Yale Football Blog

The Bulldogs finished the 2018 campaign at 5-5 with a 3-4 Ivy League record.  After being picked to finish first in the preseason polls, the season certainly did not live up to expectations.  From the first contest versus Holy Cross, it was apparent that the defense did not have the same level of talent as the 2017 squad.  Dartmouth, Princeton and Harvard had their way with our defense, while an anemic offense cost us a victory against Columbia.  If we had played Holy Cross later in the season, we likely could have pulled off a victory and having Rawlings or O’Connor in the Columbia game would have reversed that outcome.

The good news for the 2019 campaign is that almost everyone is returning.  Crowle, Roman and Peggs graduate on defense, while role players such as Locke, Lager and Marcinick depart on offense.  Galland, Horn, and Simino will need to be replaced on special teams.  The offensive skill players are the most talented players on the roster.  Rawlings and O’Connor are both superb quarterbacks who haven’t even reached their full potential.  Lamar, Dudek and Alston form one of the best backfields in Yale history.  Klubnik and Shohfi cannot be contained by Ivy League defensive backs.  Howland and Roman could be 1st Team All-Ivy players by the time they graduate in two years.  The offensive line is the weakness on offense, although returning all five starters is critical to next season’s success.  Eiselen and Strother did not improve as much as we had hoped from 2017 to 2018, while the new starters of Warfield, Hinish and Cepalia did not play well consistently enough to dominate opposing defensive lines.  The offensive linemen need to hit the weight room harder than they ever have this offseason, continue to study film and improve communication.

The defensive line was dealt a lethal blow before the season had even started with the loss of Mullen over alleged sexual misconduct.  Roman was the top pass rusher, so developing another speedy end with moves will be a priority.  Osorachukwu Ifesinachukwu or Reid Nickerson could potentially fill that void at end.  Matthaei and Keeler return at defensive tackles and they need to get more physical at the point of attack as well as improve their abilities to shed blocks.  Fraser, Goodyear and Raine could rotate in with them next season.   Callender battled through injuries and seemed to regress from 2017 to 2018, but we think he’ll bounce back to have a fantastic senior season.  Moore, Kissel and Sampleton all had their ups and downs throughout the year.  We need at least one of those players to step up and assert dominance over opposing offensive tackles.  Burke, Pope, Awodiran, Dean, Hill, and Carey all return at linebacker.  Pope is the best of the bunch and we’d like to see him take on a leadership role in 2019.  The linebackers across the board struggled with shedding blocks, tackling and covering running backs out of the backfield.  The secondary in 2018 can simply be described as a disaster.  Corners ran stride for stride with receivers and then refused to play the ball over and over again.  Safeties offered little run support and were out of position in the passing game.  Open field tackling in the secondary was non-existent as no one would take proper angles on ball carriers.  Simple ten yard runs turned into sixty yard touchdowns repeatedly.  Reno needs to find four trustworthy defensive backs through an extended open competition.  The combination of Alburg, Dixon, Thomas and Henson just doesn’t cut it.  Abraham, Granberry, Oldacre, Agbeyegbe, Dunham, Ellis and Hickey all need to be given every opportunity to claim a starting role as this unit is in dire need of a radical transformation.

Rookie of the Year- Griffin O’Connor

First Team All-Ivy- Alan Lamar, Reed Klubnik

Second Team All-Ivy- Dieter Eiselen, Sterling Strother, JP Shohfi, Spencer Matthaei

Honorable Mention- Kurt Rawlings, JJ Howland, Ryan Burke

Congratulations to JP Shohfi on being named as Yale’s next captain.

• Stop the run

After allowing 489 rushing yards to Princeton, Yale needs to bounce back this week to slow down Harvard’s talented running backs.  Murphy is likely devising a run-heavy scheme to pound the ball up the middle and chew up the clock.  The Bulldogs can’t simply stack the box with 8 men as leaving our secondary exposed will be equally troublesome.  The defensive line needs to have its best game of the season especially with possible injuries to starting linebackers.  The pressure is on McGowan to give our defenders the best chance to tackle Shampklin, Booker and Darrington before the damage is done.

