Cornell Notes

The Bulldogs fell to the Big Red on Saturday in a disappointing 21-23 contest to open the Ivy season. Yale is now 0-2 heading into another tough game versus Morgan State.

While the poor weather conditions were a factor, the offense never quite found the consistency needed to secure a win. The offensive line was unable to control the linebackers in the run game and struggled against the blitzes and stunts in pass blocking. There were flashes of Grooms’ dominance, but Cornell was able to neutralize him as he finished with just 129 passing yards (38.9% completion rate), 76 rushing yards, 2 passing TDs, and an interception. Much of the blame lies with the offensive coaching staff who have failed to put Grooms in good positions on short and medium passing plays. Far too often the offense fell into the stale rhythm of seasons past with short runs up the middle and low probability shots downfield to stall drives. The running back duo of Peterson and Alston did not find much success against a stingy front seven of Cornell. Pitsenberger was sorely missed in the running game as was Pantelis in the passing game. Tipton and Nenad made the most out of their targets each with a long touchdown reception. The Grooms to Tipton touchdown on 4th and 20 was a phenomenal play that will be overshadowed by the loss. The offense still has the pieces in place to succeed but the mental mistakes and poor play calling need to be cleaned up with haste.

The starting defensive line was shuffled with Jordan and Gulley at defensive tackles and Patterson and McDonough at ends. The defense had a strong showing on the first drive capped off by a nice stop by McDonough on 3^rd down. Cornell was able to expose cracks in the defense on the second drive as they marched downfield methodically before a jarring hit from Vaughn forced a fumble that Yale recovered. Patterson played well but no other defensive lineman has become an every-down nuisance for opponents. Egodogbare appeared to be suited up on the sidelines, so hopefully his return can be expected at some point this season. Vaughn led in tackles with 12 and was a bright spot for the defense. Moore has had a rough start to a season in which he was expected to dominate. Baker made a few nice plays splitting time with Ayo-Durojaiye. The secondary was picked apart once again and became thinner with an injury to Hickey that left him on crutches. Freshman Brandon Webster filled in for Hickey and was no match for Cornell’s talented wideouts. Guyton or Da’Quan Gonzales would have seemed to be natural replacements for Hickey if healthy. The safety position seemed to be in constant flux with Reno assessing various athletes such as Daniyan, Haaland and Joseph Gonzales in the wake of Benn’s injury in Week 1. Tarver will need to show massive improvement at the other safety slot to build the defense’s confidence. Yale will not win contests with receivers slicing through the secondary and backs cutting through wide rushing lanes. Only two of eleven starters on defense, Patterson and Vaughn, have performed close to expectations thus far into the season.

Bosman missed two critical field goals that could have swayed the contest in Yale’s favor. This was truly a team loss with the offense, defense, and special teams all failing to perform.