Yale Football Blog

The Yale Bulldogs held on to defeat the Princeton Tigers on Saturday at the Bowl in a 24-20 contest. The dire weather predictions earlier in the week likely impacted attendance, but the 7,500 faithful fans in the stands were treated to a win for the ages.

Yale’s offensive line paved the way for 297 rushing yards against the top-ranked Ivy League defense. Mendoza was still out with an injury at tackle, but Session stepped up the past two weeks to keep the offensive line stable. Grooms was electrifying as he racked up 152 rushing yards (7.6 yards per carry) and a touchdown on the ground. Through the air, Grooms completed 9 of 19 passes for 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Grooms’ sole touchdown pass came on a beautifully designed play in which Grooms rolled out to his left, planted his feet, and threw the ball across the field to Nenad who outmaneuvered a Tiger defender in tight coverage for the score. The coaches were able to use Princeton’s aggressiveness against them with convincing fakes to Pitsenberger and Peterson that gave Grooms just enough space to make them pay in the running game. With much of the talk this season surrounding Princeton’s Ryan Butler as Rookie of the Year, Pitsenberger made a strong case for the award with 20 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown. Nenad led in receiving yards with 14 while Lindley led in receptions with 3. Tipton was out of the sling and back in action although he was injured again at one point. The wideouts were fantastic in run blocking but will need to eliminate the dropped balls by Brunelle and others this week. Hawes hauled in 2 receptions and was able to bounce back from a brutal hit that dislodged his helmet.

The Bulldogs forced the Tigers to become one dimensional with the complete destruction of their running attack. Princeton managed to gain just 76 rushing yards on 23 rushes for an average of 3.3 yards per rush. Outside of quarterback rushes, the Tigers gained just 13 yards with heralded freshman RB Butler held to .8 yards per carry. Stenstrom was able to pick apart the secondary at times with 367 passing yards and 3 touchdowns, but the corners and safeties were largely able to keep Princeton’s talented receivers in front of them and limit the big scoring plays that plagued Princeton’s previous foes. Vaughn had another stellar game leading all Yale defenders with 9 tackles and providing coverage on the last play of the game. The defensive line dominated at the point of attack in the running game and disrupted Stenstrom at times in the passing game. Gulley and Patterson each notched a sack in the contest. Egodogbare looked like a seasoned veteran at defensive tackle before suffering a serious knee injury. The starting secondary of Owens, Guyton, Ellis and Oldacre held their own against future NFL talent. The coaches continue to gain trust in Gonzales at cornerback with the freshman guarding Classi and Iosivas in some packages. If there were a statistic for momentum swinging plays per snap, surely Brandon Benn would be the team leader in the category. Benn intercepted Stenstrom twice in addition to 4 tackles and a tackle for loss.

Bosman nailed a critical 44-yard field goal and averaged 38.5 yards per punt with 2 punts traveling over 50 yards. Raine blocked an extra point attempt that forced Princeton to try to score a touchdown in the waning seconds rather than taking the easy chip shot of a field goal.

The focus now turns to winning The Game with the Ivy League Championship on the line.

Next up: Harvard

The Bulldogs host the Princeton Tigers on Saturday at the Bowl. Kickoff is set for noon and the game will air on ESPN+. Yale alumni and guests can head to the hospitality village for complimentary food and beverage offerings beginning at 10 AM.

Princeton enters the contest with a perfect 8-0 record and has outscored opponents 239 to 91. Junior QB Blake Stenstrom (6’4”, 225 lbs.) appears to be on his way to a 1^st Team All-Ivy season completing 69.7% of his passes for 2123 yards, 12 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. While Stenstrom truly excels as a passer, he’s a deceptively mobile quarterback in the running game at times. Freshman RB Ryan Butler (5’11”, 225 lbs.) averages 4.3 yards per carry and has racked up a whopping 10 rushing touchdowns on the season. Senior WR Andrei Iosivas (6’3”, 200 lbs.) is a potential NFL draft pick who has hauled in 55 catches for 826 yards and 6 touchdowns. Iosivas is complemented by senior WR Dylan Classi (6’1”, 200 lbs.) who racked up 106 yards versus the Bulldogs a year ago. Senior OL Henry Byrd (6’5”, 310 lbs.) leads a very talented offensive line for the Tigers that has dominated in pass protection for much of the season and opened huge holes in the running game for Butler. The offensive line averages 306 lbs. across the board with 3 seniors, a junior and sophomore. Princeton features the most talented offense that we have faced this season including Holy Cross. Tackling Butler in the running game, pressuring Stenstrom, and keying on Iosivas and Classi in the passing game will be critical this week.

