Pretty forgettable first half by the Bulldogs.

By my count, Brook Hart has been sacked four times. He was also intercepted by Jared Sholly with the Penn sophomore returning the pick 15 yards for the game's only touchdown.

Yale had a promising opening drive behind some hard running by Rodney Reynolds. When the 12-play drive stalled, Tom Mante just missed a 54-yard field goal. Making matters worse, freshman Jeff Marrs was called for a personal foul allowing the Quakers to start their first drive inside Yale territory. The drive ended with Andrew Samson's 35-yard field goal.

Three plays later Hart telegraphed a pass intended for Chris Smith. Playing a zone blitz, Sholly retreated and jumped the route to put the Quakers up 9-0. A bad snap prevented the extra point from being attempted.

Yale did well to keep Penn off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

A few notes, Marcus Wallace got the start at strong safety for the injured Larry Abare.

The ever changing Yale offensive line featured Cory Palmer and Nathan Burow at tackles, Mike McInerney and Gabe Fernandez at guard and Jake Koury back at center after missing the last two games with a bruised calf.

Smith had a brilliant return on the opening kickoff negated by a holding penalty, called EXTREMELY late as was a personal foul call for a facemask on Adam Money to give Penn a chance to add to its lead in the final minute of the first half.

Adam Money and Travis Henry have had outstanding first half performances on defense for Yale while former Staples star Brian Levine has made his presence felt.

Yale, which managed only 92 yards of offense in last year's loss to Penn, managed just 56 yards on 30 plays in the first half.

If Yale doesn't protect Hart and apply some pressure on the pash rush, it could be a long second half.

Following up on the story I wrote regarding the impact the freshman class is having on the Yale football team, I decided to do some number crunching.

Last year when Yale lost at Fordham in the fifth game of the year, of the 49 players appeared on the game participation chart 20 were seniors while Jordan Haynes and Jake Stoller were the only freshmen to get into the game.

In Saturday's 7-0 win at Lehigh, again 49 players were entered into the game participation database. This time, however, nine were freshmen including starters Chris Smith (receiver), Jeff Marrs (offensive guard), Jordan Capellino (fullback) and Mordecai Cargill (tailback). I understand that the numbers were altered by the flu bug which hit the Yale team in the last week and a half but it is worth noting that in the fifth game last season, juniors and seniors accounted for 21 of the 22 offensive or defensive starters against Fordham. Sophomore receiver Jordan Forney was the only underclassman to start against the Rams.

In the Lehigh game, six seniors, eight juniors, four sophomores and four freshmen were the 22 starters on offense and defense.

Another thing I noticed from the boxscore were serious discrepancies in the defensive stats. Not only were Adam Money and Sean Williams not credited for forced fumbles, I found it curious that Yale was given eight assisted tackles while Lehigh defenders made 40 assisted tackles. At the risk of piling on, I had to chuckle when I saw that Lehigh had 32 solo tackles and 40 assists. If you have to wonder why tackles are not an official statistics in the NFL need only to look at the Yale-Lehigh boxscore.

It wasn't the prettiest of wins, that's for sure but a Yale squad without its starting tailback Jordan Farrell (out with the flu) and starting center Jake Koury (bruised calf) and then dealt with safety Larry Abare and receiver Jordan Forney being knocked out of the game, wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule with a gutsy win.

The only touchdown came on a 40-yard run by linebacker Paul Rice on a fake punt. Yale had been whistled for delay of game making the call all the more surprising.

The most noteworthy aspect of the game in my opinion was the play of the defensive line. Tom McCarthy had two sacks and blocked a field goal. Pat Moran was also in the backfield on a regular basis while Sean Williams had another strong game, capped by him snaring the ball on a bad pitch by De'Vaughn Gordon on an attempted hook and lateral play. He also forced a fumble. With Lehigh having used all of its timeouts, all that remained was for quarterback Brook Hart to take a knee on three straight plays. On a day where offensive success was the exception and not the rule, even that proved to be a challenge. Lehigh claimed they recovered the ball on third down. The officials disagreed to allow Yale to run out the final few seconds.

Junior cornerback Adam Money caused a fumble and had an interception.

Until some strong runs by senior Rodney Reynolds in the second half, it seemed as if Rice would end up as Yale's leading rusher. Reynolds, the starter coming out of the spring, had seen limited time. With Mordecai Cargill managing 16 carries on 15 yards and Alex Thomas added 13 on seven rushes, Yale turned to Reynolds in an attempt to run out the clock. Reynolds carried the ball 11 times for 45 yards to not only help secure a win but likely play himself back into the picture at tailback.

Hart struggled, throwing three interceptions including two on consecutive second-half drives. His final interception came when he did something quarterbacks at every level are instructed not to do - throw the ball late down the middle. He was just 12 of 31 for 86 yards. John Sheffield caught seven passes for 55 yards and he is now tied with Ashley Wright for third on Yale's career reception list.

The offensive line shuffle continued. With Koury again not able to do, Gabe Fernandez started again at center, the guards were freshman Jeff Marrs and sophomore Mike McInerney while Cory Palmer and Nathan Burow.

Yale is now 3-2, 1-1 in the Ivy League heading into Saturday's game at Penn. The Quakers won 27-13 at Columbia.

A couple of reminders, tomorrow's JV game has been cancelled and my weekly live chat will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. Log in to www.nhregister.com/chat to ask questions or just check it out.

Considering that Brook Hart is coming off a game where he passed for 390 yards, it should come as little surprise that Yale coach Tom Williams said Hart would start on Saturday when Yale plays at Lehigh. It will be Hart's first game in his home state of Pennsylvania as a college player. Hart was a member of the JV team in 2007 when Yale won at Penn in the Bulldogs' last game in the Keystone State.

Patrick Witt, who started the first three games before being benched for a violation of team rules in last week's 38-7 win over Dartmouth, could earn some time depending on how well he practices the rest of the week.

With freshman Scott Williams moving to defense and his injured classmate Derek Russell not expected to see any action this season, Yale is down to four quarterbacks. Bryan Farris and Dawson Halliday, who split time at quarterback on Yale's junior varsity team as freshmen, both shifted to defense. Farris actually plays both ways with the JV team since freshman Dez Duron is the only other quarterback available to play in the JV games. When Duron needs a break, Farris still plays some quarterback while also seeing plenty of time at safety.

Not much new to report on the injury front. Receiver Gio Christodoulou is out again with foot and ankle injuries. Offensive linemen Jake Koury (bruised calf) and Nate Blair (knee) are both questionable.

The major changes on the Yale depth chart feature the Bulldogs' impressive freshman class. Allen Harris is listed along with Jordan Forney as a potential starter at one receiving position, Chris Smith is the starter at the other position while Jeff Marrs is listed as the starting left guard.

Tom Williams' dad was at the weekly press conference at the Yale bookstore. He spent plenty of time speaking with former Yale coach Carm Cozza. It turns out that when Cozza was coaching at Miami (Ohio) before heading to Yale, Williams' dad was an assistant coach at rival Kent State.

A few other notes, for those who like to head out to the JV games, Sunday's contest against Navy Prep has been cancelled.

Finally, the third of my weekly live chats is set for Wednesday at 2 p.m. Log in to nhregister.com/chat.