Yale Football Blog

Yale hosts the Brown Bears tomorrow night at 8 PM ET at the Bowl.  You can watch the game live on television on NBC Sports Network.

Brown enters the contest at 2-5 overall and 0-4 in the Ivy League as the sole Ivy League squad that has been mathematically eliminated from earning a share of the title.  Last week, Brown dropped a home game to Penn 17-7, but was able to find success on defense in the second half.  On Penn’s first offensive play of the game, Brown committed a cardinal sin as they did not cover Justin Watson.  Watson snagged the ball and ran untouched all the way to pay dirt.  Midway through the first period, Watson would score again to make it 14-0.  From that point on, Brown played stingy defense and outscored Penn 7-3, yet it was not enough to mount a comeback.

Nicholas Duncan started at QB for the Bears last week and went 13/25 for a paltry 89 yards.  Connecticut native Thomas Linta is slated to start this week and leads the Bears in total passing for the season with 59 completions for 677 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Linta was able to move the ball effectively on the Elis last year in a sloppy loss to Brown.  Freshman Darius Daies leads Brown’s rushing attack and has gained 244 yards on just 48 rushes.  Jakob Prall and Jaelon Blandburg are sure-handed wideouts that have 383 yards and 213 yards receiving respectively for the season.  LJ Harriott is a talented athlete that can play Wildcat QB, RB or WR.  Harriott torched us last year on a long run, so containing him will be an emphasis this week.  Brown utilizes a fast paced spread offense with various trick plays to keep defenses honest.  Screens, reverses, double passes and fake field goals should be expected.  With Phil Estes on the hot seat currently, expect him to pull out all the stops to try to beat Yale.

On defense, DE Dewey Jarvis is the star of the show.  Jarvis has 49 tackles, 6 sacks, and 4 forced fumbles on the season.  The defensive line is solid all around with DT Michael Hoecht (25 tackles, 2 sacks) and DE Keegan O’Hern (17 tackles, 4 sacks) constantly disrupting plays.  Connor Coughlin is a talented free safety, but overall the linebackers and defensive backs should be exploited by the high-powered Yale offense.  This is a Brown defense that gave up 45 points to Harvard, 53 points to Princeton and 34 points to Cornell.  The recent defensive success versus Penn cannot be overlooked, but Reno needs to find the weak spots and get the offense rolling early against Brown.

Keys to the Game:

• Contain Dewey Jarvis
• Continue dominating on the defensive front
• Play sound defense in the secondary with an eye out for gimmick plays
• Get Rawlings in rhythm early
• Convert on field goals and extra points

The Bulldogs utilized a lethal rushing attack and a swarming defense to stuff the Lions 23-6 at the Bowl on Saturday.

The defensive line and linebackers punished Columbia’s offense all day.  Defensive Coordinator Sean McGowan used creative blitzes to constantly bring pressure against Anders Hill.  Hill was a beaten and battered man by the end of the game.  Even after scoring a touchdown following a rough goal line series, one could tell from Hill’s body language that he looked defeated.  Oplinger added 1.5 sacks to his season total, Callender notched one sack and Roman was credited with half a sack.  The interior defensive linemen were the unsung heroes of the game as they ran stunts to perfection to free up the ends and linebackers.  Rymiszewski did not play, but the youngsters Henson, Dixon and Alburg stepped up to fill the void.  The defensive backfield did not have their best performance of the season with receivers beating us deep and numerous pass interference penalties.  Columbia simply could not capitalize on the mistakes made in the secondary to keep the game close.

The offensive line of Strother, Marback, Eiselen, Huizenga, and Bezney bulldozed the Columbia front seven leading to 251 rushing yards on the day.  Dudek rushed 25 times for 173 yards, Salter rushed 12 times for 60 yards and Rawlings added another 16 yards.  Dudek made Columbia’s safeties and linebackers look silly in the open field.  Salter appeared to go down with an arm or shoulder injury in the fourth quarter after being driven into the turf.  Williams-Lopez and Dudek led the team in receiving yards with 60 yards and 45 yards respectively.  Rawlings managed the game to perfection, but his throws were off for most of the contest in the strong wind present at the Bowl.  Rawlings finished just 10/27 for 127 yards, one touchdown and one interception.  The interception was an underthrown ball to Graham who had a step on the defender.  The receiving corps aside from Williams-Lopez did not have a strong game as they ran sloppy routes and dropped passes.

Andrew Johnson made another terrific call on the fake field goal and did his best Tim Tebow impersonation to rush up field and deliver a perfect touchdown pass to Graham.  The two blocked field goals were ugly and kick coverage still remains shaky.

Yale has a short week to prepare for the Friday night contest versus the Brown Bears on NBCSN at 8 PM ET.

The Columbia Lions will travel to New Haven this week for a 1 PM game against our Bulldogs.  You can catch the game on the Ivy League Network or SNY TV.

Al Bagnoli has turned Columbia around in just two years and the Lions are vying for their first Ivy League title since 1961.  This is a must win game for Yale as a loss will make it difficult (although not impossible) to win the Ivy League Championship.

