Don't forget how far the Bulldogs have come

Yale won't win the Ivy League title this year. Consecutive losses to Brown and Princeton have put an end to any hopes of a repeat championship. And because the Bulldogs have failed to match last year's achievements or this year's lofty expectations, many will regard this season—win or lose against Harvard—as a disappointment.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Yale's recent success has inspired fans to travel with the team to such remote places as Memorial Stadium in Hanover, NH.

But let's examine some facts. The Bulldogs are the only team in the conference to beat Penn, and they did so rather easily. They have guaranteed themselves a winning overall record and could still finish with a winning league record. Yale has a good chance of beating the hated Crimson for the third year in a row. Except for some last-minute bad luck against Cornell and Princeton, Yale could be playing for its second-consecutive Ivy title. That such a team could be viewed as a disappointment speaks volumes about how far the Bulldog program has come in such a short time.

When I first came to Yale in the fall of 1995, I was well aware of the school's proud football tradition. Little did I know, however, that my first three years in New Haven would also be some of the darkest in the history of Bulldog football. Freshman year, the team won just three games, lost to a horrid Harvard team, and finished in a tie for sixth in the league at 2-5. In 1996, the Bulldogs fared still worse, winning only two games overall, losing to Harvard, and finishing last in the Ivies at 1-6.

And then came 1997, a year that will live in infamy in Yale's football history. The Bulldogs won only one game (against Valparaiso), finishing winless and dead last in the league. On the cover of its Yale-Harvard game issue, the Yale Daily News questioned whether the squad was the "worst Yale team ever." To make matters even worse, Harvard's 17-7 victory over the Bulldogs propelled the Crimson to an undefeated league record and an Ivy championship.

As I stood in the stands watching the Harvard faithful pour onto the Yale Bowl field to celebrate their title, I wondered whether Yale would ever win an Ivy championship again. For that matter, I wondered whether Yale would ever win an Ivy game again. At that point, the Bulldogs had lost 13 straight league contests and hadn't won a league game in the Bowl in almost three seasons. Indeed, over my first three years at Yale, the team compiled a record of 6-24 (3-18 Ivy). And my class had yet to see a Yale victory in The Game. I began to understand what it's like to be a Columbia fan.

It's no wonder that so few people went to games during most of my undergraduate years at Yale. Even an avid fan like myself grew tired of the losses. It's difficult to get heavily invested in a team that is eliminated from title contention two or three games into the season. It's hard to find enjoyment watching a team whose offensive and defensive schemes look like they were drawn up by the designer of the Palm Beach butterfly ballot.

It's no wonder that losing became expected and tolerable, or why moral victories began to be coveted. I remember leaving the Penn game in 1997, not upset about the 26-7 loss, but rather glad that we had stayed close until well into the second half. When your team has lost eight games in a season, what's another?

Amazingly, the tide turned during my senior year. After a stunning, last-second upset of Brown in the 1998 season opener, Yale finished second in the league, beat Harvard 9-7 and sent notice that the Bulldogs were on their way back.

Then last year, Yale had a season for the ages, winning nine straight games, including the thrilling 24-21 victory over Harvard, en route to its 13th Ivy championship and first since 1989. The title that I couldn't imagine just two years earlier became a reality when Eric Johnson, JE '01, made "The Catch." The field at the Yale Bowl was colored blue, not crimson. A truly remarkable turnaround.

In the wake of the championship, this year's team was saddled with high expectations, made even loftier by their season-opening drubbing of Dayton. Despite the loss of star quarterback Joe Walland, TD '00, and others from the title squad, the 2000 edition of the Bulldogs showed much early talent and promise, going undefeated in non-conference play, routing Columbia 41-0 and moving into a tie for first place in the league at 3-1.

But two losses in a row have evened that record at 3-3 and sapped much of the energy surrounding this team. A win against Harvard would give the Bulldogs a 4-3 Ivy record, hardly impressive given the expectations put on this team. But remember that a loss to the Crimson—unthinkable as that might be—would still leave Yale with a 6-4 (3-4 Ivy) record, matching the overall and Ivy win totals of the 1995, 1996, and 1997 teams combined.

Sure, this season could have gone better. But the fact that this team is viewed as something of a letdown shows that Yale now expects greatness in the form of championships. That's a far cry from just three years ago when all we expected were losses. So, be disappointed. But be thankful that the bar has been raised.

Matthew Goldenberg, CC '99, is currently a second-year student at Yale Medical School.

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