Bulldogs Face Big Red Saturday
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - The Ivy League season begins for Yale and Cornell this Saturday in New York. The Blue and Red clash at 3 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field in a game airing live on the Ivy League Digital Network and on ESPN Radio (1300 AM). The Bulldogs are coming off a loss at home to a nationally ranked Colgate team, while the Big Red grabbed a win at Bucknell to kick off the season.
SERIES
Yale leads the series with Cornell 47-29-2 heading into the 79th meeting. The series began on Oct. 16, 1889, with Walter Camp coaching the Bulldogs to a 60-6 win at New Haven. The Elis, who traveled to Ithaca less than a month after the first encounter and notched a 70-0 win, have taken five of the last eight with the Big Red.
LAST YEAR
First career touchdowns are always memorable. Tight end Sebastian Little's initial score was unforgettable, the game-winning points in Yale's late comeback to beat Cornell 33-26 on opening day of the 2015 Ivy League season. With the score tied at 26 and the Bulldogs with the ball on their own 48, the then junior hauled in a pass from Morgan Roberts over the middle and split the defense on the way to a 52-yard scoring play with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
THE ELIS
Opening day was headed in a great direction early on, but that did not last for Yale, which fell to No. 23 Colgate 55-13 at the Bowl. On Colgate's first series with the ball, sophomore defensive back Marquise Peggs got a hand on a Jake Melville pass that ended up in the arms of Yale junior safety Hayden Carlson, who returned the interception 48 yards to set up a touchdown pass and a 7-0 lead. On his first pass attempt of 2016, and the second Yale play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Rafe Chapple hit junior wide receiver Christopher Williams-Lopez for an 11-yard strike. It was Chapple's first career scoring pass and Yale's last TD of the day.
CORNELL
The Big Red opened last week with a 24-16 win at Bucknell. Quarterback Dalton Banks accounted for three touchdowns, running back Chris Walker ran 16 times for 133 yards and cornerback DJ Woullard intercepted two passes. Sophomore place-kicker Zack Mayes made a career-long 41-yard field goal and all three extra points and blasted all five kickoffs through the end zone. Cornell was down 10-0 before it could climb back into it.
FAMOUS PERFORMANCES
Here are some highlights from the Yale-Cornell series: Morgan Roberts threw for 312 yards and tied a Yale single-game record by throwing five touchdowns. He also set a Yale single-game record for completion percentage, completing 26 of 30 passes in 2014… Tom Mante '10 tied the 104-year-old school record for longest field goal and broke the Ivy League record with a 54-yarder at the Bowl against the Big Red in 2009… Jeff Mroz '05 tied the school record with five TD passes in 2005; Ashley Wright '07 caught three Jeff Mroz passes that day to tie a Yale record… Robert Carr '05 rushed for a sophomore record 235 yards and four scores at Ithaca in 2002… Billy Brown '02 tied the Yale standard for TDs in a game with three in 2001… P.J. Collins '04 set the "modern" school mark with seven punt returns in 2001… Yale had a school record 214 kickoff return yards in 1990 on eight returns… Ken Hill '79 broke a 19-year-old Yale record with a 100-yard kickoff return in the 1978 game… The Blue set a team record for punting average (47.8) in 1970.
CAPTAIN MANORA
The team selected linebacker Darius Manora as its 2016 captain during a vote last November. Manora, a senior from Alexandria, Va., has 162 career tackles and has played in all 31 games. His most productive day as a Bulldog was 8-6-14 vs. Princeton in 2014, while his biggest play was plucking a Brown lateral pass out of the air and running it back for a score that same fall.
BEHIND CENTER
The starting QB the last two seasons, Morgan Roberts '16, left Yale with many of the school passing records. That means junior Rafe Chapple (18-31, 145, 1 TD, 3 INT), sophomore Tre Moore (1-5, 2 yds) and freshman Kurt Rawlings (3-6, 29, 1 INT) are all competing for the 2016 job. Chapple had the start last week and the most snaps and Rawlings came on the field for the second series. Moore saw his action in the second half, though all three were used over the last 30 minutes.
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.
2-SPORT STANDOUT
Junior defensive back Jason Alessi is Yale's Mr. Versatility. 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 owns the third longest (80 vs. Columbia in 2015) punt return in Yale history. Alessi, who also returns kickoffs, had a career-high five solos and eight overall tackles at Maine last fall and finished the year with 39 stops.
SEASONED BACKS
Last Saturday in the Bowl, Yale used three different tailbacks who started games last fall. Each of them have had huge days carrying the ball for Yale. 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. Junior Deshawn Salter stepped in for Rich in game three and rushed for 233 yards (5th best at Yale, most by an Ivy player in 2015) and two scores at Lehigh. Salter was injured in the Penn game and did not regain his health the rest of the way. When a third runner got injured, senior Dale Harris (Brooklandville, Md.) volunteered to move from defense. He started in game one vs. Colgate. A three-year starter at cornerback, Harris ran for 177 yards (71-yard TD) at Princeton last November before getting banged up himself.
