Howard Notes

The Yale Bulldogs defeated the Howard Bison on Saturday at the Bowl in a 34-26 contest. 9,200 brave souls attended the rainy event and were treated to a fantastic halftime performance by the Howard band.

Yale led 27-6 in the third quarter before a late rally from Howard narrowed the score to 27-20. Tre Peterson’s 44-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter sealed the victory as the Bison’s comeback attempt fell short despite a last-second touchdown reception. The victory could prove very costly as Pitsenberger was injured and Oso was suspended from the first half of the Dartmouth contest following a late targeting call.

The wet conditions were not favorable to Yale’s passing game. Grooms completed 10 of 24 passes for 111 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Grooms’ interception came on a very questionable decision to throw into tight coverage which resulted in the pass being tipped high in the air. The Bulldogs will need to practice with wet balls much more moving forward as surehanded receivers such as Pantelis dropped multiple passes while Grooms and Peterson each had a fumble. The offensive line did a stellar job creating holes for Peterson, Pitsenberger, Eboboko and Grooms. Pitsenberger started at running back for the second straight week rushing for 87 yards on 9 carries (9.7 YPC) with a touchdown before limping off with an injury. Peterson stepped up with 144 yards on 12 carries (12.0 YPC) with a touchdown. Grooms’ athleticism overmatched Howard’s defense as he rushed for 130 yards on 16 carries (8.1 YPC) including a 54-yard touchdown run. The offensive line did not allow a sack, but Grooms was often pressured and had to utilize his skills as an escape artist to extend plays. Hawes bounced back from his struggles against Cornell making an impressive diving catch for a touchdown. Tipton caught 1 pass for 35 yards and likely would have scored on a long pass from Grooms that was overthrown by mere inches.

There was very sloppy play on the defensive side of the ball that will need to be corrected this week heading into a barn burner versus Dartmouth. The pass pressure from the defensive line was not consistent enough and Howard’s QB was able to easily avoid several sacks with his quickness. The secondary seemed to give too much spacing to the Bison receivers resulting in easy short to medium throws to open wideouts, although this may have been intentional to negate Howard’s big play ability and speed on the outside. Tackling deteriorated from the Cornell contest with defenders not getting their pad level low enough and being dragged for extra yardage. Hamilton Moore was the highlight of the defense with 12 tackles and an interception. Moore’s fellow linebackers Vaughn and Abraham struggled at times but do seem to be improving each week.  The defensive line had a relatively quiet outing with Oso and Nickerson combining for 7 tackles and 1 sack. Oso delivered a crushing blow to Howard’s QB that resulted in his suspension due to targeting a quarterback by initiating head-to-head contact. Teams have really focused on shutting down Patterson thus far which has impacted his statistics but not his overall disruption at the line of scrimmage. Owens continued to rack up tackles with 7 on the afternoon and still leads the defense in total tackles this season. Hickey was cited for a costly pass interference penalty at the 1-yard line but made up for it with a fantastic interception.

Bosman had a great day averaging 41.0 yards per punt and was perfect on both field goals and PATs. Lindley had an explosive 45-yard punt return while Felton racked up 38 yards on just one kickoff return.

Next up: the Dartmouth Big Green!