7-3 overall and 4-3 in the Ivy League.
With five minutes left in a contest tied at 28 apiece, junior quarterback Grayson Saunier had Dartmouth in position to take the lead. But on third and six from the Bears’ 34-yard line, Saunier was picked off by sophomore defensive back Alejandro Bello.
Bello returned the ball 74 yards to score what proved to be a game-winning touchdown.
On the ensuing possession, the Big Green drove to the Bears’ 31-yard line with about two minutes left. But the Brown ball-hawking defense came up big again. This time, it was junior defensive back Cap Davis who intercepted Saunier for what was his third interception thrown in the game.
Brown picked up one first down to completely kill the clock and come away with its first win over Dartmouth since 2016.
“Just too many mistakes. Turnovers hurt us — just put us in really bad situations,” said Big Green Head Coach Sammy McCorkle. “Turnovers turned into points for them, and you just can’t do that.”
The loss puts an end to a Dartmouth season that still had high stakes on the final day despite being eliminated from Ivy League title contention entering Saturday’s matchup.
Multiple media outlets had the Big Green as one of the squads on the bubble for an at-large bid in the FCS Playoffs if they picked up a win and got some help.
While Dartmouth failed to take care of business on Saturday, it did not get the help it needed either.
Yale defeated Harvard 45-28 on Saturday afternoon in a matchup to decide the conference’s automatic bid into the playoffs. The Big Green handed the Bulldogs their lone conference loss of the season.
Yale will play at 15th-seeded Youngstown St. in the opening round of the FCS playoffs at noon.
Even with a win against Brown, Dartmouth had no chance of picking up an at-large bid over a Crimson squad that finished 9-1 overall, 6-1 in the conference and beat the Big Green head to head.
Harvard was selected on Sunday as an at-large team and will play at 12th-seeded Villanova on Saturday.
The Ivy League is participating in the FCS playoffs for the first time.
Saturday’s contest could not have started much better for the Big Green as senior linebacker Zyion Freer-Brown picked off Brown’s junior quarterback James Murphy on the second play from scrimmage.
Dartmouth’s offense cashed in on the Bears’ turnover, going 39 yards in five plays, capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Saunier to senior wide receiver Grayson O’Bara to take an early 7-0 lead.
After the teams traded punts, Brown’s offense started to pick up steam. It drove 69 yards in seven plays and a 19-yard touchdown pass from Murphy to sophomore running back Matt Childs tied the game at 7-7 in the waning minutes of the first quarter.
On the ensuing possession, Saunier was intercepted, and Brown turned that into points. Again, it was Childs with the score, this time on the ground from six yards out to give the Bears a 14-7 lead with under nine minutes remaining in the first half.
The Big Green were able to answer on their next drive on a tremendous 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth and long from Saunier to senior tight end Chris Corbo to tie the game.
Both squads traded scores to close the first half, a 21-yard reception from senior wide receiver Jackson Delaney for Brown and a 20-yard reception from sophomore wide receiver Ky’Dric Fisher for Dartmouth, to go into halftime tied 21-21.
The scoring slowed down in the third quarter as both defenses bowed up. The Big Green finally broke the stalemate, capitalizing on an interception from sophomore cornerback Niquis Ratcliff.
After Ratcliff’s pick, Dartmouth drove 54 yards and scored on a three-yard rush from freshman running back Myles Craddock, a native of Cranston, R.I., who led the Big Green in rushing on Saturday with 46 yards, to go up 28-21 with under five minutes to go in the third quarter.
“There’s a lot to take away from this year, a lot of good things, a lot of bad things, but I wish we could have gotten the (win) today as a team,” Craddock said.
Dartmouth had an opportunity to extend its third-quarter lead to two possessions after forcing a turnover on downs on Brown’s own 34-yard line on its ensuing offensive drive.
However, the Big Green could not maintain their offensive momentum and settled for a 50-yard field goal attempt from junior kicker Owen Zalc, which came up short.
The Bears took advantage of the miss, and with the ball back, ended up scoring on a six-yard reception from senior wide receiver Solomon Miller to tie the game 28-28 with 13:02 left in the fourth quarter.
In crunch time, Dartmouth’s next three offensive possessions ended in turnovers. Senior running back D.J. Crowther fumbled on the drive after Brown tied the game, but the Bears could not take advantage.
Even after surviving the fumble, Saunier’s interceptions on back-to-back drives, the first of which went back the other way for a touchdown, were the final nails in Dartmouth’s coffin.
McCorkle said he was disappointed with how the game ended, and for his seniors. But he emphasized that one game does not define their tenures with the Big Green.
“A group of guys that I can’t tell you enough about how proud I am and what they’ve meant to this program,” said McCorkle. “They’ve made a huge impact and a huge footprint for Dartmouth football.”