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 three grabs and a TD against Colgate. 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.) 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 25 career catches over 15 (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.
IMPRESSIVE DEBUT
Freshman linebacker Ryan Burke (Huntington Beach, Calif.) made an impressive collegiate debut last Saturday against a high-powered offense. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound rookie made eight solo tackles and 11 overall.
VETERAN LEG
Bryan Holmes (Holland, Mich.), who handled both kicking roles for Yale last season, earned second-team All-Ivy honors as a placekicker after connecting on 12-of-18 field goals with a team-high 55 points. His career-long was 44 yards at Lehigh in 2015. Holmes is a 6-foot, 197-pound Eli who began his collegiate career as a kickoff specialist his freshman season before exclusively handling the punting duties in 2014. His 2015 responsibilities made him the first Yale player to handle all three areas since Tom Mante in 2008.
THE LINE
Senior left tackle Khalid Cannon (Gadsden, Ala.) has been a starter the last two seasons. Junior Karl Marback (Birmingham, Mich.) moved over to center to handle the spot vacated by three-year starter Luke Longinotti. Senior RT Beau Iverson (Lakewood, Wash.), senior RG Mason Friedline (Seattle, Wash.) and junior Anders Huizenga (Trophy Club, Texas) all have been starters. Huizenga attended a high school (Byron Nelson) named for a legendary golfer. Junior Jeho Chang (Suwanee, Ga.) got the start at RG in week one.
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 switched cam over from the defense in 2015, is playing center for the first time as a Bulldog.
BULLDOG BITES
Sophomore Alex Galland (Bakersfield, Calif.) took advantage of his first varsity snaps at Yale. He connected on field goal attempts from 37 and 36 yards in the first half against Colgate… Yale has three JV games slated for this fall: Sept 25 vs Milford Academy; Oct. 2 vs Brown and Nov. 18 at Harvard... QB Tre Moore's uncle is former MLB star Bernard Gilkey... Freshman OL Steven Cepalia (Park Ridge, NJ) is an accomplished singer and guitar player who has a band called Fifth Street... Kevin Cahill, Yale's Associate Head Coach and Pass Game Coordinator, ran the Vermont City (Burlington), Boston and Providence Marathons the last three years... Trent Mossbrucker, Yale Football's Chief of Staff, set the University of Iowa freshman record for points in a season and was on the roster as a placekicker for four Bowl Games. He graduated in 2012.
ANCIENT EIGHT
Last weekend was a nice one for Ivy football teams, going 5-3 overall. In addition to Cornell's win, Harvard smashed Rhode Island in Boston, Dartmouth edged New Hampshire, Brown slid past Bryant, Princeton beat Lafayette. St. Francis beat Columbia and Lehigh got past Penn in the other action.
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 (started at CB)
4: Sebastian Little TE (started) , Malcolm Dixon DB (DNP)
6: Jaelin Alburg DB (started), Kurt Rawlings QB (played as backup)
8: Caden Herring WR (DNP), Keefer Johnson LB (special teams)
10: QB Tre Moore (played as backup), LB Victor Egu (started)
18: QB Rafe Chapple (started), LB Ryan Burke (started)
22: Matthew Oplinger LB (played), 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 are helping the team behind the scenes. Seniors Robert Ries (DB), Peter Gerson (TE), Benjamin Bedard (DL) and junior Will Bryan (DB) are serving as team managers this fall. Bryan plans to return to the field next season.
HONORS
One Bulldog earned league distinction from week one. Hayden Carlson, also the Nissan Yale Player of the Game, had a game-best 10-4-14 and made the Ivy Honor Roll.
EXPERIMENTAL RULE
The Ivy League will use an experimental rule for the 2016 football season to move 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
Seven freshmen played in week one with a pair (LB Ryan Burke, CB Jaelin Alburg) getting starts on defense. TB Alan Lamar was one of the kick return men.
890 or 891
Yale has 890 or 891 wins depending how you view things. The NCAA record books give the Bulldogs credit for games won on the field, which is 890. However, the Ivy League credits Yale with one more (891) 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 and Robert Clemons attended the first week.
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.
BULLDOGS SURVEY
The Elis were surveyed to find out what they thought about each other. Here are the results:
• most humorous player on the Yale football team: 63 Anders Huizenga, 23 Foye Oluokun
• most intelligent player on the team: 61 Jon Bezney
• most vocal/leader-like player other than captain: 4 Sebastian Little
• most likely to become a U.S. President: 16 Jackson Stallings, 2 Bo Hines
• most interesting extra-curricular activity: 78 Steven Cepalia
• best singer on the team: 78 Steven Cepalia
• Pound-for-pound strongest player: 1 Dale Harris
• most involved in community outreach: 4 Sebastian Little
filed by Steve Conn, Yale Associate AD & Sports Publicity Director - steven.conn@yale.edu