• Ease O’Connor into the passing game

O’Connor clearly suffered from nervousness on the opening drives in the Princeton contest.  We certainly can’t fault him for that as he was a freshman playing in the biggest game of his life to date.  His two early interceptions buried Yale as our defense couldn’t contain the potent Princeton offense.  O’Connor has the physical and mental tools to dominate the Crimson defense once he settles down and gets into a rhythm.  His first pass of the game can’t be to a receiver running a long out route blanketed by defenders.  Cahill has to utilize running plays to Lamar, short passes and screens to establish momentum and get the chains moving to give O’Connor a boost of confidence.

• Avoid the distractions

The Elis must focus on the one task that matters: beating Harvard.  Forget about the Yale Daily News’ untimely article.  Disregard the grumbling parents and armchair experts.  Act like you’ve played at Fenway the last four seasons.  The Bulldogs need to have a laser focus on outplaying the Crimson for 60 straight minutes.  We have a whole offseason ahead to analyze and debate the topics related to the 2018 Yale football team, but the team needs to stay in the moment to leave everything they have on the gridiron.

Beat Harvard!

The Bulldogs travel to Fenway Park this Saturday to take on the Harvard Crimson at 12 PM EST.  If you won’t be in attendance, be sure to watch The Game on ESPN2.

Harvard enters the contest with an identical record to the Elis at 5-4 overall and 3-3 in Ivy League play.  Harvard lost to Rhode Island, Cornell, Princeton and Dartmouth although the largest margin of victory by an opponent was just 8 points.

Senior QB Tom Stewart leads the Crimson offense this season as Murphy elected to go with the veteran player over sophomore Jake Smith who started last season.  Stewart’s completion percentage of 50.9% isn’t stellar, yet he has only thrown one interception all year.  With Shelton-Mosley out of the lineup due to an injury, Harvard receivers Adam Scott, Henry Taylor, Tyler Adams and Jack Cook have picked up the slack and performed well.  Scott is a very fast wideout that our secondary will have to keep on eye on at all times.  Aaron Shampklin, Charlie Booker and Devin Darrington split carries at the running back position.  Shampklin is a 180 pound sophomore that has great vision and speed while being surprising hard to tackle despite his size.  Booker and Darrington are the classic Harvard backs with a combination of power and agility.  Senior Larry Allen is the most talented member of the Crimson’s offensive line that features three seniors, a junior and a sophomore.  Harvard has historically had playmakers at tight end, but the tight ends haven’t been much of a factor this season as the position was ravaged by injuries.

Harvard’s strength as a team lies in its defense.  Sophomore linebacker Jordan Hill has been making plays all over the field for the Crimson as he’s racked up 63 tackles, 24 more tackles than any other teammate.  Hill’s success is a testament to the stout defensive line that has kept blockers from reaching the second level.  Senior defensive tackle Richie Ryan leads the defensive line in tackles with 36 including 5 tackles for losses and 3.5 sacks.  Ryan’s fellow senior defensive tackle Stone Hart has 8 tackles for losses, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble.  Senior safety Cole Thompson has been out of the lineup for the last two weeks, however, Harvard is very deep at safety and the secondary has not missed a beat thanks to the performances of Max Jones and Zach Miller.  Senior cornerback Wesley Ogsbury has picked off 6 passes this season, so an errant pass from O’Connor in Ogsbury’s direction could spell doom for the Elis.

Jake McIntyre has been an excellent kicker this season converting 12 of 14 attempts with a long of 42 yards.  He has been perfect on extra points as well.  Punter Jon Sot is averaging 41 yards per punt and boomed one for 75 yards.

Beat Harvard!

A disastrous first quarter that led to a 21 point deficit for the Bulldogs was ultimately too much to overcome against a powerful Princeton team in a 59-43 loss at the Bowl.  Yale dropped to 5-4 (3-3 Ivy) to set up a battle of 5-4 teams at Fenway for The Game.

On Princeton’s first play from scrimmage, running back Collin Eady raced 75 yards to put the Tigers up 7-0 just seconds into the contest.  On Yale’s second offensive play, O’Connor threw the ball directly to a Princeton defender who returned it inside of the red zone.  Eaddy made the score 14-0 as he knifed through Yale’s defense for a 17 yard score.  O’Connor’s luck did not improve on Yale’s second drive as his pass was tipped in the backfield and intercepted by a Princeton linebacker.  Princeton’s third string running back Ryan Quigly outran the Bulldogs on a 37 yard scoring play to put the Tigers up 21-0.  Yale was able to put together a touchdown drive to begin the second quarter to make it 21-7, but defensive woes allowed Princeton to go into halftime with a 42-14 lead.  Yale’s offense exploded in the second half, yet Princeton was able to add another 17 points to keep Yale at bay.