This Columbia squad is not composed of world beaters and top recruits as elated Columbia fans will try to tell you.  They have a great coaching staff, a solid quarterback, fast wideouts and a stingy defense, yet they do have chinks in the armor.  Senior QB Anders Hill and Sophomore WR Josh Wainwright are the top playmakers for the Lions.  Hill has completed 66% of his passes and averages roughly 277 passing yards per game.  Wainwright has 46 receptions for 637 yards and fellow WR Ronald Smith has 418 yards on the season, but did not play last week.  Dartmouth was not able to register a single sack on Hill.  That will change with the pressure the Elis will bring.  Columbia has not been particularly effective at running the ball with a net of only 738 rushing yards on the season.

Senior Defensive Back Ryan Gilbert leads the Columbia defense with 52 total tackles and his fellow classmate and DB Landon Baty has racked up 48 tackles.  That is a total of 100 tackles between two defensive backs with only 1 interception combined.  The defensive backs are clearly coming up for run support and hoping that their corners can lockdown their opponent’s top wide receiver.  They haven’t faced a well rounded receiving corps such as Yale’s that also features a deadly rushing attack.  Columbia has only accumulated 6 sacks on the season or 1 per game, so Rawlings should have ample time to read the defense and deliver a strike.

Keys to the game:

• Hit Anders Hill
• Key on Wainwright
• Get the ground game going to open the passing game
• Secure the football
• Cut down on penalties
• Execute on special teams

When Tre Solomon scored on the Bulldogs with 9:03 left in the 4th quarter, most of us had flashbacks of the Dartmouth game slipping away.  Rawlings and company were able to come alive and drive down the field to score, while the defense stuffed the Quakers effectively ending any hopes of another Ivy title in Philadelphia.

Penalties and turnovers crippled Yale all day.  Rawlings, Rouse and Dudek fumbled during the game and each turnover seemed to change the momentum of the contest.  Yale was penalized 9 times for 86 yards on Saturday with a questionable celebration call on Crowle leading to points and other offensive penalties stalling drives from the start.

The defensive line and linebackers played up to expectations.  DE Hunter Roman had his best performance of the season with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for loss.  DT Copache Tyler and DE Kyle Mullen were unblockable as usual.  Herubin, Matthaei, Crowle, Chism and Keeler all excelled as well.  Oluokun and Oplinger were typically the constants at linebacker, while Meder, Dean, Balter, and Burke rotated in.  Oluokun had a huge day with 10 tackles, a forced fumble, 2 sacks and 3 tackles for loss.  Alessi, Carlson and Rymiszewski looked solid in the secondary.  Dixon and Henson were torched at times by Justin Watson, but showed grit to hang in there and improve as the game went on.  Deep passes are still an area of concern as Penn dropped 1-2 touchdowns that could have swayed the outcome of the game.

There was penetration into the backfield at times and a few big hits were put on Rawlings, but fans seemed to be pleased with the performance of the offensive line overall.  Penn only notched 2 sacks all day and we were able to shut down DE Vecchio for most of the game.  Rawlings seemed to force a few balls into bad spots early on, yet didn’t throw an interception and marched the Elis downfield for victory when it mattered.  Shohfi led the wideouts with 4 catches for 68 yards.  Dudek and Salter ran for 103 yards and 77 yards respectively.  Rawlings added another 37 yards on the ground most of which came in critical situations.

Galland had another solid outing with a 35 yard field goal.  Coach Reno and Coach Rice need to be commended for that gutsy two point conversation call!

The Bulldogs will be traveling to the City of Brotherly Love this weekend to take on the Penn Quakers at 1 PM ET on Saturday.  You can watch the game on the Ivy League Network or NBC Sports Philly.

Penn is sitting at 0-2 in the Ivy League after last minute scores by both Dartmouth and Columbia in their first two conference games.  This is a tough and talented team that will not quit.  With a few different bounces of the ball, this team could be 2-0 and in contention for another Ivy League title.

On offense, Karekin Brooks, Tre Solomon and Justin Watson are the stars of the show.  Sophomore RB Karekin Brooks leads Penn with 586 yards rushing as Brooks filled in for Senior RB Tre Solomon while he was out with an injury.  Solomon was back in the lineup last week and split carries with Brooks.  These backs are fast and hard to bring down on initial contact.  Senior WR Justin Watson is arguably the top player in the Ivy League.  Watson is off to another explosive start to the season with 34 receptions for 467 yards and 7 touchdowns.  Senior QB Will Fischer-Colbrie has an adequate arm and can run when he has to with 2 rushing touchdowns on the season, but he is no Alek Torgersen.  Fischer-Colbrie was 14 of 25 for 186 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions against Columbia.  In Penn’s loss to Dartmouth, Fischer-Colbrie only threw for 158 yards.

