Yale Football Blog

Here are the Yalies that were honored by the Ivy League:

Zane Dudek-Rookie of the Year (unanimous)

Jon Bezney-1st Team All Ivy OL

Karl Marback-1st Team All Ivy OL

Zane Dudek-1st Team All Ivy RB (unanimous)

Jaeden Graham-1st Team All Ivy TE

John Herubin-1st Team All Ivy DL

Matthew Oplinger-1st Team All Ivy LB (unanimous)

Hayden Carlson-1st Team All Ivy DB

Spencer Rymiszewski-1st Team All Ivy DB

Anders Huizenga-2nd Team All Ivy OL

Sterling Strother-2nd Team All Ivy OL

Christopher Williams-Lopez-2nd Team All Ivy WR

Charles Callender-2nd Team All Ivy DL

Kyle Mullen-2nd Team All Ivy DL

Foyesade Oluokun-2nd Team All Ivy LB

Alex Galland-2nd Team All Ivy Punter

Dieter Eiselen-HM All Ivy OL

Kurt Rawlings-HM All Ivy QB

Deshawn Salter-HM All Ivy RB

Malcolm Dixon-HM All Ivy DB

Jason Alessi-HM All Ivy DB

 

 

Rookie of the Year: Zane Dudek

Offensive Lineman of the Year: Jon Bezney

Receiver/TE of the Year: Christopher Williams-Lopez

QB/RB of the Year: Kurt Rawlings

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Kyle Mullen

Linebacker of the Year: Matthew Oplinger

Defensive Back of the Year: Hayden Carlson

Special Teams Player of the Year: Andrew Johnson

MVP: Kurt Rawlings

Coach of the Year: Tony Reno

The Bulldogs dominated the Crimson 24-3 on Saturday to claim the outright Ivy League Championship.

Harvard came out in the first quarter with a solid offensive game plan to spread the field and get the ball in Shelton-Mosley’s hands as often as possible.  The Crimson were able to march into Yale territory before our defense stiffened and held them to just a field goal.  That would be Harvard’s lone score of the afternoon.

Harvard’s defense found a way to slow Dudek, but committing the resources to stop Dudek left the Harvard secondary vulnerable.  Rawlings threw a few shaky passes early in the contest, but was able to settle down and finished the day an efficient 18/27 for 177 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.  In comparison, Harvard’s two quarterbacks threw for a meager 138 yards combined, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Shohfi, Drwal, Siragusa and Williams-Lopez had clutch performances at the receiver position.  Shohfi’s 46 yard reception followed by his spectacular touchdown grab were easily the offensive highlights of the game.  The offensive line was fantastic in pass protection giving Rawlings just enough time to deliver strikes.  Harvard would only sack Rawlings twice in the contest.

The muddy conditions of the field turned the game into a defensive chess match.  Harvard QB Jake Smith caused two turnovers on option plays with his wild pitches at the worst moments.  One of the fumbles was picked up by Malcolm Dixon and returned 19 yards for a touchdown.  Hunter Roman fell on the second fumble to set up Yale in Crimson territory.  The Bulldog defense battered Smith for three quarters, before Tim Murphy decided to yank Smith for his Senior QB Joe Viviano.  Viviano’s first series would end in a turnover on downs, his second series would end with a Carlson interception and his third series would end in a Henson interception.  It was a senior sack affair on Saturday.  Oplinger topped off his stellar career with another two sacks, Herubin added one and a half sacks, Oluokun and Carlson each had one sack and Chism finished with half a sack.  Awodiran was all over the field and will be a cornerstone of the linebackers next season.  This was truly a team effort on defense with too many contributors to list them all.  This Yale defense will go down in history as one of the greatest in the conference.

Kyle Mullen has been elected captain of next year’s squad.  We will be posting our post-season awards and a look ahead to the future in the coming days.

