Two years ago Brown was on the cusp of clinching the Ivy League title when a Yale team which had lost two of its previous three games went up to Providence and came away with a 13-3 victory.

After practice this morning I asked Yale defensive end and team captain Tom McCarthy if the Bulldogs will have any more confidence having won at Brown Stadium in their last trip. McCarthy didn't think that would necessarily be the case.

"Brown had a great team that year," McCarthy said. "Everybody thought they were going to beat us that day. For whatever reason in the Yale/Brown series, the road team has a big advantage (winning 10 of the last 14 games). Every year is a different year and this team is different from the team two years ago so we don't really think about what happened two years ago as much as it pertains to this year's game."

A few tidbits from practice.

Sophomore receiver Chris Smith, who injured his shoulder in the first half of last week's win over Columbia and sat out the second half, was back at practice.

"He shadowed yesterday, we haven't (had Smith) run a lot of live routes but he ran routes behind the line of scrimmage to get the timing stuff but today he did practice and he is ready to go."

Williams said senior Matt Phelan could start again at defensive tackle.

"He might," Williams said. "He is playing his tail off. He is a bull in there and I think people have a hard time moving him. Coach (Duane) Brooks came and we talked about his practice and we told the other guys 'look, he is playing better than you right now.' We are going to reward him with a start and based on what I've seen this week, there is no reason to change it."