Columbia Notes

The Bulldogs roared back to life on Saturday with a dominant 35-7 victory over Columbia to improve to 4-3. With three games remaining in the season, Yale remains in the hunt for a share of the Ivy League Championship.

Grooms had a fantastic performance in the passing game and running game. He completed 26 of 32 passes for 234 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception. On the ground, Grooms rushed 14 times for 89 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and a TD. The offensive line was not perfect allowing 2 sacks but showed great improvement from the last 2 weeks particularly in run blocking as they paved the way for 4.9 yards per carry with 4 rushing touchdowns. Pitsenberger was the primary RB and posted 15 carries for 63 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and 2 TDs. Peterson and Alston did not find much success on the ground with 2.8 yards per carry and 2.2 yards per carry respectively. Denney entered the contest late and added another 2 rushes for 23 yards and a TD. Tipton added another marvelous contest to his career tally with 8 receptions for 114 yards and a TD. Hawes was out with an injury, but Yates filled in without skipping a beat and had 4 catches for 36 yards. Grooms was great at spreading the ball around to keep Columbia off balance as he completed passes to Shipp, Pantelis, Nenad, Lindley, Felton and Alston in addition to Tipton and Yates. The offensive play calling was far superior to what we witnessed a week ago versus Penn. The staff did a tremendous job in preparation for this contest with creative play designs and an offensive strategy intent on methodically marching down the field. We will need that same level of preparation heading into a Brown contest that could be a high scoring affair.

The defense bounced back from its worst showing of the season to limit Columbia to just 194 yards on the afternoon. Columbia’s rushing attack was held to 2.8 yards per carry as the defensive line was able to control the line of scrimmage. QB Joe Green was limited to 120 passing yards on 32 attempts and was sacked 3 times. Moore and Ayo-Durojaiye tied for the most tackles in the contest with 5 apiece. Guyton and Owens were both solid in pass coverage and run support. Sophomore DT Dylan Yang had the best performance of his career to date with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, and a QB hit. Patterson was a disruptor along the defensive front once again and added another sack. Daniyan’s coverage skills seem to be improving and he had an impressive pass breakup on a big hit in which he dislodged his own helmet. Overall, it was a very encouraging defensive effort that will need to continue to ramp up through the final brutal stretch of Ivy contests.

Bosman missed a 34-yard field goal in the 3^rd quarter and had a relatively quiet day in the punting game with just 2 punts for 93 yards (46.5 yards per punt).