Princeton’s defense has been equally as impressive as the offense. The Tigers have limited opponents to 11 touchdowns and under 35% efficiency on both 3^rd and 4^th downs. Junior LB Liam Johnson (6’0”, 220 lbs.) has racked up 64 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. Junior LB Ozzie Nicholas (6’1”, 225 lbs.) has had a stellar season as well with 51 tackles. Senior DB Michael Ruttlen Jr. (5’9”, 195 lbs.) has been a ball hawk this season with 3 interceptions and picked off Grooms in last season’s contest. Senior DB CJ Wall (6’0”, 205 lbs.) has started since his freshman season and is a former Honorable Mention All-Ivy performer. The defensive line is a veteran unit with 4 senior starters that have disrupted every offensive line that they have faced. Senior DL James Stagg (6’4”, 245 lbs.) leads the defensive line in productivity with 27 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble. Senior DE/OLB Matthew Jester (6’4”, 250 lbs.) and senior DL Uche Ndukwe (6’4”, 270 lbs.) lead Princeton in sacks with 3 apiece. Coach Surace will likely seek to employ the defensive strategies that worked well for the Tigers last year with aggressive blitz packages and a stacked box to force Grooms to unload passes in a hurry. Creative short to medium pass plays will be necessary to keep Princeton’s defense off balance.

Sophomore K Jeffery Sexton (6’1”, 175 lbs.) is 8 of 10 on field goal attempts with a long of 46 yards on the season. Senior P Will Powers (6’2”, 210 lbs.) is averaging 38.8 yards per punt and has pinned opponents in the red zone on 14 occasions. Sophomore WR AJ Barber (5’8”, 170 lbs.) is the preferred punt returner and kick returner averaging 7.8 yards and 21.6 yards respectively.  

Go Bulldogs! Beat the Tigers!

The Elis improved to 6-2 on the season with a 69-17 rout of the Brown Bears. The Bulldogs led by an astonishing score of 52-3 at the break in quite possibly the most dominant first half of football ever played at the Bowl.

The Yale offense built on the momentum established in the 2^nd half of the Columbia contest and was firing on all cylinders on Saturday. Aside from a potential pick six that was dropped by Brown, Grooms was nearly flawless completing 12 of 16 passes for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. The offensive line did not allow a sack and paved the way for 340 rushing yards for an eye-opening 7.4 yards per carry. Session filled in for a possibly dinged up Mendoza at tackle. Peterson rushed 9 times for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns while Pitsenberger added another 93 yards and a touchdown. Pitsenberger was named Ivy League Rookie of the Week following his performance against the Bears. Tutas got in on the action in the 3^rd and 4^th quarters completing his only pass and rushing for 45 yards and a touchdown. Brunelle led in receiving yards with 64 yards and a touchdown. Hawes had a highlight reel catch and run bowling over multiple defenders as he finished with 2 catches for 47 yards and a touchdown. Brown struggled to contain Pantelis and Lindley who combined for another 7 catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. It was a magical day for the Yale offense and hopefully the immense firepower will prove too dangerous for Princeton.

The Bulldogs were able to limit Brown’s high-flying offense to just 274 total yards on the afternoon. The Bears were only able to convert on 5 of 16 third downs and did not convert on their only 4^th down attempt in the first half. Guyton had his best performance of the season tying Ellis for the lead in tackles with 8 and ripping away a possible reception for an interception. Ellis was a monster once again in run support and forced a fumble. Nickerson forced another fumble on his sack that Moore returned for a touchdown. Vaughn intercepted a Brown pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown before half. Raine bullied the interior of Brown’s offensive line racking up 5 tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2 pass breakups. It was odd that the starting secondary remained in for so long into the second half with Oldacre potentially getting banged up on a rough collision. McDonough and Frommer were impressive in second half play. This was exactly the type of defensive performance we needed heading into the most challenging game of the season versus Princeton.