For God, For Country and For Yale

2017 Ivy League Champions

The Game is just days away and Harvard is the final obstacle in the quest for an outright title.  Expect the Harvard squad that beat Dartmouth and Columbia to show up at The Bowl on Saturday.  You can watch the game on CNBC or the Ivy League Network at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Harvard enters the contest at 5-4 overall and 3-3 in league play with losses to Cornell, Princeton and Penn.  The Harvard offense struggled in each of those conference losses averaging just over 12 points per game.  The quarterback position has been an area of concern for the Crimson as Murphy started Viviano last week and pulled him late in the game in favor of Freshman Jake Smith.  Smith leads Harvard in passing this season with 88 completions for 1071 yards, but also tossed 9 interceptions and only 5 touchdowns.  Viviano has struggled since the middle of last season throwing just 3 touchdowns this fall.  Fortunately for the Harvard quarterbacks, they are loaded with talent at the running back and wide receiver positions.  RB Charlie Booker has run for a net of 733 yards on 141 rushes, while Freshman RB Aaron Shampklin has racked up 326 yards.  Booker is fast and hard to bring down on initial contact.  Harvard’s offense is dangerous when Booker starts tiring out defenders and opens up the passing lanes.  WR Justice Shelton-Mosley is one of the most talented receivers in the league and by far the best returner.  His fellow wide receivers Adam Scott and Henry Taylor are both speed demons that can torch defenses.  Harvard always seems to have a solid tight end and Senior Ryan Antonellis fills that role this year.

Aside from a disaster against Princeton, Harvard’s defense has been strong all season.  Senior LB and Captain Luke Hutton has racked up a whopping 73 tackles.  Senior Safety Tanner Lee leads the secondary with 50 tackles and 3 interceptions.  Our offensive line will have to figure out how to block the Crimson’s defensive front featuring playmakers such as Stone Hart and DJ Bailey.  Hart and Bailey both have 4 sacks on the season, although Bailey did not play last week against Penn.  DT Richie Ryan has been a force all season amassing 39 tackles and 3 sacks.  Senior LB Alex White leads all Crimson defenders with 4.5 sacks.

Kick and punt coverage this week will be vital to securing a victory as Shelton-Mosley poses a larger threat than Princeton’s Tiger Bech.

Keys to Victory:

• Force Harvard to throw the ball early
• Make Murphy second guess himself
• Put aside the emotions from last week and focus on this game
• Pick apart the Crimson secondary
• Limit missed tackles on special teams

With the four point win over Princeton on Saturday, Yale clinched at least a share of the Ivy League Championship.  This was a rivalry game for the ages featuring two potent offenses firing on all cylinders.

Coming into the contest, we had a feeling Kanoff was going to have a big game, but no one thought he would put up over 450 passing yards on the top defense.  Princeton WR Tiger Bech caught 6 passes for 175 yards, WR Jesper Horsted caught 6 passes for 128 yards and WR Stephen Carlson added another 74 yards receiving.  Despite the yardage, Kanoff’s completion percentage was a low 56% as the Yale defense affected his rhythm and Princeton wideouts dropped a few balls.   We bottled up Princeton’s running game by limiting Volker to just 29 yards.  Everything seemed to go wrong for our defense during the first half.  The pass rush was not generating enough pressure, the defensive backs were yards behind Princeton receivers, and tackling was downright atrocious.  TE Jaeden Graham’s 58 yard touchdown reception and Princeton’s fumble on their opening drive of the second half shifted the momentum in favor of the Bulldogs.

After the Princeton fumble, Rawlings threw a perfect 33 yard touchdown pass to Senior WR Ross Drwal to put the Elis within a field goal of the Tigers.  From that point on, the offense leaned on the bruisers up front to pave holes for Dudek and burn time off the clock.  Dudek was a workhorse running for 180 yards on 35 carries.  Rouse carried the ball twice for 26 yards including an electric 21 yard dash.  After the 24-7 start to the game, Rawlings went on to complete 15 of his next 16 passes to finish up 26 for 34 for 304 yards and two touchdowns.  Graham led the team in receiving yards with 87 followed by Williams-Lopez with 73.

The Bulldogs did not sack Kanoff once during the game, but Oplinger’s pressure on Princeton’s final offensive play caused an errant pass that wound up in Oluokun’s hands.  Oplinger finished the day with 10 total tackles followed by Hayden Carlson who had 8 tackles and two very important pass breakups.

Galland was perfect on extra points, but missed a tough 44 yard field goal in crunch time.  Kick coverage was poor once again and Princeton’s Tiger Bech had multiple opportunities to return kicks for touchdowns.

Congratulations to Yale players, coaches and parents on the championship run!

There’s just one more goal to accomplish: Beat Harvard!

