The Bulldogs fell to the Big Green 24-17 in overtime on Saturday in a barnburner of a game. Although it was a painful loss, the silver lining of the weekend is that we can compete with top tier teams in the Ivy League and we are just a few plays shy of 4-0.
Yale led Dartmouth in time of possession (34:38 vs. 25:21), generated more total offense (314 yards vs. 277 yards), and was better on third down conversions (7 of 18 vs. 3 of 12). The key differentiators leading to the Dartmouth victory were a fumble lost, a missed field goal, a dropped pass in scoring territory, 5 first downs on penalties for the Big Green and the inability to score in the redzone (1 of 3 vs. 3 of 3).
The offensive line did a phenomenal job in pass protection giving O’Connor ample time to find his receivers. There were struggles in run blocking however that led to an average of just 2.8 yards per carry. O’Connor had a solid contest completing 66.7% of his passes for 194 yards and a touchdown. Grooms was perfect on his two attempts for 37 yards and a touchdown. It was tough sledding all around in the run game especially for Grooms who netted just 1 yard on 5 carries. The receivers as a whole showed improvement while battling against a solid secondary hauling in 30 receptions for 231 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense far exceeded our expectations and played a nearly flawless second half. Without the targeting call against Owens in the waning minutes, this game could have turned into a win for the Bulldogs. It was especially sad for Owens as he clearly had no intent of creating helmet-to-helmet contact but there is simply no wiggle room for the referees to side with a defender if any contact is observed. The fact that Owens cannot play in the first half of the UCONN game just adds insult to injury. The NCAA really needs to refine the targeting penalty and include the option of a 15-yard penalty without ejection in circumstances such as this. Awodiran had perhaps his best performance of his career with 10 crucial tackles. Dean and Owens were all over the field each notching 7 tackles. Sampleton had a better game than he did against Lehigh recording the only sack of the contest. If the defense maintains this physicality and consistency throughout the remainder of this season, this could be Reno’s best defense to date.
Bosman had a great day as a punter averaging 42.8 yards per punt yet his missed field goal at the end of the second half unfortunately overshadowed his punting success.
This week the Bulldogs will travel to UCONN to renew the rivalry with the Huskies. This is the final non-conference game of the season and should be every bit as tough as the Dartmouth contest.
25 replies on “Notes on the Loss to Dartmouth”
I’m over it, I’m over Yale Football, wake me up . When Vicky Chun leaves or better yet fired.!!
The players are the ones who deserve our support.
They do, to bad they have VC and the tyrant
I actually went through withdrawals, not being able to attend practices, really messed with my head.
Then being denied to bring in items, food , drink, then not being able to go to your car. Or if you do leave , you can’t come back. So I hear you. What Once was, will never be again. Now I’m one Of those old farts , who says I remember when. Well that’s what I prefer to be.
To Hell with everything all a new . It’s tainted and corrupt.
I periodically look at the comments on this site. Can the people who have nothing but repetitive gripes please give it a rest.?
Nope.!!
JKR, what’s up .? If you add a e in those initials . You can spell JERK. How ironic
Too much pessimism. Yale has lost 2 of its first 4 games, each one involving a late field goal. And the two losses were against the two best teams they’ve played so far.
The key to any season is the ability of the coaches and the players to come together and improve as the season goes on. Yale still has a chance to do that.
Our running attack is virtually nonexistent. We need a beast who can block as well as power through the cracks occasionally opened by our OL. Put Zion Dayne into the backfield either alone or with one our TBs. Dayne played a lot of fullback, and he’s not slow. Zane and Dayne. Sounds good.
GOOD IDEA WITH ZION DAYNE IN THE BACKFIELD. HE COULD OPEN HOLES FOR THE RUNNING BACKS. ALSO, HE WOULD BE A LOAD TO TACKLE AND TO BRING DOWN!
I never recalled bringing food or drink into the Bowl – I had enough tailgating! And I can’ think of why I would want to go back to my car.
Well good for YOU.!! This is your experience, if you were around before icky Chun. You would have had a much better experience. Than from what it is now. BTB was wonderful and free. Now it feels like a Kulag.!!
BTW, THE YALE 2 DEEP ROSTER CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE FOOTBALL NOTES FOR SATURDAYS AGAINST UCONN.
Pls direct me where I can locate this information – much appreciated
I’ve been told Cahill reads this blog and has a good laugh at all of the “Anonymous” comments. Keyboard courage and heavy drinking behind those posts
Of course he does Dumberry.. he gets a good laugh.
What is said on this blog about the offense is true. Will Yale change the offense no. What you see is what you get. With this offense for sat game i see a score of 28 to 19 Uconn. Putting Dayne in the backfield is a good idea that would help the offense with the running game.Look a lot of us are old timers we like three yards and a cloud of dust. and a little creativity . We have the players on offense to do this.God we have nine RB let Grooms run the wishbone or go to the power I.Yale take a chance whats it going to hurt.Are time is running out make us old Yale fans happy respect are wishes take a chance you will be surprised..with the outcome.
News Sean Sullivan and Cubby Schuller starting sat
Gargiulo injured against Dartmouth.
“Are time is running out”. Very profound
It’s done
When will Gargiulo be back?
To return to my screed on RBs and Zion Dayne. We have nine RBs on the roster and, in terms of their presumably exaggerated dimensions, there’s little to choose from. They all claim to be about 5’10″/ 195 lbs with decent speed (no Blurs) and decent power (no Tyler Vargas, but he was an incomparable talent).
Are we in a RB recruiting rut??? Throw away the mold. We really need a RB who can blast through the front four, hold his own against the LBs ,and punish the final four, either trampling them or dragging them for another few yards. Where is he? At the moment he’s on the bench.
An old Yale song about UConn
file:///var/mobile/Library/SMS/Attachments/64/04/639DCD66-11AD-4066-97F1-FA9DFD30A874/imagejpeg_0.jpg
Lyrics to the song:
Harvard men have higher s.a.t.s
And the Princeton campus has lots of trees
Dartmouth men know about the birds and bees,
And uconn players know their abcs
But Yale’s got a better football team