Frustration to aid in Fordham fight

By Erin Fitzpatrick and Geoff Chepiga

It was supposed to be another comeback. With just over two minutes left in last weekend's game against Dartmouth (1-2, 1-1 Ivy), the score 32-27 in favor of the Big Green, quarterback Peter Lee, TD '02, found Billy Brown, CC '02, over the middle for a 12-yard pass that brought the Bulldogs down to Dartmouth's 12 yard line.The Bulldogs (2-1, 1-1 Ivy), with plenty of time and downs left, were facing a second and one and had all the rhythm on their side. The momentum had been there just the week before, when a field goal with four seconds left gave Yale a one-point victory over Holy Cross. It had also been there two minutes earlier in last weekend's game, when Lee found Keith Reams, MC '02, in the endzone, bringing the Elis within striking distance of Dartmouth.

But then the music stopped. Lee threw an incomplete pass on second down and then threw over the head of his receiver on third down. His pass on fourth down never had a chance, bouncing a few feet in front of Brown. The team, the crowd, and even the Dartmouth team seemed to share the same puzzlement at the last-second play selection. "It seemed really easy—sure, just give the ball to [running back] Robert Carr, [MC '05]. He had 185 yards rushing on the day—sure, [he thought he could] get us one yard for the first down," safety Ryan LoProto, SM '02, said. "But when you're in a two-minute drill, it's like a rhythm. Everything was hitting on all cylinders. Then it just stalled and I don't know why."

Though the Bulldogs played well against Dartmouth, a handful of inexplicable stall-outs gave them their first Ivy loss of the season. Twice, would-be Bulldogs interceptions turned into Dartmouth touchdowns. The first came late in the second quarter. Yale was ahead by six and Dartmouth faced a third and 22 from its own 38. With the blitz on, Dartmouth quarterback Greg Smith '02 rushed a half-hearted pass to a well-covered Matt DeLellis '02. Cornerback Greg Owens, JE '04, leapt up for an interception but jumped too early. The ball sailed over his head and into the arms of DeLellis, who, since the safeties were up for the blitz, had a wide-open 50-yard dash into the endzone. DeLellis finished the day with an impressive 186 yards receiving and three touchdowns. The second, even more momentum-breaking stall came late in the third quarter. LoProto, who led Yale in interceptions last season, went up to steal a Dartmouth pass only to have the ball hit a few inches down on the cast he was wearing to cover his fractured forearm. The ball took a strange bounce and flew into the arms of a Dartmouth receiver in the endzone.

Perhaps the worst bounce of the day, however, came midway through the second quarter, when Lee scrambled to get a first down but landed awkwardly on his left ankle. Lee stayed in the game, but the injury prevented him from running the ball and even more crucially from dropping back to pass. When Lee took the snap under center, he had to hand the ball off because he could not move. Whenever he wanted to throw, he had to go to the shotgun snap. This allowed Dartmouth to know exactly what Lee was going to do. It may also have been why Lee threw on second, third, and fourth down on the final drive. If he had gone under center, Dartmouth's defense knew he was going to hand off and could have stymied the run.

Despite the bad bounces and a few disputed pass-interference calls, Yale has been concentrating on what both it and Dartmouth did right over the weekend. "I don't think we can only fault ourselves," Captain Tim Penna, BK '02, said. "We have to give Dartmouth their due credit. Their quarterback was very good; he made a lot of things happen and their offensive passing attack just outdid us." Dartmouth quarterback Greg Smith completed 38 of 54 passes for an impressive 407 yards and five touchdowns. The Big Green, who had seven different players making receptions, spread the wealth very well and kept the Bulldog defense guessing. Their use of quick screen passes and slants out to the flats worked well and kept Yale's cornerbacks confused.

This Sat., Oct. 16, before the long stretch of Ivy games begins, the Elis have one more chance to harmonize the few discordant tones of last weekend's play when they face the 2-2 Fordham Rams at the Yale Bowl. The Rams, of the Patriot League, are not a traditionally strong team, but last year the Elis squeaked by them with a last-minute 24-17 win. Quarterback Mike Carney '02 has played solid football, throwing for 10 touchdowns and averaging just under 300 yards a game. Yet Fordham's talent, according to the team, is not on the same level as Yale's, and the Bulldogs are set on making sure bad bounces don't turn into more losses. LoProto is confident. "They picked a bad weekend to play us," he said.

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