Yale travels to Princeton, New Jersey this week to take on the 5-3 Princeton Tigers at 1 PM ET on Saturday.  You can catch the game on Eleven Sports or the Ivy League Network.

Trying to limit Princeton’s offense will be the toughest challenge our defense has faced all season.  Senior QB Chad Kanoff has completed over 74% of his passes for 2,576 yards, 22 touchdowns and only 7 interceptions.  Princeton’s offensive line is great in pass protection and Kanoff has had ample time to pick apart opposing defenses.  Kanoff prefers throwing to receivers running short and medium length routes.  WR Jesper Horsted has had a phenomenal year with 74 catches for 929 yards and 10 touchdowns.  Horsted’s fellow WR Stephen Carlson is a big target at 6-4, 225 lbs. and has 723 receiving yards on the season.  RB Charlie Volker hits the hole hard and fast, but lacks the vision to be an elite back in this conference.  Penn let Princeton get back into the game last week with turnovers and a botched punt that allowed the Tigers to start their drives in Quaker territory.  Princeton’s offense likes to march down the field methodically, so pinning them deep in their own territory will be crucial to winning this game.

Princeton’s defense has suffered through an injury-plagued season, but they still have the talent to stifle a stale offense.  Penn ripped Princeton’s defense last week completing 17 of 20 passes and had two backs rush for over 100 yards each.  Yale should be able to wear out this front seven and get the ball rolling in the ground game.  LB Thomas Johnson is a speedy defender that can run down plays on the backside and has racked up 70 tackles on the season.  DL Kurt Holuba is dominant along the defensive front for Princeton, but did not play last week at Penn.  Freshman CB CJ Wall leads the Tigers with 3 interceptions thus far.  Yale needs to score early and often on this Princeton defense to stay in the game.

Keys to the Game:

• Bend, but don’t break on defense
• Establish the running game to burn the clock
• Key on Horsted and Carlson in pass coverage
• Pin Princeton deep on special teams
• Make Kanoff uncomfortable in the pocket

The Bulldogs rolled to a 34-7 victory over Brown at the Yale Bowl on Friday night claiming the top spot in the Ivy League race.

The offensive line did a fabulous job opening holes for RB Zane Dudek who finished with 165 yards and 3 touchdowns on only 13 rushes.  Melvin Rouse was also utilized as a running back early on (3 carries, 8 yards) and Michael Purvey came in to relieve Dudek.  Purvey had a few nice runs and nearly broke off a long touchdown as he gained 72 yards on the evening.  Unfortunately, OT Jon Bezney appeared to have injured his knee when a Brown defender fell on the side of his leg.  Freshman Cameron Warfield filled Bezney’s spot and did an excellent job.

Rawlings was deadly accurate in the contest going 17 for 25 for 294 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Shohfi led the wideouts this week with 107 yards and 2 touchdowns.  With Shohfi’s blend of size, speed and catching ability, he will likely be the #1 WR for the Bulldogs next season.  TE Jaeden Graham had another fine outing hauling in 5 catches for 82 yards.

The defensive line and linebackers dominated Brown’s offense limiting them to only 235 yards in the contest.  Brown was just 2 of 16 on third down conversions.  QB Thomas Linta took a beating from our defenders and although he was only sacked twice, the hits led to interceptions, poor throws and an intentional grounding penalty.  Players such as Keeler, Oluokun, Rymiszewski, Mullen, Chism, Roman and others smashed Linta.  WR Jakob Prall was one of the lone bright spots for Brown as he had 4 catches for 84 yards.  The young defensive back collection of Henson, Dixon, Peggs and Alburg played well despite a few blown coverages.  Rymiszewski and Alessi both had interceptions that were demoralizing for Brown’s offense.  Oluokun was all over the field and Carlson continues to impress us every week with his playmaking abilities.

Our luck on two point conversions could not last forever.  Johnson’s attempt to catch Brown sleeping after the opening score was clearly an error.  It’s hard to surprise a team with a two point conversion attempt after displaying it on film multiple times.  Galland had a solid day kicking and punting the ball.  Alessi made two questionable decisions during punt returns.  On one punt, he decided not to fair catch the ball and it bounced for twenty extra yards and on another play, he called for a fair catch inside of the 10 yard line.  We can beat Brown with these little mistakes, but to beat Princeton and Harvard we need to clean things up this week in practice.