Columbia Notes

Yale reached a recent program low with a 10-13 loss in New York City against Columbia on Friday night on national television. The Bulldogs are tied for last place in the Ivy League despite favorable matchups against backup quarterbacks for the Big Green and Lions.

Jordan was off target in the passing game for most of the night and was not aided by the awful play calling. Jordan finished with just 151 passing yards as overthrows and poor pass blocking doomed the Elis in the contest. Pitsenberger and Peterson combined for 100 rushing yards but were often swarmed by tacklers at the line of scrimmage. Peterson tripped up with open grass ahead of him on what could have been the longest rushing play of the evening. The offensive line failed to get to the second level in the running game and allowed Columbias linebackers to freely wreak havoc. Facing a 3-man defensive front from Columbia, it’s simply inexcusable to not have hands on the linebackers on all running plays. St. Aubyn had a backbreaking holding call on the final drive and the line failed to pick up a blitz on 3rd down with the game on the line. Columbia only recorded one sack on Jordan, yet he was never fully comfortable in the pocket. Yale’s lone touchdown came on a 24-yard pass to Denney in the second quarter and the Bulldogs were only able to add 3 points in the second half as drives quickly stalled out. Pantelis led the receiving corps with 6 catches for 52 yards but dropped a first down after a big hit. Shipp couldn’t hold onto a long diving grab and finished with just 2 catches for 20 yards. Felton was a bright spot with 5 catches for 39 yards. Overall, it was a giant step backwards in performance from the offensive line, quarterback and coaching staff that led to this defeat.

Despite the low score, the defensive performance was also a letdown. Columbia was able to run and pass at will with second stringers at various positions. Gonzalez, Guyton, Tarver and Webster were torched often in coverage, and Guyton gave up the winning score on a long throw to Columbia’s Canty. The defensive line was pushed around in the running game and the linebackers were easily neutralized by the Lions as they averaged 4.8 yards per carry. Columbia’s quarterback rushed for 82 yards as the Bulldogs have yet to find a way to slow quarterbacks in the running game. Yang returned from an injury but failed to make much of an impact as he wound up being pancaked by a tight end on a long quarterback run to seal the game. McDonough was one of the lone bright spots with 6 tackles and a sack. The Bulldogs were fortunate that Gonzalez forced a fumble early on that stopped a Columbia drive at Yale’s 11-yard line.

Conforti missed a 42-yard field goal that came back to bite the Bulldogs and has really struggled on field goals longer than 40 yards all season. Punt coverage was lackluster and gave Columbia great field advantage on two occasions. Unfortunately, the highlight of the game was Florio’s 58-yard punt.