Injured running backs Mordecai Cargill (knee) and Javi Sosa (ankle) are not back at practice yet. They have not been ruled out yet but will need to practice by Thursday to suit up on Saturday against Princeton.

"He is not quite ready yet," Yale coach Tom Williams said of Cargill. "I think he had some rehab jogging today and we will see by Thursday if he can do anything. If not, we feel we have enough depth with Deon (Randall) and Elijah (Thomas) that we can still make it through another week. Javi, it's the same situation."

Naturally Alex Thomas, coming off back to back 100-yard rushing games, will be Yale's featured back against a Princeton team which ranks 87th among 117 Football Championship Subdivision teams in rushing defense.

Williams also said that quarterback Patrick Witt's uncharacteristic series of underthrown balls in last week's win over Brown was not injury related.

"He just didn’t play well," Williams said. "There was nothing wrong with him physically, he just played his worst game of the year. Fortunately for us, we were able to overcome it with some special teams plays. The one to Chris Blohm (in the fourth quarter), he just didn’t set his feet. He tried to just throw it with his arm and it kind of died on him. He knows, he has been playing quarterback for a long time, that you set your feet and drive the football and he didn’t. He is a prideful guy, he saw the tape and knows he didn’t play well. He came out, (Yale offensive coordinator Brian) Stark and I talked about it, he is focused on being better."

Witt threw the ball with plenty of zip during practice on Tuesday.

Williams said that after looking at the tape, Yale was one block away from returning three consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns against Brown. As it was, sophomore Chris Smith became the first Ivy League player to return consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns. On the next kickoff, Alex Norocea was brought in and rather than kicking the ball in the air to the speedy Smith, he bounced the kick down to the 20. Williams said that one more executed block would have sprung Smith free again.

CULBREATH IFFY FOR SATURDAY
On Tuesday's Ivy League football coaches conference call, Princeton coach Bob Surace said he didn't expect tailback Jordan Culbreath, the 2008 Ivy League rushing leader who has had a well-documented return to the field after being sidelined with aplastic anemia, available on Saturday.

Culbreath injured his right knee in Saturday's loss to Penn and Surace speculated after the game that it could be a season-ending injury. While Culbreath has not officially been ruled out for the year, Surace was not optimistic about having him on the field against the Bulldogs.

"He will not be available," Surace said. "He's getting x-rays, hopefully we will know today. Hopefully we get good news but I am not counting on that."

Sophomore Javi Sosa was injured in the Yale junior varsity team's 21-6 loss to Bridgton Academy on Sunday as was Tate Harshbarger and Brandis Yarrington.

With the possibility of Mordecai Cargill having to miss at least one more game as he recovers from knee surgery, Yale is getting pretty thin at running back. Alex Thomas and Elijah Thomas (no relation) saw the bulk of work in Saturday's 31-28 win over Columbia while receiver Deon Randall also carried the ball out of the tailback position against the Lions.

Freshman Max Napolitano had two interceptions and John Whitelaw threw a 12-yard TD pass to Beau Palin for Yale's only score.

Yale sophomore running back Mordecai Cargill underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Wednesday morning according to Yale football coach Tom Williams. Obviously, Cargill was not at practice on Wednesday morning as the surgery was being done by Dr. Pat Ruwe. Cargill will miss this week's game against Penn and figures to be out for at last one more game.

Cargill, who missed last week's win over Fordham, is second on the Bulldogs with 234 yards rushing while his 5.7 average per carry is the best among any Yale player with more than one carry.

"The sooner we could get into it, the better," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "The hope is he can be back in 10 days."

Alex Thomas, who has run for a team-high 284 yards, has been back at practice after missing the Fordham game with bruised ribs. Williams said that the week that Thomas was held out of practice helped rest his legs and he looks fresher and sharper than he has in a couple of weeks. Sophomore Javi Sosa, who ran for a career-high 74 yards against Fordham, will serve as Thomas' top backup.

WITT SERVES SUSPENSION
Quarterback Patrick Witt served a one-game suspension because he accepted a ticket to an NFL game without paying for the ticket in advance.

The NCAA ruled that Yale was guilty of a secondary infraction and although Witt later paid for the ticket, he was suspended for Saturday's game against Fordham. The irony of it was that Witt's throwing shoulder was so banged up that he was not going to be able to play.

"We appealed and sent it to the NCAA," Williams said. "They issued a suspension. He paid his restitution and in their eyes he was absolved (after serving the one-game suspension.

"It is standard protocol, we want to be squeaky clean. Normally, from what I understand, once you pay the cost of the ticket you are immediately reinstated but if it goes over a certain price, they can suspend you. In this case, they chose to do that."

Witt has been able to practice without restriction this week and appears on course to start in Saturday's game against Penn.

CARLSEN IN AT PUNTER
Freshman Greg Carlsen, who delivered a 55-yard punt under duress late in Saturday's game against Fordham, is expected to handle the punting duties against the Quakers.
Former starting punter Alex Barnes will still do the kicking off while Philippe Panico is the field goal and extra point specialist although his grip on that job does not sound like it is unbreakable.

"Philippe, today is still our field goal guy," Williams said. "Tomorrow after practice I may feel differently but based what I saw today and the last couple of days, that is the way we'll go on Saturday."

For those who missed it, here's a link to the feature on senior linebacker Jesse Reising which ran in today's Register.