Yale Takes on Patriot Power Saturday
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Bulldogs complete their non-league slate with a trip to the Bronx this Saturday at 1 p.m. Yale (1-3, 1-1 Ivy), coming off a win over Dartmouth, takes on Fordham (3-2, 1-0 Patriot) at Jack Coffey Field. The game can be seen on the Patriot League Network and heard on AM 960 WELI.
SERIES
Yale has won five of the seven games with Fordham. The Elis won the inaugural contest 21-14 in 1950 at the Bowl, a year after the first scheduled meeting was canceled due to a polio scare. Forty-two years later, in the next encounter, the Bulldogs took a 31-12 decision at New Haven. Yale is 1-1 at Fordham with a win in 2000 and a loss in 2008.
LAST MEETING
Fordham, ranked No. 8 among FCS teams at the time, posted 614 yards of total offense in a 52-31 win over Yale at New Haven in 2013. Rams quarterback Michael Nebrich connected with wide receiver Sam Ajala (10-282) for four TDs, while Yale's Candler Rich ran for 159 yards and helped Yale total 359 yards on the ground.
THE ELIS
Everything came together at the right time in the 100th meeting as the Yale Football team registered a crucial, 21-13 win over Dartmouth at Yale Bowl in Ivy League play last Saturday. The offense erased a 10-0 deficit with 14 straight points in the second quarter, the defense came up with big plays at key times while holding the Big Green to a season-low number on the scoreboard and the Eli special teams came through when needed the most.
FORDHAM
Chase Edmonds rushed for a school and Patriot League record 359 yards and scored four touchdowns (29, 19, 74 and 67 yards) to lead Fordham to a 58-34 win over Lafayette College on Jack Coffey Field. The Rams average over 45 points and 318 rushing yards per contest, while their defense has picked off seven passes, notched 13 sacks and is allowing 33 points per game.
DEBUT AT TAILBACK
Freshman tailback Alan Lamar, getting his first collegiate snaps in the backfield, ran 23 times for 180 yards and touchdowns of seven and 43 yards. "It was just regular for me," said Lamar, the Parade All-American from Mississippi who finished five yards shy of Robert Carr's freshman school rushing record of 185 yards against Dartmouth on Oct. 7, 2007. Lamar has been one of two deep men on the kickoff return every game, but three upperclassmen handled the tailback duties the first three weeks. Last week, senior Dale Harris was filling in for injured corners on defense and Deshawn Salter was out with an injury. Lamar, who earned STATS FCS (national) Rookie of the Week and Ivy co-player of the Week, and senior Candler Rich (14-57) got the nod to share the carries.
DEFENSE SHINES
The Yale defense, which held the Green to a season-low 13 points, rose to the occasion and stopped the last three Dartmouth drives with a cast of characters stepping up. The biggest play came with 57 seconds left and the visitors driving for a score that would bring them to within a two-point conversion of a tie. The Dartmouth quarterback fired over the middle and Eli junior safety Hayden Carlson, who had a game-high 12 total tackles and was collegesportsmadness.com Ivy Defensive Player of the Week, jumped in front of the pass on the two-yard line and held on for the clinching stop. Another big play was a massive hit by senior Foye Oluokun (6-1-7), who had an interception and a nifty, 19-yard return in the third quarter. The Eli cornerback leveled a Dartmouth receiver over the middle. Senior Dale Harris had a game-best eight solo stops (11 overall) in his first defensive play of the year.
YALE QB
Sophomore Tre Moore, who became the third black quarterback to start a game for Yale on Oct. 1 had another solid outing in his second career start. He completed 20 passes for 181 yards, including a 14-yard TD pass to Reed Klubnik in the second quarter. Against Lehigh, he ran for two (14, 12 yards) TDs and threw for another (63) in his initial collegiate start. He was more efficient (21-33, 174) in relief at Cornell in week two, but he produced more points in his first start a week later. Rufus Moore III, nicknamed Tre (the third), came to Yale from John Burroughs School in St. Louis, Mo, where he was a teammate of Eli defensive standout Foyesade Oluokun. He has played in all four games this season after not getting any varsity snaps in 2015.
NFF SELECTS LITTLE
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame announced this fall that Yale's Sebastian Little has been named one of the 156 semifinalists for the 2016 William V. Campbell Trophy, The award recognizes an individual as the absolute best football scholar-athlete in the nation and is prominently displayed inside its official home at the New York Athletic Club. Little is a senior tight end from Cheshire, Conn., who has earned three varsity letters and has been among the team leaders in community outreach. He is the co-founder of Next Future Leaders (NFL), a student activities coordinator for Earn While You Learn, a member of the Mandi Schwartz Marrow Drive Committee and team ambassador for Team IMPACT. Little has 41 career catches including the game-winning TD against Cornell in 2015.
