Days removed from overseeing the biggest comeback in program history, Dartmouth College football coach Sammy McCorkle joked that he was pleased to be on the right side of history in last Saturday’s 44-43 overtime victory over Yale.

The second-year coach remembers the infamous “Choke at Doak” on Nov. 26, 1994, when he was a junior free safety for Steve Spurrier in Florida.

Spurrier’s No. 4-ranked Gators hosted the reigning national champion, No. 7 Florida State, and had a 31-3 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Seminoles scored 28 unanswered points to tie the score, 31-31, with less than two minutes on the clock.

The match between two of the sport’s bitterest rivals ended in a draw.

“It felt like a loss,” McCorkle said of the rivalry game during a Wednesday Zoom call with reporters.

Approaching the 30th anniversary of a result that still haunts Gator faithful, McCorkle helped lead an even more remarkable Big Green turnaround in the Yale Bowl.

Facing a 37-16 deficit entering the fourth quarter, sophomore quarterback Grayson Saunier’s “comfort, confidence and composure” got the team going on both sides of the ball, paving the way for the comeback win, McCorkle said.

“It was good to finally be on the other side,” McCorkle said. “I’ve never been part of something like that before, but it was obviously exciting and we’re lucky to be on the winning side of it. It was definitely a testament to the perseverance of our team and the way we kept fighting. I can’t tell you how proud I am of the boys.”

But now it’s a new week, a new opponent, so time to “wash it all off and move on to the next one.”

Dartmouth, with a 4-0 record and a 2-0 start in the Ivy League, finds itself in the latest version of the Stats Perform FCS and AFCA FCS Coaches polls, at No. 22 and No. 24, respectively.

The Big Green will look to keep their perfect record intact when they host Central Connecticut State (3-3) in their final non-conference tilt this season.

Two of the Blue Devils’ three losses have come to FBS opponents, while the third was a narrow 23-22 loss to Yale just two weeks ago.

“They play hard, they play fast,” McCorkle said of CCSU. “They are very well supervised in all phases. … Our players, our staff, we all know this is going to be a huge challenge for us, and we just have to prepare every day. And we know, when we come out on Saturday, we have to prepare for a match of more than 60 minutes.”

Here are three storylines to keep an eye on ahead of kickoff:

Another week, another dynamic running back

After the 16-14 win over Merrimack, senior defensive end Ejike Adele surmised that Warriors running back Jermaine Corbett was “one of the better running backs” Dartmouth would see this season.

Adele may be right, but in the coming week the Big Green defense will have to deal with a new dynamic rusher.

This time it’s Elijah Howard of the Blue Devils.

A former three-star recruit out of Tennessee, Howard played two years as a cornerback for Virginia Tech before transferring to CCSU. His 119.5 all-purpose yards in 2023 ranked 19th in FCS en route to All-NEC second team honors.

In six games this season, Howard has surpassed the 100-yard mark three times, including 108 rushing yards against Yale. He set season highs in receptions (5) and also received yards (68) against the Bulldogs.

McCorkle said the Big Green have their “hands full” preparing for Howard, who can take advantage of the holes left by the Blue Devil’s offensive line and provide a receiving threat out of the backfield.

Dartmouth’s run defense, which held Yale to just 3.0 yards per carry, ranks 22nd in FCS in rush defense, allowing opponents 116.7 yards per play on the ground.

“There’s a reason he once worked at Virginia Tech,” McCorkle said of Howard. “He’s a very talented running back and he’s doing very well. Again you think, ‘Oh, we probably played the best guy we’re going to see all year.’ The next week you have another one, and the week after that you have another one. So here we go again.”

Which team will win the turnover battle?

CCSU ranks ninth in the FCS in turnovers won with 14 – the Blue Devils have recovered nine fumbles and recorded five interceptions. Dartmouth, meanwhile, ranks last nationally in the statistic, with just two NCAA turnovers.

“They do a really good job of swarming to the ball and trying to knock the ball loose,” McCorkle said of the Blue Devil defense. “They tackle the gang, which puts them in a position to (force fumbles).”

However, Dartmouth’s offense has protected the football well through four games this season, only coughing it up three times. That figure ranks fifth nationally, while CCSU’s 10 turnovers fit in a cluster of teams ranked 87th in the nation.

An unstoppable force meets an immovable object Saturday at Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field.

Will offensive coordinator Kevin Daft’s unit keep turnovers to a minimum again or will CCSU’s defense give an opponent problems again?

But perhaps most crucial to Dartmouth’s success: Can the defense finally capitalize on its opportunities to force turnovers?

“You can’t rely on the offense to come together and it’s going to be a back-and-forth game,” senior linebacker Braden Mullen said after the win over Yale. “We have to make things happen, we have to generate revenue…

“We have to hit balls down, hit balls up, force fumbles, fall on them and then hold on to that ball once we do that. That’s really one thing I think we need to focus on: not overcomplicating the game of football. Chase people, chase the ball and really take advantage when we get those opportunities.

Dartmouth’s quarterback situation

Senior starting quarterback Jackson Proctor, who was sidelined against Yale with an unspecified injury, remains “day-to-day,” McCorkle said.

McCorkle said the offense will continue to work Proctor, Saunier and sophomore Woods Ray ahead of Saturday’s game, with the expectation that every Big Green quarterback trio will be ready to play against the Blue Devils.

Ray earned the starting spot last Saturday before being replaced early in the second quarter by Saunier, who rose to the occasion and totaled 360 yards of offense and five touchdowns.

If Proctor can play, it’s reasonable to expect the Kent, Washington native to start. If Proctor is ruled out for the second week in a row, it remains to be seen whether Saunier’s performance was enough to shift the pecking order on the quarterback depth chart.

But if Saturday was any indication — McCorkle said after the game that he expected to play both Ray and Saunier in the game, ultimately rolling with the “hot hand” — you might expect both second-year quarterbacks to lead the Dartmouth offense against CCSU would lead.

Alex Cervantes can be reached at [email protected] or 603-727-7302.