Defending Ivy League championships too much for Eli to handle

Yale, picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League, has been trying to prove the pre-season polls wrong all season. But last Sat., Oct. 17 at Franklin Field, the Bulldogs were forced to accept that Penn is perhaps the best football team in the ancient eight. The painful 21-3 loss put the Bulldogs far out of contention for the league crown.

MELISSA GARREN/YH Yale's offensive game was smothered by the Penn defense.

Yale knew that Penn, led by all-Ivy standouts quarterback Gavin Hoffman '02 and running back Kris Ryan '02, could put points on the board, having outscored opponents 157-37 in only five games. Despite the intimidating offense, Yale's young defense, especially cornerbacks Greg Owens, JE '04, and Steve Ehikian, BK '04, played with poise. They held Hoffman to 18-26 passing and only 235 yards in the air. Meanwhile, Ryan, who averages 131.8 yards on the ground, managed only 79 yards on 29 attempts. The defense allowed only 14 points on the day; Penn's other seven came off a fumble by Peter Lee, TD '02.

But Penn's defense played even better than Yale's. Not only did they manage to contain Yale's offense; they tore it apart. On many downs, Penn threw five players on the defensive line. The blitz kept Peter Lee off of his feet, sacking him a record 10 times. Lee, a drop-back passer, simply never had time to drop back and pass. Yale's first and only score came from a field goal in the first quarter. Penn's blitz also stopped Yale's running game in its tracks.

Yale's running backs, who had been running for over 200 yards in the two previous games, were able to gain only 45 positive yards against the Quakers. Not helping the situation was yet another injury, this one to starting left guard Kyle Metzler, JE '02, who has been a stalwart on the offensive line for three years.

Despite this setback, Yale is looking forward to a full game against Columbia on Sat., Oct. 27 in New York, complete with both the strong defense from last week and a revitalized offense. As Lee said, "I think we generally learn more from a tough loss like Penn than an easy win, and we are ready to get our offense back on track for the rest of the season."

—Geoff Chepiga and Erin Fitzpatrick

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