CAPTAIN MANORA
The team selected linebacker Darius Manora as its 2016 captain during a vote last November. Manora, a senior from Alexandria, Va., has 185 career tackles and has played in all 34 games. His most productive day as a Bulldog was 8 solos and 14 total tackles against Princeton in 2014, while his biggest play was plucking a Brown lateral pass – a flee flicker - out of the air and running it back for a score that same fall.
TACKLE LEADER
Hayden Carlson (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), a junior safety, led the Ivy League in 2015 with 92 total tackles and a 9.2 average. He began 2016 with a game and career-high 14 tackles and set up scores with an interception (48-yard return) and a fumble recovery. He had eight stops, a fumble recovery and a solo tackle on a fake field goal attempt at Cornell. Carlson, whose interception against Dartmouth clinched the win on Oct. 8, leads Yale this season with 28 solos, 43 total stops, two interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
2-SPORT STANDOUT
Junior defensive back Jason Alessi is Yale's Mr. Versatility, and he is the only player in school history to return two punts for TDs at 80 yards or more. He had an 80-yarder (4thd longest at Yale) at home against Columbia last year and then notched an 82-yard play (3rd longest) against Lehigh at the Bowl on Oct. 1. He is currently 9th in the FCS with a 16.4 return average. In addition to starting on defense and seeing time on multiple special teams units, Alessi is a standout member of the Yale lacrosse team, which has won consecutive Ivy League Tournament titles. On the gridiron, the Bloomfield Hills, Mich., native had a career-high five solos and eight overall tackles at Maine last fall and finished the year with 39 stops.
TRIPLE DIGITS
Junior Deshawn Salter, Yale's first 100-yard runner this season, had 151 yards and a 10.1 average against Lehigh before sitting out the Dartmouth game. Salter stepped in for Candler Rich in game three last year and rushed for 233 yards (5th best at Yale, most by an Ivy player in 2015) and two scores at Lehigh. The Syracuse, N.Y., native leads the team in rushing this fall and has a team and season-high 70-yard run against Lehigh.
SEASONED BACKS
Senior Candler Rich (Newnan, Ga.) began 2015 as the top running back but missed most of the year with an injury. He averaged 7.5 per carry as a backup in 2014, which included a 202-yard day on 17 runs at Columbia. Senior Dale Harris (Brooklandville, Md.) volunteered to move from defense last fall when injuries ravaged the backfield. He started the first two weeks of 2016 and then played on defense for game four. A three-year starter at cornerback, Harris ran for 177 yards (71-yard TD) at Princeton last November.
C-LO
Christopher Williams-Lopez led the team last fall with 60 catches and 576 yards. He got off to a good start this year with 11 catches, 2 TD grabs and a rushing score in three games. Nicknamed "C-Lo," Williams-Lopez recovered from a pre-season injury to get his first varsity action in week four of 2015 at Dartmouth. The junior WR from Duluth, Ga., had numerous, double-digit catch outings, including a career-best 13 grabs for 154 yards against Brown.
MAKING GAINES
Senior WR Myles Gaines (Tallahassee, Fla.), who had a career-high nine catches for 106 yards, is determined to change the way America—and maybe even the rest of the world—gets its nutrients by studying food policy and sustainable farming options. An environmental studies turned political science major, Gaines, who has 37 career catches over 18 (injuries the last 2 years) varsity games, hopes to combine these disciplines and work on the policy end of providing sustainable food, especially to black communities. He served as a Lazarus 2016 Summer Intern through the Yale Sustainable Food Program in New Haven after working at an oyster farm that practiced sustainable harvesting.
NEW LEG
Sophomore kicker Alex Galland (Bakersfield, Calif.) did not see any varsity action last fall but has taken over the field goal and extra-point kicking. He split the uprights for three points twice in each of the first two games and is now for of six on field goals this fall with a long of 38 yards at Cornell.
THE LINE
Senior left tackle Khalid Cannon (Gadsden, Ala.) is the most experienced of the Yale O-linemen, having started the last two seasons. Junior Karl Marback (Birmingham, Mich.) moved over to center this fall. Senior RT Beau Iverson (Lakewood, Wash.), senior RG Mason Friedline (Seattle, Wash.) and junior Anders Huizenga (Trophy Club, Texas) all have been starters at times. So has junior Jeho Chang (Suwanee, Ga.) at guard. A pair of newcomers, LG Dieter Eiselen (Stellenbosch, South Africa) and LT Sterling Strother (Moraga, Calif.) got their first starts vs. Dartmouth.
