On the heels of a four-point homecoming loss to Harvard — one that saw the Ivy League title picture become murkier as a result — Dartmouth traveled to New Jersey for a Friday night date with Princeton. The nationally televised clash was one the Big Green could ill afford to lose.

Propelled by a 21-point second quarter and the play of its special teams unit, Dartmouth knocked off an injury-riddled Tigers squad, 26-17, improving to 7-1 on the season and 4-1 in conference play.

Senior quarterback Jackson Proctor, who returned after a three-game hiatus in the Big Green’s Week 7 loss to the Crimson, completed 21 of 30 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore quarterback Grayson Saunier tacked on a pair of 1-yard rushing scores too.

The Dartmouth defense, led by career days from seniors Micah Green and Ejike Adele, also put on an impressive display, holding Princeton to 175 yards of total offense.

“It wasn’t pretty, but the guys did a good job of fighting and kept putting themselves in situations to make plays when we needed them,” coach Sammy McCorkle told Dartmouthsports.com.

Here are three takeaways from the Big Green’s win:

Special teams, special plays, special players: McCorkle might not have flashed a bigger smile all night.

With the second quarter winding to a close and Princeton deep in its own territory, the Tigers called out Brady Clark to punt the ball away. But Clark’s 27th punt of the season never got out of his own half of the field as it was blocked by junior linebacker Nico Schwikal and recovered by freshman nickelback Lou Lamar.

McCorkle, a self-described special teams guy dating all the way back to his time as a player at the University of Florida, was one of the first to celebrate with Lamar and his fellow specialists, grinning ear-to-ear and low-fiving players as they sprinted off the field. Dartmouth would take advantage of the incredible field position, capping a short drive with a touchdown connection between Proctor and tight end Chris Corbo, his sixth receiving score of the fall.

ESPN was quick to capitalize on the moment, too, having already cued the archival tape from McCorkle’s days with the Gators.

For coach Joe Castellitto’s unit it was a marquee night, one that included a blocked punt, a forced fumble on another punt, a boot from senior punter Davis Golick that pinned Princeton at its 2-yard line late in the fourth quarter and a 34-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Owen Zalc.

“Our guys did a good job of doing the jobs,” McCorkle said to Dartmouthsports.com. “That was huge for us, especially on special teams, to make those plays — block a punk, get a fumble recovery. That helped us no doubt.”

Tale of two quarters: It only took six plays in the first quarter before the Tigers were ringing their turnover bell.

Proctor, facing pressure up the middle, was stripped at the Big Green 39-yard line on their opening drive of the game. Three minutes later, Princeton quarterback Blaine Hipa connected with Connor Hulstein for an 8-yard touchdown score to claim a 7-0 lead, an advantage with which it would close the quarter.

Dartmouth mustered 60 yards of total offense in the first quarter and was whistled four times for penalties. Then its second quarter onslaught began.

The Big Green scored 21 straight points in the second quarter as their defense held Princeton to negative-16 yards of total offense. Saunier capped two consecutive drives with rushing scores before Proctor connected with Corbo in the end zone for six points following the blocked punt. It was an emphatic response from Dartmouth, especially from its defense, which held the Tigers managed just 31 yards of total offense in the first half.

Ivy League a two-horse race, for now: The path to a 22nd Ivy League crown for the Big Green is simple at this point in the season: win out.

That reality wasn’t lost ahead of kickoff on Adele, who recorded a career-high 10 tackles against the Tigers, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss.

“We just did a great job of doing what we had to do to win,” Adele told Dartmouthsports.com. “Coming into it, we knew with one loss that we have to win out. There’s no other option, and that’s what we did. We simply got it done and I’m really proud of what we did tonight.”

With Week 8 in the books, Dartmouth and Harvard still share pole position in the Ivy League standings following the Crimson’s 26-6 dismantling of Columbia.

The Big Green will travel to Cornell on Saturday for their penultimate regular-season contest, while Harvard hits the road to Philadelphia to face a middling Penn side, which is coming off a 67-49 shootout victory over the Big Red.

Neither team can afford any slip-ups in the final two games of the regular season, a loss opening the door for either squad to capture the championship outright — a feat Dartmouth has not accomplished since 1996.

Alex Cervantes can be reached at acervantes@vnews.com or 603-727-7302.