Penn’s defense always shows up to play against Yale.  Junior LB Nick Miller is an early candidate for Defensive Player of the Year with the stats he is piling up.  Miller currently has 56 tackles, 2 sacks and 2 INT’s.  Senior LB Colton Moskal has been a dominant player in the conference over the last couple of seasons and is the heart of the defense.  Senior Defensive End Louis Vecchio is the leader of the defensive line and has two sacks currently.  Those who remember the nightmare that was the Night at the Bowl last year can recall Vecchio wreaking havoc on our offensive line.  The secondary is not on the same level as last year’s Penn squad and gave up a number of big passing plays to Lehigh and Columbia.

Keys to the Game:

• Slow down WR Justin Watson
• Pick Penn’s secondary apart
• Contain Penn’s defensive front and get blockers to the second level
• Play smashmouth football

The Elis are sitting at 4-1 after a huge 32-0 victory over Holy Cross on Saturday at the Bowl.  The Crusaders had not been shut out since 2004 and Holy Cross swiftly fired its coach Tom Gilmore following the contest.

The defense had its best showing of the year limiting pro prospect Pujals to only 89 passing yards on the day.  This was truly a shocker as Yale’s secondary has struggled with injuries and added yet another one as Malcolm Dixon went down in the first half with an arm injury.  Jaelin Alburg, Marquise Peggs and Spencer Rymiszewski did not play and Brian Sykes came in to relieve the ailing Dixon.  Freshman Deonte Henson started at corner while his fellow classmate Micah Awodiran got another start at linebacker.  Ronnie Meder and Jarrett Balter rotated in at linebacker and both played their best games to date.  Matthaei started at defensive tackle with Copache Tyler out of the lineup.  The defensive line just bullied Holy Cross all day allowing Oplinger to rack up three sacks and a safety.  Sophomore Josh Keeler got his first sack of the season and Julian Fraser made an appearance on the defensive front.  Alessi and Carlson had great performances at safety.  Carlson is easily the most underrated star of the defense with countless touchdown saving tackles over the last three seasons.  He saved another touchdown on Saturday by chasing down Holy Cross’ kick returner.

The special teams units for the most part were solid on Saturday.  Galland had a nice 39 yard field goal, but would later miss an extra point.  Kick coverage is still an area of concern due to players not breaking down when trying to tackle the returners.  Tuckerman saved a touchdown with a nice tackle and to add insult to injury, Holy Cross’ return man was shaken up on the play.

Our offense was too much for Holy Cross to handle, but we still must improve to beat Penn this week.  Rawlings missed Siragusa and Graham on passes in the first half due to late deliveries.  Rawlings also threw a beautiful pass to Siragusa that was dropped, but Siragusa would make up for it with 98 yards and two touchdowns on the day.  It was nice to see Klubnik and Drwal out there snagging balls.  There were too many running plays that went for no gain or short gains.  Salter only averaged 2.6 yards per attempt on the day as defenders would often hit him the backfield.  Rawlings was drilled on a couple of pass attempts, but the pass blocking did look much improved from last week.

The coaching staff deserves high praise this week for bouncing back with a resounding victory.

Yale will host the 2-4 Holy Cross Crusaders on Saturday at 1 PM ET.  You can catch the game on the Ivy League Network at that time.  Holy Cross lost an overtime thriller to Dartmouth three weeks ago after electing to go for a two point conversion for the win instead of kicking the extra point.

Holy Cross has had a disappointing mid-season stretch with three straight losses after a promising start to the season.  In the season opener, Holy Cross lost to UCONN by only a touchdown and would go on to demolish Bucknell and New Hampshire in weeks 2 and 3.  Since the Dartmouth loss, Holy Cross has dropped two straight home games to Lafayette (10-7) and Monmouth (48-36).

Keys to Victory:

• Stay aggressive

Dartmouth’s historic comeback last week may not have occurred if we did not take our foot off the pedal in the third quarter.  This week we need to put points on the board in a hurry and keep throwing downfield until time expires.  Holy Cross has the offensive firepower to erase a huge deficit in minutes. C-Lo and TE Jaeden Graham have been phenomenal this season and we need to keep feeding them the rock to keep Holy Cross’ defense honest.

• Shore up the secondary

Holy Cross QB Peter Pujals threw for over 500 yards last week to 13 different players.  We can expect to see the Crusaders target our secondary after the dismal defensive back play in the second half of the Dartmouth loss.  The secondary needs to regroup this week to have any chance of making a run at the Ivy title.  The blitzing this week will need to be more creative as the blitzing against Dartmouth put our defensive backs at a disadvantage against talented wideouts.

• Cut the mental mistakes

From high snaps and holding to late hits, penalties killed any chance of clinging onto a win last week.  The offensive line was the biggest offender and crippled several drives with mental errors and penalties.  On defense, personal fouls will need to be cleaned up as Tyler and Balter were cited for such penalties last week.  Rawlings will have to study extra game film to see which routes the Holy Cross cornerbacks like to jump.  Correcting the mistakes starts with the coaching staff, so Reno and company will have their work cut out for them this week.