Bosman earned Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week with two 40+ yard field goals, 9 PATs, and 38.3 yards per punt.

Next up: Princeton

The Yale Bulldogs host the Brown Bears on Saturday at the Bowl. Kickoff is slated for noon and the game will air on ESPN+ and NESN.

The Bears enter the contest with a 3-4 record following a shocking upset of Penn in Providence last week. Brown dominated the first half versus Penn to go up 24-7 before Penn clawed back into the contest and took a 4-point lead with 6 minutes left. Brown answered with a touchdown pass with just 1:19 remaining to secure a 34-31 win over the previously unbeaten Quakers. Junior QB Jake Willcox (6’2”, 195 lbs.) started the Penn contest for Brown but left the game with an injured finger. Senior QB Aidan Gilman (6’3”, 220 lbs.) took control of the offense and performed very well completing 22 of 38 passes for 245 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. Brown features an explosive offense with various attack strategies from traditional runs, wildcat QB runs, quick passes to the outside, passes to the running backs, and deeper slants and post routes. Senior RB Allen Smith (5’11”, 205 lbs.) leads the Bears in rushing with 222 yards and 7 touchdowns on the ground. Sophomore RB Jordan DeLucia (5’11”, 215 lbs.) is a tough back to bring down and leads Brown in yards per carry at 4.6. Brown likely has the third best receiving corps in the Ivy League behind Princeton and Yale. Senior WR Wes Rocket (6’0”, 185 lbs.) was a 2^nd Team All-Ivy performer last season and has hauled in 31 receptions for 396 yards and 2 touchdowns. Senior WR Hayes Sutton (6’1”, 200 lbs.) led the Bears in receptions last season and remains Brown’s favorite target this season with 39 receptions for 363 yards and 3 touchdowns. Rounding out the receiving corps is junior Graham Walker (6’3”, 215 lbs.) who was named a Sophomore All-American last season by HERO Sports. The Brown offensive line averages 291 lbs. across the board and has improved tremendously from previous seasons. The Bears’ line is an experienced unit with 4 starters seeing action in 2021. Penn was able to sack Brown quarterbacks 4 times and limited the rushing attack to just 1.9 yards per carry, however, the quick passes that Brown utilizes effectively neutralized the pass rush in most cases. This will be the toughest challenge for our secondary since Week 1 at Holy Cross.

Coach Perry has upgraded the Brown defense, but the Bears have not been consistent enough to shut down offenses for two halves. Penn was limited to just 7 first half points a week ago before posting 24 points in the second half to turn the potential rout into a thriller. The strength of the Bears’ defense lies in the secondary. Senior DB Cooper DeVeau (6’0”, 190 lbs.) and sophomore DB Isaiah Reed (6’0”, 180 lbs.) lead the Ivy League in passes defended with 1.17 per game and 1.14 per game respectively. Reed also leads the team in tackles with 36 total tackles and 2 tackles for loss. Junior LB Isaiah Gamble (6’2”, 230 lbs.) leads the linebackers with 32 tackles but did not participate in the Penn contest. Senior LB Malcom Brunson (6’1”, 225 lbs.) and sophomore LB Kaleb Ross (6’0”, 225 lbs.) have played well combining for 38 total tackles. Senior OLB Junior Gafa (5’10”, 220 lbs.) was a 2^nd Team All-Ivy performer in 2021 who returned from an injury last week to rack up 4 tackles and a sack versus Penn. Brown’s defensive line could be the weakest unit of the team allowing 5.3 yards per rush and only sacking opposing quarterbacks 9 times. Controlling the clock and creating holes for Peterson and Pitsenberger will be crucial to success this week.

Sophomore K Austin Alley (5’10”, 165 lbs.) saw his first collegiate action versus Penn and connected on both field goal attempts of 35 and 27 yards. Senior P Michael Walsh (6’2”, 215 lbs.) is averaging just 32.8 yards per punt on the season yet boomed one punt against Penn for 52 yards. Felton and Lindley should have opportunities for big returns as Penn returned a kickoff for a 97-yard touchdown.

Go Bulldogs! Beat the Bears!

The Yale Bulldogs defeated the Columbia Lions 41-16 on Friday in New York City. The Elis improved to 5-2 on the season and are tied for 2^nd place in the Ivy League heading into a difficult 3 game stretch.

