Date & Time: Saturday, November 13, 2021 – 1 p.m. ET
Location: Princeton, N.J.
Stadium: Powers Field at Princeton Stadium
Tickets: Buy Now
Series: 143rd Meeting; Yale leads, 78-54-10
Last Meeting: Yale 51, Princeton 14, 11/16/19
TV: ESPN+
Live Stats: Click here
Two Deeps: Yale (PDF) -- Princeton (PDF)
Game Notes

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – It will be a battle of first-place teams in the Ivy League in Yale's penultimate game of the season. The Bulldogs travel to Princeton on Saturday afternoon in a must-win game for both teams with Dartmouth also standing a three-way tie for first. All teams are 4-1 in conference play.  The Tigers, coming off their first loss of the season are ranked No. 22 in the FCS Coaches Poll while Yale is receiving votes.

The Series
The Bulldogs and Tigers have met 142 times with Yale leading the all-time series, 78-54-10. The Elis also have a 34-21-4 mark at Princeton. The Bulldogs look for back-to-back wins against the Tigers for the first time since the 2014-15 seasons. Yale has won eight of the last 12 matchups and four of the last six.

Bulldog Breakdown
Sophomore quarterback Nolan Grooms improved to 3-0 as a starter and earned his second Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honor after leading Yale to 63 points last week at Brown; the most for the Bulldogs since the 1930 season – a 66-0 win over Alfred.

Grooms has thrown for at least 279 yards in each of his three starts with a career-high 330 passing yards last week and a personal best 69.2 completion percentage (.692). He is up to 11 passing touchdowns with at least two in each start and a career-high three against the Bears. Additionally, he has run the ball at least 10 times in every game with a career-best 113 yards and two rushing scores against Penn.

At the national level, Grooms now ranks first in the nation with 15.73 yards per completion and third with 9.32 yards per attempt. He is the country's sixth-most efficient passer with a 159.2 rating. All marks lead the Ivy League.

Yale's second-year signal-caller has spread it around as he completed passes to eight different receivers against Brown. The Bulldogs boast 14 different pass catchers this season, led by senior wideout Melvin Rouse II with 38. Sophomore wide receiver Mason Tipton leads the team with 509 yards receiving and three touchdowns and ranks seventh in the country with 21.21 yards per reception.

It was first-year wide receiver David Pantelis who had the biggest impact last week with two touchdowns and 205 all-purpose yards. For his efforts, he was named Ivy League Rookie and Special Teams Player of the Week as well as Stats Perform's National FCS Freshman of the Week.

The honors did not stop there for Yale as sophomore defensive lineman Clay Patterson was added to the Buck Buchanan Award Watch List for FCS' top defensive player. Patterson is second in the country with 1.44 sacks per game and 10^th overall with 1.6 tackles for loss.

His efforts upfront lead the charge for a Yale defense that ranks first overall in third-down conversion defense (.234).

Senior captain John Dean continues to lead the Bulldogs in tackles with 62 total, 28 solo stops and 34 assisted. He ranks third in the Ivy League in tackles and has added 4.5 tackles for loss, a sack and four pass breakups.

Scouting Princeton
The Tigers suffered their first defeat of the season at Dartmouth last week, 31-7. Princeton had previously been up to No. 16 in the FCS coaches' poll. Their 7-0 start to the season included season-opening shutouts against Lehigh and Stetson, a win at then-No. 25 Monmouth and a five-overtime win against then-No. 16 Harvard.

Princeton is the fewest penalized team in the country with only 29 infractions and boasts the third-best rushing defense in the country with just 67.6 ground yards allowed per game. The Tigers are eighth in total defense with 274.1 yards allowed.
Senior linebacker Jeremiah Tyler, a finalist for the 2019 Bushnell Cup, leads Princeton with 48 tackles and has racked up six tackles for loss, two sacks, three breakups and a fumble recovery.

Lineman Samuel Wright II and Uche Ndukwe have combined for 18.5 of Princeton's 27 sacks this season.

On offense, Cole Smith is second in the Ivy League with 2,083 passing yards and a 66.4 completion percentage while he also ranks second in interceptions thrown with seven. He ranks third in the league in efficiency (147.2).

Smith may not be able to rely on leading rusher Collin Eaddy who suffered an injury in the Dartmouth game. He paced the Tigers with 477 yards and led the Ivy League with 10 touchdowns. Ja'Derris Carr is the only Princeton rusher with at least 115 rushing yards though 16 different players have seen at least one rush attempt.

Smith will lean on his quartet of pass-catchers which have been on the receiving end of all 11 touchdown passes. Senior wideout Jacob Birmelin has the team lead with 52 catches and 669 yards. Junior wide receiver Andrei Iosivas has a team-high five touchdowns and is second with 31 catches and 583. Senior receiver Dylan Classi and senior tight end Carson Bobo are third and fourth, respectively, in catches and yards. Each has two touchdown catches.