Princeton Notes

The Yale Bulldogs defeated the Princeton Tigers on Saturday in a 13-10 defensive battle. Yale moves to 7-2 (5-1 Ivy) with an Ivy Championship and FCS appearance on the line in The Game.

12 first downs, 13 points and 273 yards of total offense won’t win many contests but luckily the Bulldogs’ offense was bailed out by the defense. The offensive line struggled to create holes at times with just 3.2 yards per carry and allowed 3 sacks on the afternoon. Pitsenberger still managed to rack up 106 rushing yards and a touchdown but fought for every inch against a stingy Princeton defense. Dante Reno was inconsistent in the passing game with an intercepted pass to Brown thrown into tight coverage and held onto the ball without finding an open receiver on too many occasions. One of Reno’s two interceptions was a catchable pass to Wagner who did not time his jump perfectly and tipped the ball to a Princeton defender. Brown had another impressive performance with 102 receiving yards on just 5 catches. Santiago had 35 receiving yards and broke tackles on a key 24-yard reception to keep a drive alive. Offensive playcalling left much to be desired particularly on third downs where the Bulldogs converted on just 3 of 11 attempts. Penn exposed cracks in Harvard’s defense, but vast improvements will need to be made offensively this week to give Yale any hope against the Crimson.

Yale’s defense held firm throughout limiting Princeton to 313 yards of total offense and forced two critical turnovers that changed the outcome of the contest. Grant had another fantastic day at linebacker with 13 tackles to lead the Bulldogs. Kamara was all over the field in typical fashion with 10 tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. Kamara also applied pressure on Princeton’s quarterback to force an interception that killed Princeton’s hopes. Tarver bounced back from the Brown contest with a tremendous showing with tight coverage and an interception. Webster had a few nice pass breakups but also had some coverage lapses at times. Eastep and Schmidt were not as crisp as we’ve seen from them over the past few weeks as Eastep missed an early sack (cleaned up by Kamara) and Schmidt was burned on a 4^th down pass. The defensive line was very effective with constant pressure on Princeton which led to six sacks. Larry led with 1.5 sacks while Jackson-Bass and Austin each notched a sack a piece. Tate and Yang added half a sack each to the total. Mack Johnson came up with one of the best plays of the day on a forced fumble that stalled a promising Princeton drive. Shaber racked up 5 tackles and a key tackle for loss. There’s room for improvement defensively as quarterback runs and screens still plague the Elis. Princeton was able to convert on all three fourth down attempts and held the ball for over 34 minutes of the game.

Piper proved to be a difference maker in the contest with two field goals made from 37 yards out. Keeney averaged 45.0 yards per punt in a solid outing. Aside from Schutzman drawing a penalty for jumping on a downed defender, execution on special teams was strong.