Brown Notes

The Yale Bulldogs defeated the Brown Bears in a 34-22 contest in Providence. Yale moves to 6-2 (4-1 Ivy) on the season with the tough rivalry matchups ahead.

The Yale offense came ready to play with a 62-yard touchdown run from Pitsenberger on the first offensive play of the game. Pitsenberger finished with an eye-popping 173 rushing yards (6.4 yards per carry) and two rushing touchdowns. Daal was very impressive in his own right with 67 rushing yards or 8.4 yards per carry. Reno completed 71.4% of his passes for 208 yards, 2 touchdowns, and did not throw an interception. Reno has really come a long way since the disastrous Lehigh and Dartmouth performances in improving his decision making and limiting turnovers, although a bad snap did lead to a fumble recovered by Brown. The offensive line paved the way for 5.9 yards per carry on the afternoon and only gave up one sack. Reno was able to avoid heavy pressure at times as the offensive line still struggles in picking up blitzes. Nico Brown dominated once again with 6 receptions for 103 yards and two touchdowns. Santiago hauled in 7 catches for 42 yards but will need to work on extending his routes past the first down marker as the Bulldogs came up just inches short on two of his receptions. Wagner made one of the plays of the game when he hauled in a reception on a 3^rd down pass that was deflected. Smith added 2 catches for 15 yards and luckily did not appear to be slowed down after a potential injury in the contest.

Defensively, the Bulldogs completely shut down Brown’s running attack as they had 30 carries for just 19 net yards. Brown was successful in the passing game with 366 passing yards on the day or 8.5 yards per passing attempt. Webster and Tarver were consistently out of position, and several tackles were missed after receptions as defenders attempted to generate punishing hits without wrapping up ball carriers. Daniyan was out once again and at this point, we have to assume he has a season-ending injury. Grant was the star of the defense with 11 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. Grant and Ayo-Durojaiye made a boneheaded decision to excessively celebrate after a sack that led to a penalty. The defensive line shined in the contest with several standout performances. Larry had 4 tackles, 2 sacks and applied pressure on the quarterback on Grant’s interception. Shaber notched 6 tackles and a sack, while Jackson-Bass had 3 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and a sack. Xavier Coleman came up with a key tackle for loss and appears to be a future staple at defensive end. The focus heading into the Princeton contest must be to tighten up coverages, wrap up ball carriers, and avoid needless penalties.

Piper was 2 for 3 on field goal attempts with his only miss on a difficult 46-yard attempt. Keeney averaged 41.0 yards per punt and placed 2 of his 4 punts inside the redzone. Tarver made two great plays on special teams with a 38-yard kick return and was able to down a punt at the 1-yard line.