Freshman Griffin O’Connor threw for a record 465 yards with 3 touchdowns against a very stingy defense.  His 4 interceptions, however, were crippling as the Yale defense could not slow down Princeton until well into the second half.  The offensive line performed very well giving ample time for O’Connor to find open receivers and clearing the path for Lamar and Alston in the ground game.  Lamar finished with over 100 yards rushing, while Alston averaged a respectable 4.8 yards per attempt.  Klubnik was absolutely dominant with 8 catches for 234 yards.  Shohfi had two long catches for 79 yards, Rouse had 4 catches for 62 yards, Howland had 3 catches for 53 yards and Lamar had 3 catches for 38 yards.

Princeton’s Bob Surace must have seen holes in Yale’s rush defense and decided to exploit the weaknesses as Princeton rushed for 489 yards.  Second string running back Eaddy had 266 yards with 3 touchdowns, while third stringer Quigley added 113 yards with 2 touchdowns.  If that wasn’t bad enough, Lovett tacked on another 110 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.  The Yale defensive line was not getting enough penetration or pushing back offensive linemen.  Linebackers and safeties were not filling the gaps or getting off of blocks.  When we did have defenders in position to make a play, we missed way too many tackles.  Pass defense was much improved and corners were finally turning their heads to play the passes.  Horsted’s long touchdown reception was an embarrassment though as he effortlessly ran through Bulldogs on his way to a 52 yard touchdown.

Penalties were cleaned up as Yale was cited for just one penalty for 10 yards.  Galland was perfect on extra points and was only forced to punt once in the contest.  Reno did a great job keeping the players motivated in the second half to claw back within 16 points.

Beat Harvard!

• Slow down the trio of Lovett, Horsted and Carlson

The Bulldogs must find a way to slow down Princeton’s quarterback John Lovett and wide receivers Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson on Saturday.  Lovett is the Ivy League’s version of Tim Tebow as he is a bruising runner who also possesses the passing skills to make collegiate secondaries look foolish.  Horsted and Carlson are both 6’4″ targets that are nearly impossible to jam at the line of scrimmage.  They have excellent leaping abilities to grab passes at the highest points.  Dartmouth had success stopping Lovett’s rushes as he averaged just 2.4 yards per attempt, but he still managed to score two rushing touchdowns and was a very efficient passer despite one interception.  Carlson had a quiet day versus the Big Green, yet Horsted exploded for 9 catches for 88 yards.  Princeton has so many weapons on offense that a defense can’t shut down all of the threats.  Yale must create penetration with the defensive line to give the linebackers clean shots on Lovett when he opts to run the ball.  Once Lovett gets past the linebacking corps, it will be very difficult for our smaller defensive backs to tackle him.  Defensive backs have to stay over the top of Carlson and Horsted as well as turn their heads to play the ball.  Horsted catches the ball every time a defender tries to face guard him.

• Clean up the penalties

Yale was cited for 12 penalties for 131 yards last week versus Brown.  In the loss to Holy Cross, the Bulldogs were called for 11 penalties for 77 yards.  Yale had 6 more penalties than Dartmouth in the loss to the Big Green, two of which wiped away touchdowns.  In each of Yale’s losses this season, we have had more penalties than the opponent.  Princeton will capitalize on penalties and make us pay dearly for these mental mistakes.  College football is a game of momentum and nothing deflates a team like having a touchdown erased for a holding penalty.  Scoring opportunities against Princeton will be few and far between, so we cannot squander any chances.

• Convert on third downs

Dartmouth was only able to convert on 3 of 12 third downs, while Harvard converted on just 8 of 17 attempts.  You have to wonder what these contests would have looked like if these offenses had been able to convert on third downs more often to keep the Princeton offense off of the field for an extra possession or two.  Princeton’s defense is not going to give up yards easily and Surace will likely look to bring heat against our first year quarterback with blitzers such as Fossati.  The Bulldogs need to utilize passing plays that develop quickly, so that O’Connor can find Shohfi, Klubnik, Howland and others before the pressure reaches him.  If Princeton opts to play conservatively on defense, Lamar and Alston will have chances to scamper downfield as Harvard and Dartmouth’s top running backs each averaged 5 yards or more per carry.  The priority this week is to keep Lovett, Horsted and Carlson off of the field entirely with long Bulldog drives.

The Yale Bulldogs host the Princeton Tigers on Saturday at the Bowl.  You can watch the game on ESPN+ at 12:30 PM ET.

Princeton enters the contest atop the Ivy League at 8-0 after a 14-9 victory over Dartmouth last week.  Senior QB John Lovett leads Princeton in both passing and rushing yards as he seeks to capture his second Ivy League MVP award.  Lovett has made significant strides in improving his passing skills since we last played against him in 2016.  He has completed 113 of 174 passes for 1433 yards, 14 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions.  Lovett’s size (230 lbs.) and speed make him very difficult to tackle when he runs the ball.  He is averaging 6.5 yards per carry and has 10 rushing touchdowns on the season.  Senior running back Charlie Volker has continued to improve over his career and he is averaging a whopping 7.1 yards per carry.  If Volker is banged up, sophomore Colin Eaddy or junior Ryan Quigley will fill in.  Senior wide receivers Jesper Horsted and Stephen Carlson are the most dangerous receivers in the Ivy League.  They are both big targets that can routinely outjump defensive backs to snag the ball.  The Princeton offensive line is solid across the board and appears to be just a slight notch below Dartmouth’s offensive line in overall talent.

Princeton’s defense is led by linebackers Mark Fossati and Tom Johnson.  Fossati was injured last season, but bounced back this year with 54 tackles, 4 tackles for losses and 2 sacks.  Johnson was an All-Ivy linebacker last season and appears to be destined for that same distinction this season.  Mike Wagner plays Princeton’s rush linebacker position (OLB/DE) and has made life difficult for opposing quarterbacks.  Wagner has 4.5 sacks, while defensive linemen Samuel Wright, Jay Rolader and Joey Demarco have combined for 9 sacks.  Princeton’s secondary is the top unit in the Ivy League.  TJ Floyd is a ball hawk with 6 interceptions to date.  Safety Ben Ellis has been all over the field for Princeton with 42 tackles including 3.5 tackles for losses.

Princeton’s special teams units are average for the conference.  Punter George Triplett has only had to punt 17 times this season and averages just over 35 yards per punt.  Princeton kickers have made 7 of 9 field goals.  Tiger Bech and Austin Carbone have big play potential on punt and kickoff returns.

Reno’s decision to start freshman quarterback Griffin O’Connor versus Brown was the perfect move at the right time.  O’Connor exploded for 436 passing yards with 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.  He was named STATS FCS Player of the Week, Co-Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, and Ivy League Freshman of the Week.  Klubnik and Shohfi were unstoppable as they each caught two touchdowns and had over 100 yards receiving.  Rouse bounced back with 5 catches for 67 yards and a dynamic punt return.  The offensive line had its best performance of the season opening holes for the running backs and keeping the defenders away from O’Connor.  Lamar finished with 76 yards and 2 touchdowns, while Alston added 67 yards and a touchdown.

The defensive linemen and linebackers were simply too much for Brown to handle.  Brown was held to -27 yards rushing on 17 attempts thanks to the physicality of our front seven.  The Bulldogs sacked McGovern 7 times and racked up 8 tackles for losses.  Ryan Burke was a key contributor with 6 tackles, 2 sacks and 3 tackles for losses.  Rodney Thomas had a great diving interception.  The pass defense wasn’t nearly as dominant as the run defense.  McGovern threw for 358 yards as we struggled to stop the outside passes to running backs, tight ends and receivers.  Pass interference penalties helped keep Brown drives alive on a couple of occasions.

Yale racked up an embarrassing 12 penalties for 131 yards on the afternoon.  The special teams were much improved, although the field goal team still struggled.  The coaching staff did a fantastic job preparing for Brown and we need that to continue this week heading into the most difficult contest of the season.