Penn Notes

The Bulldogs put together their most complete game of the season with a 31-10 victory over Penn at Franklin Field. Yale moves to 4-2 on the season with a tough Friday night matchup at Columbia this week.

Grant Jordan got back into rhythm completing 80.0% of his passes for 289 yards, 4 touchdowns and one interception. Pantelis had some of the most impressive receptions in Yale’s history on his way to 123 receiving yards and a touchdown. Shipp and Nenad were both banged up at times but fought through injuries with 7 catches for 70 yards and 4 catches for 36 yards respectively. Nenad displayed surprising power on his touchdown reception as he bowled his way through defenders at the goal line for a score. Santiago and Felton added another 54 receiving yards combined while Belk, Mermans and Foster filled in admirably for the injured Yates at tight end. The offensive line had another great outing as they paved the way for 5.9 yards per carry and did not allow a sack against a tough front from Penn. Lewis had a false start and missed a few blocks, but overall, the linemen continue to build momentum as the season progresses. Pitsenberger led the squad in rushing with 83 yards and broke tackles with ease. Peterson ripped off 80 rushing yards on just 10 carries while Jordan had impactful rushes for 25 yards. Yale averaged 7.6 yards per play and was able to dominate the time of possession as the Bulldogs held the ball for over 34 minutes. There’s still room for improvement on 3^rd downs where Yale struggled with just 5 conversions on 12 attempts. With 497 yards of total offense though, the staff and players deserve tremendous praise for an excellent week of preparation.

Despite the absence of Gulley, Yang and Shaffer, the Bulldogs limited Penn to under 200 yards of total offense. Hosley was kept in check in the ground game as he posted just 3.7 yards per carry. After Pantelis’ special teams blunder gave Penn the ball in great field position, Kamara changed the entire trajectory of the contest with a strip sack of Sayin that injured the talented signal caller. Kamara led the defense in tackles with 7 to go along with a sack, a forced fumble and an interception. Having Kamara, Daniyan and Tarver on the field at the same time did wonders for the defensive scheme. Biggs had his best performance of the season with 5 solo tackles and Ayo-Durojaiye played more at the inside linebacker position than we’ve seen previously. Phoenix Grant played well at linebacker and combined with Egodogbare for a touchdown saving tackle on a goal line stand. Egodogbare was a dominant force at the defensive tackle position with 6 solo tackles and a tackle for loss. Yale’s pass rush was finally able to make an impact with Tyler posting 1.5 sacks, McDonough notching a sack, and Jourdain adding another half a sack. Yale rotated defensive linemen often to keep the front seven fresh and saw great performances out of Jackson-Bass, Tate and Cave. Aside from a few mental mistakes, coverage was solid as Penn completed just 40.0% of passes. Richardson was held to only one catch for 11 yards after torching the Bulldogs a year ago. The quarterback rushes are still a concern moving forward as Penn’s backup Liam O’Brien rushed for 4.7 yards per carry and a touchdown.

Conforti was perfect on PATs and made his only field goal attempt on a 22-yard try in the 4^th quarter. Florio averaged 37.0 yards per punt, placed one punt inside the redzone, and had a nice tackle. Outside of Pantelis’ error on the punt return, execution was much improved on special teams.