Morgan State Notes

The Bulldogs earned their first win of the season knocking off the Morgan State Bears 45-3 on Saturday at the Bowl. Yale improved to 1-2 on the season and gained much needed momentum heading into a tough contest at Dartmouth. 

The first quarter was a rough one for the Yale offense as the traditional rushing attack was stymied and the Bulldogs were forced to rely on carries by Grooms to move the ball downfield. Yale was able to get into the redzone on its first possession before the drive stalled and the field goal attempt was blocked. The Bears stuffed the Bulldogs on their second offensive possession and then strip sacked Grooms on the Bulldogs’ third possession. Given the final score of the contest, it’s hard to imagine that this was a tight 0-0 contest heading into the second quarter. On Yale’s first possession of the second quarter, two long runs from Grooms moved Yale into the redzone again but the Bulldogs were unable to punch it into the endzone and were forced to settle for a field goal after a false start moved them back from the 1-yard line. Everything seemed to click for the Yale offense from that point as Grooms threw a beautiful 31-yard touchdown pass to Tipton and later drove 66 yards in 6 plays to go up 17-3 at the half. Morgan State had no answers for Yale in the second half as Grooms found Tipton open for a 33-yard passing score and never looked back adding an additional two offensive scores for five total offensive touchdowns on the day. Grooms was magnificent in the contest finishing 29 of 38 on passing attempts for 363 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. Our fearless QB was also the leading rusher with 9 carries for a whopping 87 yards or 9.7 yards per carry. Peterson and Alston had limited productivity once again combining for just 34 yards on 14 carries. The offensive line struggled to open rushing lanes for much of the contest but were solid in pass blocking only allowing a single sack. Tipton had a magical day with 9 receptions for 136 yards receiving with 2 touchdowns. Lindley and Felton both had huge days combining for another 12 catches and two touchdowns. The offensive staff did a great job with the play calling in the 2nd quarter and beyond to keep Morgan State off balance. Grooms spread the ball around with Hawes, Yates, Shipp, Alston and Peterson in the mix in the passing game. 

The defense finally put together a performance to be proud of. There was yet another new starting defensive lineup with Shaber now starting alongside Gulley at DT and Patterson and McDonough at DEs. Patterson was a problem for Morgan State all day and was far more impactful than his 2 tackles and a sack on the stat sheet would indicate. Larry had the best contest of his career at Yale also adding a sack. Baker started at LB alongside Vaughn and Moore. Moore bounced back with a solid performance highlighted by an interception. Vaughn also intercepted a pass and returned it for a touchdown to cap off the scoring for the afternoon. The secondary lineup remained the same as last week with Owens and Webster at CBs and Tarver and Daniyan at safeties. There are still cracks in the pass defense, but the tackling has improved and the blatant mental mistakes have decreased. Freshman Abu Kamara was very impressive displaying rare speed and explosiveness when tested at safety. Morgan State was limited to just 2.4 yards per carry and their quarterbacks combined for a 50% completion ratio with no touchdowns and 2 interceptions. The defense really stepped up on 3^rd and 4^th downs as Morgan State was just 5 of 17 on 3^rd downs and 0 of 2 on 4^th downs. This was a great step forward for the defense as Dartmouth will be challenging to contain in Hanover.

Bosman was 1 of 2 on field goal attempts, but in his defense, the snap on the blocked field goal was high and altered his rhythm. He had a great day punting the ball averaging 42.0 yards per punt.