Although I'm pleasantly surprised by this Yale football team, it's too early to say that they're "for real" Colgate was 0-3 and Cornell's victory came against a perennially weak Bucknell team. Week three will tell as Yale plays a nationally ranked Cal Poly team. If Yale can snatch a victory against Cal Poly than they're for real.
That's ridiculous. They're "for real" in the Ivy League if they can beat Ivy League schools -not Cal Poly, which is a completely different kind of school and plays with a totally different kind of athlete, even if they are 1AA. How about They're "for real" If they can beat Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia etc.
The Cal Poly game will be an interesting test against an unusual opponent (who is nationally ranked) but, like the Fordham game, isn't going to mean much. It would be a tremendous confidence booster to be able to hang around with them, or dare I say even beat them, but it has no real impact and certainly doesn't measure if they are "for real" as an Ivy contender. We already know they are - those first two games proved it. It wasn't just the wins, it was how they did it. Cornell was clearly focused on stopping Varga and I guess you could say they did - they cut his yardage total in half from game one. But it totally opened up the passing game - especially the screen game - and Deon Randall went off for four scores. This team is for real.
I define "for real" as being a legitimate contender for an Ivy League championship, which means beating Harvard. Harvard beat San Diego by 22 points, the same exact margin Cal. Poly beat San Diego by. So it's safe to say Harvard and Cal Poly are roughly equal. If Yale can't beat Cal Poly, they probably can't beat Harvard either.
Ok, no offense but the prior comment is silly, and shows no real football acumen. It ignores matchups, styles, injuries, game conditions, and on and on. Here's a version of the same logic applied to last year to point out the absurdity: Penn beat Harvard by 9, and Yale beat Penn by 14. So how come Yale didn't beat Harvard by 23?
To the previous post: Do you not think Harvard could compete in the Fcs playoffs with teams like Cal Poly? I believe they could. So If Yale is going to compete with Harvard this year they will have to demonstrate that they can compete at this level.
To answer your question very directly, no - Harvard could not compete at that level against scholarship schools. Any Ivy could get a surprise win here or there - and my hope is that Yale gets one Saturday, but Ivies are not going to consistently compete against the FCS schools that are allowed to offer 63 FULL scholarships and put up to 85 football players on some form of aid. These out of conference games are played as a test, a challenge, and an experience. The outcome against Cal Poly will tell us NOTHING about whether Yale can beat Harvard, and that will be true even if they lose 42-7.
Although I'm pleasantly surprised by this Yale football team, it's too early to say that they're "for real" Colgate was 0-3 and Cornell's victory came against a perennially weak Bucknell team. Week three will tell as Yale plays a nationally ranked Cal Poly team. If Yale can snatch a victory against Cal Poly than they're for real.
ReplyDeleteThat's ridiculous. They're "for real" in the Ivy League if they can beat Ivy League schools -not Cal Poly, which is a completely different kind of school and plays with a totally different kind of athlete, even if they are 1AA. How about They're "for real" If they can beat Dartmouth, Penn, Columbia etc.
ReplyDelete"etc." ??
ReplyDeleteThe Cal Poly game will be an interesting test against an unusual opponent (who is nationally ranked) but, like the Fordham game, isn't going to mean much. It would be a tremendous confidence booster to be able to hang around with them, or dare I say even beat them, but it has no real impact and certainly doesn't measure if they are "for real" as an Ivy contender. We already know they are - those first two games proved it. It wasn't just the wins, it was how they did it. Cornell was clearly focused on stopping Varga and I guess you could say they did - they cut his yardage total in half from game one. But it totally opened up the passing game - especially the screen game - and Deon Randall went off for four scores. This team is for real.
ReplyDeleteI define "for real" as being a legitimate contender for an Ivy League championship, which means beating Harvard. Harvard beat San Diego by 22 points, the same exact margin Cal. Poly beat San Diego by. So it's safe to say Harvard and Cal Poly are roughly equal. If Yale can't beat Cal Poly, they probably can't beat Harvard either.
ReplyDeleteOk, no offense but the prior comment is silly, and shows no real football acumen. It ignores matchups, styles, injuries, game conditions, and on and on. Here's a version of the same logic applied to last year to point out the absurdity: Penn beat Harvard by 9, and Yale beat Penn by 14. So how come Yale didn't beat Harvard by 23?
ReplyDeleteTo the previous post: Do you not think Harvard could compete in the Fcs playoffs with teams like Cal Poly? I believe they could. So If Yale is going to compete with Harvard this year they will have to demonstrate that they can compete at this level.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question very directly, no - Harvard could not compete at that level against scholarship schools. Any Ivy could get a surprise win here or there - and my hope is that Yale gets one Saturday, but Ivies are not going to consistently compete against the FCS schools that are allowed to offer 63 FULL scholarships and put up to 85 football players on some form of aid. These out of conference games are played as a test, a challenge, and an experience. The outcome against Cal Poly will tell us NOTHING about whether Yale can beat Harvard, and that will be true even if they lose 42-7.
ReplyDeleteScholly schools like Cal Poly have a decided advantage. Anyway, great job, Bulldogs, on an excellent start, frustrating the Reno haters and naysayers.
ReplyDelete