Volume LXVVIII, No. 5
October 14, 2017
YALE FOOTBALL NEWS Published by the Yale Football Association
Bulldogs Bounce Back Winning 32 - 0 One of the hallmarks of a good team is how it responds immediately after a difficult loss. Yale, one week after losing in the final minute at Dartmouth, bounced back in impressive fashion with a 32-0 victory against Holy Cross at the Yale Bowl. It was the first shutout for the Bulldogs since 2011, and the first time a Holy Cross team hasn’t scored a point in a game since 2004. It was another dominant performance against a non-conference opponent. Yale won all three of its non-league games by a combined score of 129-38, and begins the final stretch of the season on Saturday at Penn. “I’m very proud of this football team and how they handled themselves this week, from Sunday on,” Yale’s Joel E. Smilow ’54 Head Coach of Football Tony Reno said. “We put (last Saturday’s 28-27 loss at Dartmouth) to bed and took on the challenge of Holy Cross, head-first. We really prepared well and were able to have some success today.” While the offense has garnered much of the early attention at Yale (4-1), Saturday’s victory was a day for the defense. Not just for allowing no points, but for dominating an offense led by one of the top quarterback prospects in the nation. Holy Cross fifth-year senior Peter Pujals threw for a school-record 509 yards in a loss to Monmouth a week earlier, the second 500-yard passing performance of his career, and was in the national top 10 with over 1,800 passing yards in five games. But the Bulldogs kept him under heavy pressure all day long, posting four sacks (three by linebacker Matt Oplinger.) When Pujals was
able to get a pass off, he was either hurried or throwing to targets well-covered by the Yale secondary. Pujals completed just 10-of-22 passes for 89 yards. Holy Cross couldn’t find room to run the ball, either, gaining a mere 59 yards on 29 attempts for the game. All told, Yale recorded 11 tackles for losses, allowed only eight first downs and forced the Crusaders to punt on 11 of their 13 offensive possessions. The other two resulted in a safety and a missed field goal attempt. “We felt if we put pressure on him, that would give us the best opportunity for success,” said Reno. “I’m proud of our defensive line and our linebacker corps. Matt Oplinger and the linebackers did a great job of keeping pressure on him and making it hard to throw the ball.”
Publication authored by Chip Malafronte Yale also got an efficient performance from freshman running back Zane Dudek, who ran only four times but gained 45 yards and scored two touchdowns. Alex Galland also enjoyed a prolific day. He kicked a career-long 39-yard field goal to give Yale an early 3-0 lead, and averaged more than 40 yards per punt, pinning Holy Cross inside its own 20 four times. “Field position is a huge part of football,” Oplinger said. “So, being able to pin teams down, it kind of limits their play selection and gives us a chance to get after them. It takes a whole team to win a football game, especially like that, so the special teams are a huge portion of the game that he really stepped up at today, which helps us a ton.”
Yale’s offense did the majority of damage in the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Kurt Rawlings was efficient throwing the ball once again, completing 27-of-39 passes for 316 yards and two touchdowns, both to receiver Michael Siragusa in the second quarter. Siragusa, who hadn’t caught a touchdown this season, caught a 5-yard scoring pass early in the second quarter to give Yale a 10-0 lead. He added a 33-yarder with 56 seconds remaining in the half, and finished with five catches for 98 yards, a season best. Rawlings, due in part to protection from an experienced offensive line, is completing 70.2 percent of his passes this season. In the entirety of the Football Championship Subdivision, only Princeton’s Chad Kanoff, at 73.9 percent, has been more efficient.
“I’m very proud of this football team and how they handled themselves this week, from Sunday on.” Tony Reno, Joel E. Smilow ‘54 Head Coach of Football