Thoughts on the Dartmouth Loss

Things got off to a rocky start for the Bulldogs on Saturday as a high snap from Strothers pinned them deep on their first possession.  Yale’s defense shutdown Dartmouth with notable starters this week including Awodiran and Matthaei.  Yale took charge from that point going up 21-0 with their high flying offense being too much for the Big Green to handle.  Rawlings threw touchdowns to Williams-Lopez, Rouse and Dudek during that span.  A poor decision from Rawlings led to a pick six by Dartmouth’s Isiah Swann in the second quarter.  Galland finished off the half with a field goal to put Yale up 24-7 at halftime.

It was all downhill from that point for the Elis.  Reno decided to run a conservative offensive plan that would only yield 3 points all half.  On defense, the linebackers and secondary were routinely picked apart.  Balter and Alessi in particular struggled immensely.  The continuous blitzing by Yale’s defense became predictable and left the secondary vulnerable without adding much to the pass rush.  Injuries piled up for both teams as Peggs and Oluokun went down along with Perry and Hagdorn for Dartmouth.  It was clear midway through the fourth quarter that we would not hold onto the lead.  Holding penalties on offense and roughing the quarterback penalties on defense doomed the Elis.  The officiating was sloppy, but that’s usually par for the course for Ivy League referees.

Yale clearly has the talent in place to beat any school in the Ivy League this season, but mental mistakes and coaching blunders will have to be corrected in order to make a run.  The Ivy champ this year will likely have one loss, so this does not end the season by any means.