A tale of two special teams for the Bulldogs

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was two successful fake punts; it was two fumbled punt returns. It was a well-orchestrated, 89-yard drive in the two-minute drill; it was five yards too short. It was a total-yardage battle: Yale 419, Dartmouth 164; it was a final score: Dartmouth 22, Yale 19.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Kick returns have been a weakness for Yale.

For the Bulldogs, the Sat., Oct. 17 loss at Dartmouth was simultaneously thrilling and tragic. "I thought we played the best game on both sides of the ball that we've played all season," head coach Jack Siedlecki said. "We completely outplayed them, but we lost. That's a tough thing to swallow." The defeat was especially wrenching in that, unlike in previous losses to Connecticut and Colgate, Yale's defense was not dominated by a powerful quarterback, nor was the Eli offense stifled. Instead, the Bulldogs lost the game on special teams.

Play by Yale's special teams was, like its overall performance, "as contrasting as could be," Siedlecki said. "We had some good plays, but we made four huge mistakes." Those four errors ultimately cost the Bulldogs the game. All of Dartmouth's 22 points came, directly or indirectly, from the special teams blunders.

Yale dominated the game in the first half, making three deep drives into Dartmouth territory, each of which resulted in a Mike Murawczyk, MC '01, field goal. Poor kickoff coverage, however, allowed the Big Green to gain field position in Yale territory, leading to a halftime score of 9-9. "There's no way it should have been a 9-9 game at the half," Siedlecki said. "We're not kicking the ball deep enough. We've got to get the ball deeper to get good coverage."

But while the special teams' performance in the first half was bad, things would only get much worse. On two consecutive Dartmouth punts in the third quarter, returner Todd Tomich TC '01, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year, fumbled the ball, leading to two Dartmouth touchdowns. Yet, despite these errors, Siedlecki plans to stick with his return man. "We have tremendous confidence in Todd," Siedlecki said. "He's one of the best players we have. The first fumble wasn't his fault. One of our guys hit Todd as he caught the ball. The second one was just not a smart play."

For all that went wrong for special teams on Saturday, one thing went right: Murawczyk. His four field goals set a school record, and he currently leads Division I-AA in field goals per game (1.8). Against Dartmouth, he even got to try his hand at quarterback, successfully completing two passes on fake punts in the fourth quarter. "We're asking him to do a lot," Siedlecki said. "He's done a great job on the fakes. He's a sophomore who's still developing, but he's been real good."

For Murawczyk, handling kicking and punting responsibilities this season has been a welcome change from last year. "Placekicking is a real job now. Last year, it was just an every now and then type of thing." And, while his punting has suffered somewhat because he has had to split time between his two roles, it is his placekicking in which he takes the most pride. "I fell much more comfortable in my role now," Murawczyk said. "The combination of [snapper Steve] Petrie, [holder] Kenny [Marschner] and me is one of the best in the nation."

While Murawczyk's place-kicking has been impressive, his many field goals are symptoms of Yale's recent bout of red-zone anemia. Against Holy Cross and Dartmouth, Yale drove the ball inside the 20-yard line nine times but scored only one touchdown. "If we were in the NFL, everybody would be happy," Siedlecki said. "They love field goals."

But this weekend's visitors from New York are neither Giants nor Jets, but they are Lions. And if Yale is to win its Sat., Oct. 24 game against Columbia, Muraw-czyk will have to start kicking fewer field goals and more extra points. However, touchdowns may be hard to come by against a tough Columbia defense that is second in the league in scoring defense (16.8 points per game). "They're a very good defensive team," Siedlecki said. "It's going to be a real physical game."

With a win over the Lions (2-3, 1-1 Ivy), Yale can keep its Ivy championship hopes alive. "I feel good about our chances," Siedlecki said. "We've got the two undefeated teams [Pennsylvania and Princeton] ahead on our schedule, so we control our own destiny. We're good enough to compete for the title. We just have to find a way to win."

Ah, yes. Winning is a far, far better thing.

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