ROCKET MAN
Karl Marback (Birmingham, Mich.), a junior center who is a biomedical engineering major, is a member of the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association (YUAA). As a sophomore, he helped build a rocket that climbed to 10,000 feet and collected microbes from the air to learn more about what is living in the atmosphere. That rocket was launched twice, first in Maryland and again in Utah for the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). The Yale entry took second place for payload design. Marback, who came over from the defense in 2015, is playing center for the first time as a Bulldog.
BULLDOG BITES
Sophomore DE Kyle Mullen (Manalapan, NJ) leads the team with 5 TFL and three sacks… Rookie CB Jaelin Alburg (Glenn Dale, Md.) has a team-high 2 FF… Yale Safety Hayden Carlson has been named College Sports Madness Ivy Defensive Player of the Week… America Sports Network (ASN) selected Alan Lamar as one of their FCS #GameChanger nominees for week 6.
ANCIENT EIGHT
Harvard beat Cornell in a battle of 3-0 teams and the Crimson now lead the Ivy with a 2-0 mark. The only other league game was Yale beating Dartmouth. Out of the Ivy, Penn beat Central Connecticut, Columbia topped Wagner, Princeton beat Georgetown and Stetson edged Brown.
BULLDOG CAPTAINS, COACHES
It's very rare to have an ex-Yale football captain on the coaching staff, but the Elis have two. Paul Rice '10 (outside LB, special teams), who joined Tony Reno's staff in February of 2013, became the first captain to return as a "full-time" or "primary" coach since Albie Booth in the late 1930s. Chandler Henley '07 (TEs), who led the Elis to a 2006 Ivy title as captain, came back to New Haven last spring.
YALE'S COLLEGE COACHES
One hundred and nine Yale graduates – far more than any other school - have become head coaches in college football. Six Yale grads currently serve on college coaching staffs, including Paul Rice and Chandler Henley. Bob Shoop '88 is defensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee. Dartmouth has Kyle Metzler '02, the running game and recruiting coordinator (OT, TE focus), while Josh Grizzard '12 is a graduate assistant (QB, quality control) at Duke. Matt Coombs '08 is a quality control GA at Boise State.
NFL STAFF
Two former Yale players are coaching in the NFL this fall. Pat Graham '01, a former Yale tight end and defensive lineman who won a Super Bowl ring in 2015 with the New England Patriots as a defensive assistant coach, worked seven seasons for Bill Belichick before taking a new job this fall with the New York Giants. Graham earned an Ivy Championship ring in 1999. Michael McDaniel '05 is in his 10th NFL campaign and second as offensive assistant with Atlanta. He has worked with Cleveland, Houston. Denver and Washington. The Yalie with the longest NFL tenure (player/coach) in Ivy history is Dick Jauron '73, who played eight seasons between two teams and then spent 32 years as a coach. His last was 2012 with Cleveland. Two former Elis are working for the Miami Dolphins: Max Napolitano '14 is a business analytics specialist while Grant Wallace '15 is a player personnel assistant. Brandon Etheridge '07, who had worked for the NFL Management Council, is now general counsel for the Baltimore Ravens.
DOUBLE NUMBERS
There are numerous double numbers on the Yale roster this fall. Here are the ones that might cause the most confusion. Last week's participation is included:
2: Bo Hines WR (DNP), Marquise Peggs DB (DNP)
4: Sebastian Little TE (played), Malcolm Dixon DB (played)
6: Jaelin Alburg DB (played), Kurt Rawlings QB (DNP)
10: QB Tre Moore (started), LB Victor Egu (started)
18: QB Rafe Chapple (DNP), LB Ryan Burke (DNP)
22: Matthew Oplinger LB (started), Silas Wyper WR (DNP)
81: Alex Galland PK/P (started PK), Blake Rowlinson WR (DNP)
87: Devin Moore DE (DNP), Garrett White WR (DNP)
FRIDAY NIGHTS
Yale, which played its first Friday night Ivy League Game last year at Penn, has a pair on Fridays this fall. The Blue hosts Penn on Oct. 21 in Yale Bowl's first true night game (the 2015 Harvard game required lights for the second half). A week later at Columbia, the Bulldogs and Lions clash under the lights at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium. Both games air on NBCSN.
2006
Ten years ago this fall, a team led by captain Chandler Henley (current Yale coach) went 8-2 and earned an Ivy League title. The final win came at Harvard, a 34-13 decision. Many members of that team were back to celebrate the title on Sept. 17 at the Bowl.
76ERS
The 40th reunion of Yale's 1976 Ivy League Championship gridiron squad takes place Nov. 12 as part of the Princeton weekend. The 76ers, captained by Vic Staffieri, won their last eight games, including a combined 60-14 score in victories over Princeton and Harvard, to finish 8-1.