After a disappointing performance versus Penn, the Yale offense exploded for 441 yards. Columbia’s strong run defense limited Yale to 95 rushing yards, but Yale was able to capitalize on opportunities in the passing game to put the contest out of reach. Grooms threw for 346 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions. Although Grooms’ completion percentage was under 50%, several perfectly placed passes were dropped and Grooms made good decisions to throw the ball away under heat. With Tipton out with an injury, the return of Nenad could not have come at a better time. Nenad raced past defenders for 117 yards and a touchdown on 3 receptions. Lindley put on a clinic with 6 receptions for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. Pantelis and Brunelle each hauled in a pass for 33 yards to make up for previous drops in the contest. Grooms did a great job distributing the ball as Hawes, Pitsenberger, Peterson and Shipp all hauled in receptions. Creativity of the play calling was much improved from a week ago especially in the 2^nd half. One example of this was a play in which Grooms sprinted to the side to threaten a run and threw the ball to Peterson on the outside for an 11-yard gain. The offensive line struggled to open holes against Columbia’s 8 men in the box but did slightly improve in this regard as the game went on. Pass blocking was up and down with a mix of clean pockets and collapsing pockets for Grooms. Columbia did not record a sack, yet Grooms was often under pressure and barely escaped 3-4 potential sacks.

The performance on defense was a tale of two halves. Columbia was able to drive downfield with a mix of runs and passes to take a 2-point lead early in the 2^nd quarter and then found a wide-open receiver for a 64-yard touchdown reception with 8:03 remaining in the 2^nd quarter. Leading up to that point in the contest, coverage was poor and tackling left much to be desired. That all changed in the 2^nd half with the defensive line asserting dominance and improved play from the linebackers and secondary. Vaughn led the defense in tackles with 6 and had his best performance of the season. Ellis and Oldacre were huge contributors in the run defense especially as Columbia got closer to the goal line. Owens bounced back from being roasted in the 1^st half to blanketing receivers in the 2^nd half. Guyton continued to improve and flashed more on film in the Columbia contest than any other previous game. Freshman DT Egodogbare led the defensive line in tackles with 4. Nickerson and Mauney were highly disruptive from their defensive end positions combining for 4 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Frommer and Shaffer made solid plays at linebacker. Freshman CB Da’Quan Gonzales added another 2 tackles to his productive first year campaign and appears to be a future mainstay in the defense. Jaylan Granberry made a fantastic play on a short Columbia pass to the outside but was unfortunately the victim of friendly fire and left the field with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.

The performance of our special teams units was nothing short of magical and swung the momentum of the game. Frommer and Belk blocked punts on back-to-back drives against former Yale captain Paul Rice’s punting unit. Bosman was 2 for 3 on field goal attempts and nailed a 41-yarder in the 2^nd quarter.

Next up: Brown

The Yale Bulldogs travel to New York City tonight to face the 3-3 Columbia Lions. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 PM and the game will air on ESPNU.

The Lions began their season with convincing wins over Marist and Georgetown before running into a buzzsaw versus Princeton in a 24-6 loss. Columbia bounced back the following week with a big win over Wagner and then fell to both Penn (34-14) and Dartmouth (27-24). Junior QB Joe Green (6’4”, 225 lbs.) leads the Lions in passing with 947 yards, 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Senior QB Caden Bell (6’0”, 200 lbs.) replaced Green in the Dartmouth contest following Green’s disastrous performance against Penn (5 of 21 for 159 yards and 2 INTs). Bell completed 69.6% of his passes versus Dartmouth for 102 yards and a touchdown but was unable to really stretch the Dartmouth defense vertically. Senior RB Ryan Young (5’9”, 230 lbs.) is one of the best power running backs in the Ivy League. Young is averaging 5.0 yards per carry and racked up 120 rushing yards versus Dartmouth. Columbia has a deep stable of talented backs behind Young such as juniors Joey Giorgi (5’10”, 195 lbs.) and Ty’son Edwards (5’11”, 210 lbs.) and sophomore Malcolm Terry (5’9”, 200 lbs.). Sophomore WR Bryson Canty (6’2”, 200 lbs.) has had a dominating start to the season with 482 receiving yards and 4 touchdowns. Senior WR JJ Jenkins (6’2”, 195 lbs.) and junior WR Marcus Libman (6’0”, 185 lbs.) are favorite targets behind Canty combining for 51 receptions and 3 touchdowns. Senior TE Luke Painton (6’6”, 270 lbs.) is a huge target that hauled in a touchdown reception versus Dartmouth last week. The Columbia offensive line averages 298.0 lbs. across the board and features 4 returning starters including 3 starters that have been mainstays since 2019 in seniors Zach Minch (6’4”, 325 lbs.), Stew Newblatt (6’3”, 295 lbs.), and Will Hamilton (6’1”, 295 lbs.). 

