Gushing Expletives
WELL, there we were, immersed in the worst possible demonstration of rain and wind that has been perpetrated on the football world by you-know-Who in ages. The setting was New Haven, and all the Yale wags were saying, "Did you have to bring the Hanover weather down here?"
Hanover was never that bad, even on the doggiest day of March. It was a gloomy setting for what turned into the first of two glum weekends in a Dartmouth football season that, for whatever success is attained, will be remembered longer for the two games that got away.
Dartmouth arrived at Yale Bowl with a 3-0 record, momentum, and the promise of a confrontation with Harvard a week later that would match a pair of undefeated teams. Three hours later, the tornado warnings had been lifted, the sky was clearing, Cornell had beaten Harvard, and Dartmouth had lost to Yale. The expletives gushed as profusely as the drenching rain.
The margin was four points, and Jake Crouthamel muttered something about a home field advantage during this third straight setback at Yale being measured by the margin of this 18-14 score, a 16-14 loss in 1975, and a 14-9 defeat in 1974. Even on a good day, only about 20,000 people were expected at the Bowl, and within a couple of days the conversations about scheduling the Yale-Dartmouth game on a home-and-home basis rather than one-in-four-at-Hanover was shaping into a firm proposal.
The tarnish of Dartmouth's loss at Yale and Cornell's 9-3 upset of Harvard didn't diminish the flow of the faithful to Hanover for the mid-October weekend when Harvard visited Memorial Field. Two years ago, when Harvard last came to call, it was the Class of '54 that had the ignominious distinction of being the first returning class to draw seats in the end zone stands. This time around, the Class of '46 drew the honors as they joined the third largest crowd to witness a game at Hanover. (It missed being a record because the fire marshal dictated that aisles be painted into the end zone bleachers, and the decision knocked nearly 100 seats out of the park.)
The day was crisp and as the game reached its climactic final seconds, the question in the minds of 20,336 observers was: Will Dartmouth go for two points? Harvard led, 17-10, and Dartmouth had the ball less than a yard from the Crimson goal line. A bobbled exchange between center Jim Lucas and quarterback Kevin Case, a procedure penalty, and the ability of Harvard linebacker Tom Joyce to knock Case out of bounds two yards short of paradise made the question moot.
For the second straight Saturday, Dartmouth's defense was outstanding. At Yale, they gave up nine points after two punting misfires gave the Elis the ball at Dartmouth's 15 and 23 yard lines. Against Harvard, a squibbed punt and a fumble opened the door to 10 Crimson points on drives of comparable dimension. Yale had built an 18-0 lead into the third period before Dartmouth's offense began to solve its problems created by a quick, tough Yale defense and the mucky field, and Harvard had a 14-point lead at a similar point of play when the Dartmouth attack came to life.
In each game, Dartmouth had its share of opportunities. At New Haven, it was a matter of Yale's defense doing its job a bit better. After Case had scored on one of the nicest pieces of option faking you'll ever see (good for 19 yards), and Kevin Young's interception had paved the way for a short burst by fullback Curt Oberg, the Green had its last crack at retrieving the game squelched when Eli linebacker Bill Crowley returned Young's favor.
As was the case a year ago at Cambridge, when Dartmouth lost four fumbles and had four passes intercepted, offensive mistakes neutralized a strong defensive showing against Harvard. While Case connected with split end Harry Wilson for 29 yards and a touchdown, and Nick Lowery had rifled a 51-yard field goal (matching Pudge Neidlinger's kick against Harvard in 1922 as the second longest in Dartmouth history), there were four fumbles lost and it mattered not that Dartmouth had out-gained the Crimson by 200 yards in the second half and that the Green defense had knocked quarterback Jim Kubacki's running reputation into a cocked hat (minus 33 yards in 16 carries).
Why? "This is always a tremendously emotional game," said Harvard Coach Joe Restic. "It's that way whenever Harvard and Dartmouth play. In an emotional game, strange things can happen." While all the emotion can work to advantage for the defense, whose business it is to create mayhem, the offense must integrate cool precision into that same frenetic atmosphere. At Yale, the elements and Yale's defensive quickness negated the finesse that is essential to Dartmouth's offensive style. Against Harvard, it appeared the Green attack was wired tighter than your baby Baldwin.
For the third year in a row, the two biggest fish on Dartmouth's schedule got off the hook. There's not much solace in remembering the five-year stretch from 1969-73 when Dartmouth's record against Harvard and Yale was 8-1-1 - not for Jake Crouthamel or for his team that headed into the final four weeks of the season trying to put the pieces together again.
Those two games overshadowed the good things that had transpired before: A 24-13 win over a vastly improved New Hampshire team and a 45-7 destruction of Holy Cross. The win over UNH was a personal victory for Oberg; the power back rushed for 155 yards in 24 carries (two more yards and 13 fewer carries than Bill Burnham, UNH's halfback who was the New England back-of-the-year in 1975) and two touchdowns. It was Oberg who triggered a 21-point barrage that reversed the flow of action during a five-minute segment of the third period.
At Holy Cross, just about everything went right: Oberg had 128 yards, and Wilson grabbed four of Case's passes for 74 yards, half of the yardage coming on one lovely play that was as demoralizing to the Crusaders as the punt blocked for a touchdown by John Carney. That happened after Neil Wheelwright, the Holy Cross coach, had opted to accept a procedure penalty against Dartmouth after his punter had put the ball near midfield.
See? Everybody makes mistakes.