SOUTHERN FLAVOR
Future Yale schedules include games with a new, Southern, flavor. One is in Georgia, the other Virginia. The Elis, who have a four-game series set with Mercer University, will play a school from Georgia (Macon) for the first time since playing the University of Georgia in 1929, the dedication game for Sanford Stadium. The Mercer Bears, a member of the Southern Conference, play at Yale on Oct. 13, 2018. The next meeting is Oct. 2, 2021 at Macon. The other two encounters come in 2022 (New Haven) and 2023 (Macon). The University of Richmond, a Colonial Athletic Conference and FCS power, is on Yale's schedule for 2019 (at Richmond) and 2020 (New Haven). The Bulldogs and Spiders have never met. The Elis have not played in Virginia since a game against William & Mary at Norfolk in 1983.
INJURED ELIS TAKE MANAGERIAL ROLES
Four Elis with injuries were helping the team behind the scenes. Seniors Robert Ries (DB), Peter Gerson (TE), Benjamin Bedard (DL) and junior Will Bryan (DB) began the year in that role. Bryan, however, was cleared to play during week 2 and began practicing as a defensive back. He played in the JV game and returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown against Milford Academy.
HONORS
Here are Yale's 2016 weekly honors by player:
Alan Lamar: STATS FCS Rookie of Week; Ivy co-Rookie of Week
Ivy League Honor Roll: Hayden Carlson (Colgate); Foyesade Oluokun, Alex Galland, Jaelin Alburg (Cornell).
Ivy League Rookie of Week: Alan Lamar (Dartmouth)
Nissan Yale Player of the Game: Hayden Carlson (Colgate), Tre Moore (Cornell, co-Lehigh), Deshawn Salter (co-Lehigh), Team 144 (Dartmouth).
STATS FCS Rookie of Week: Alan Lamar (Dartmouth)
Collegesportsmadness.com Ivy DPOW: Hayden Carlson (Dartmouth)
EXPERIMENTAL RULE
The Ivy League has an experimental rule for the 2016 football season that moves kickoffs to the 40-yard line and touchbacks to the 20-yard line in an effort to reduce concussions and further promote the safety and welfare of its student-athletes. The goal of the experimental rule is to limit kickoff returns, which account for 23.4 percent of concussions during games despite representing only 5.8 percent of overall plays. The League will evaluate the concussion and kickoff return data after the 2016 season.
NEWCOMERS
Freshmen accounted for all three touchdowns last week. Alan Lamar had two scoring runs and WR Reed Klubnik (Austin, Texas) caught a 14-yard TD pass.
891 or 892
Yale has 891 or 892 wins depending how you view things. The NCAA record books give the Bulldogs credit for games won on the field, which is 891. However, the Ivy League credits Yale with one more (892) victory from a 1997 (forfeit) game against Penn. Yale was the first to 800 wins but has been overtaken by schools playing a dozen or more games per year like Michigan and Notre Dame.
IN OT
Yale is 6-3 in OT games including the win against Army in 2014. The Elis are 4-1 at home in extra sessions, the only loss against Harvard in triple OT in 2005. Yale has a pair of triple-session OTs (Penn, 2007) and a two double-dippers (Princeton, 2003; Holy Cross, 2008).
TUESDAYS AT MORY'S
Tony Reno, the Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Yale Football, and some of his players are at world famous Mory's (306 York Street) every Tuesday at noon for the Dick Galiette Yale Football Media Luncheon. This event is limited to media only. Please contact Yale Sports Publicity Director Steve Conn (steven.conn@yale.edu) if you would like to attend. Darius Manora, Robert Clemons, Rafe Chapple, Nick Crowle, Foyesade Oluokun and Tre Moore have taken part so far this fall.
BROADCASTING
You can listen to legendary coach Carm Cozza, Ron Vaccaro '04 and Steve Conn call the action of Yale Football this fall on ESPN Radio1300 (AM 1300) or News Radio 960 WELI (AM 960), as well as iHeart Radio, espnradio1300.com. You can also see some broadcasts this season. Six (Colgate, Lehigh, Cornell, Dartmouth, Brown, Princeton) games air on the Ivy League Digital Network. Three games in 2016 can be seen on the NBC family of networks (Penn, Columbia on NBCSN, Harvard on CNBC). In addition, One World Sports (OWS) airs two games from the Bowl this fall, Colgate and Lehigh, that are also on the ILDN, now available on Apple TV and Roku.
TEAM OF LEADERS
The 2016 Yale football team includes 40 high school football captains and 24 guys who were captains of other sports before coming to New Haven. There are also 37 National Honor Society members.
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director - steven.conn@yale.edu