Columbia’s defense is one of the stoutest units across the league limiting opposing teams to just 2.1 yards per carry in the ground game and a total 3^rd down efficiency of just 33.3%. The Lions’ pass rush has been very effective with 15 sacks on the season. Sophomore DL Justin Townsend (6’1, 245 lbs.) has been one of the most impressive defensive linemen in the conference this season with 21 tackles, 9 tackles for loss, 6 sacks and a forced fumble. Senior LB Scott Valentas (6’3”, 230 lbs.) was a 2^nd Team All-Ivy honoree last season and is currently the leading tackler for Columbia with 48 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack and an interception. Senior DB Fara’ad McCombs (5’11”, 190 lbs.) leads the secondary with 39 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup. Sophomore Aaron Brebnor (6’1”, 190 lbs.), junior Seth Park (5’10”, 180 lbs.) and senior Bryan Bell-Anderson (5’10”, 170 lbs.) are all returning starters at defensive back that will challenge Yale’s passing game.

Senior K Alex Felkins (6’3”, 200 lbs.) is 6 of 9 on field goal attempts with a long of 53 yards. Senior P (and WR) Cameron Burt is averaging 37.2 yards per punt, while senior P Andrew Donovan (6’0”, 190 lbs.) handled the majority of the punts versus Dartmouth for an average of 35.5 yards.

Go Bulldogs! Beat the Lions!

The Bulldogs fell to the Quakers 13-20 on Saturday in Philadelphia. Yale dropped to 2-1 in the Ivy League with Penn and Princeton remaining atop the league at 3-0.

The offense struggled to find sustained success against a tough Penn defense. Grooms had a poor outing in the passing game with just 11 completions for 125 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception. Several crucial passes were inaccurate and he seemed to hold onto the ball for too long in collapsing pockets. Pass blocking issues and lackluster play calling did not aid Grooms in the contest. Penn’s defensive line was able to generate consistent pass pressure as well as deflect a number of passes. The offensive line did find some success in the running game paving the way for 167 rushing yards or 5.2 yards per carry. Pitsenberger rushed 8 times for 89 yards and scored the sole touchdown for the Bulldogs. It was a quiet day in the receiving corps outside of two long passing plays to Tipton and Pantelis. Yale has still not found a reliable way to get their receivers the ball downfield in medium to long yardage situations. Penn was able to neutralize the wide receiver screens forcing Grooms into uncomfortable passing scenarios. The coaching staff did not adjust the gameplan as time went on sticking to predictable plays that stalled out drives. On the other side of the field, Penn was pulling out all their trick plays to swing momentum in their favor.

The Bulldogs were able to shut down the Quakers’ rushing attack limiting them to just 46 yards on the day. The passing game was a different story with Penn throwing for 351 yards on 30 completions. Corners were giving up far too much space to receivers off the line leading to easy catches all day for Penn. Safety support on passes was nearly non-existent with Quakers often streaking open downfield. The trick plays were backbreakers and every Ivy League opponent on the rest of the schedule is sure to attempt one. Nickerson, Patterson and McDonough all made terrific plays along the defensive line but the loss of Oso has really hindered the consistency of the pass rush. Freshman Da’Quan Gonzales saw extended time at corner. It’s never a good sign to see the top four tacklers being defensive backs with Ellis, Owens, Oldacre and Guyton combining for 31 tackles. The secondary will need to improve in a dramatic fashion to contain some of the high-flying offenses such as Princeton’s.

Bosman had a great performance with 2 key field goals including a 46-yarder. On 4 punts, Bosman averaged 39.2 yards and placed one inside the red zone. Abraham was very impressive on punt and kickoff coverage squads.

Next up: Columbia!