No. 23/25 Yale vs. Rhode Island 
Saturday, Oct. 17 – 12 p.m.
Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field (New Haven, Conn.)
ESPN+ | Live Stats | Yale Game Notes | Rhode Island Game Notes

Team 153 secured its first Ivy League victory of the season this past weekend, taking down Dartmouth 28-7 in its largest victory over the Big Green since 2011. Now, the Bulldogs will look to keep up their momentum going into its matchup with the Rhode Island Rams, wrapping up non-conference play. 

Bulldog Notes

• The Bulldogs returned to the national rankings this week after defeating Dartmouth. Yale moved up to No. 23 in the AFCA FCS Coaches Poll and No. 25 in the STATS Perform FCS Top 25. 
• Following his 147-yard, two-touchdown performance against Dartmouth, Jaxton Santiago earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honors.
• The win over Dartmouth was Yale's 11th-straight at the Yale Bowl going back to the 2024 season. This is the longest home winning streak for the Bulldogs since winning a program-record 15 in a row at the Yale Bowl from 1973 to 1975. The record unbeaten streak for Yale at the Bowl is 16 games (featuring two ties), from 1923 to 1925.
• Dante Reno is now No. 10 in Yale history in passing yards with 3,575 across 15 games in his career. He is also No. 8 in passing touchdowns with 32. 
• Yale still leads the Ivy League in scoring offense, putting up 33.0 points per game.
• Hugo Djeumeni Kemeni now leads the Ivy League in rushing yards with 416.
• Abu Kamara, Reno and Noah Piper were all named to the Week Four Ivy League Honor Roll for their performances against the Big Green. 
• Jaxton Santiago's 134.8 receiving yards per game put him at No. 1 in the FCS so far this season. 
• Reno's 359 passing yards per game also puts him at No. 1 in the FCS so far this season. 
• Santiago and Lucius Anderson, the Ivy League's top two receivers, have combined for 16.1 catches per game this season.
• Since the start of the 2022 season, the Bulldogs have a .737 win percentage (14-5) when playing in the month of October.

The Series

• This will be the first-ever matchup between Yale and Rhode Island. This is the second of two matchups this season (Oct. 3 vs Merrimack) where the Bulldogs play a team for the first time. 
• For the first time ever, Yale will play a team from Rhode Island that is not Brown University.
• Rhode Island will be the first CAA Football team to play the Bulldogs since Yale took down Richmond on the road in a 28-27 thriller on Oct. 19, 2019. Richmond was scheduled to make a return trip to the Yale Bowl in 2020 before the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Scouting Rhode Island

• Rhode Island was picked to repeat as champions in the 2026 CAA Preseason Poll, with 144 points and receiving 12 of 13 first-place votes. In 2025, the Rams went a perfect 8-0 in the CAA and 11-3 overall, reaching the second round of the FCS Playoffs before falling 47-26 to No. 8 UC Davis.  
• URI is 3-3 overall and 1-2 in CAA play through six games this season. The Rams defeated Elon, 31-10, on Sept. 12 to extend their conference winning streak to 11 games before dropping back-to-back road contests to Stony Brook and North Carolina A&T. Most recently, URI earned a 13-10 win over Brown on Oct. 3 in the annual Governor's Cup game. 
• The Rams' offense is led by quarterback Tyler Budge, who has taken the majority of the snaps under center. Through six games, Budge has thrown for 872 yards with five touchdowns and six interceptions. Fifth-year wide receiver Marquis Buchanan leads the team with 483 receiving yards and four touchdowns, averaging 80.5 yards per game. 
• Budge has also rushed for 202 yards. Running back BJ Barrow leads URI with 229 net rushing yards and one touchdown, while Terrence Campbell and Alex McClelland have each added three rushing touchdowns. 
• Defensively, URI is led by linebacker Rohan Davy, who leads the team in total tackles with 43. The defensive line is anchored by Case Mankins, who has five sacks on the season, good for fourth in the CAA. Defensive back Trey Lubin leads the Ram secondary in pass breakups with eight, but does not have an interception yet in 2026. 

Cahill's Corner
"We're excited for the opportunity to compete against a high-caliber program like Rhode Island," said Kevin Cahill, Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football. "This is the kind of challenge we embrace as we work to become the team we know we can be."

Up Next

The Bulldogs will go back on the road to play the Penn Quakers on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. This is Yale's second of three games that will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU.