Yale senior linebacker Jordan Haynes and quarterback Patrick Witt were the only Ivy League players named to the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star Team.

Haynes is a political science and internation studies major with a 3.62 GPA and was an All-Ivy pick as a junior and senior.
Witt, a political science major with a 3.91 GPA, was a three-year starter at quarterback who set Yale career records for passes attempted, completed and passing yards.

Witt and Haynes were also among the 12 finalists selected for the 11th Annual FCS ADA's $5,000 postgraduate scholarship. Two student-athletes will receive postgraduate scholarships during the Association's annual membership meeting held at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas, June 25-28.

The other finalists are seniors Justin Aldredge, Northwestern State, TE, 3.90; Mitch Allen, Wofford, QB, 3.96; Tim Bolte, Bucknell, LB, 3.93; Ben Boothby, Northern Iowa, DT, 3.89; Yaser Elqutub, Northwestern State, LB, 3.85; Kalan Jenkins, Georgia State, NG, 3.94; Marcus Lott, Coastal Carolina, S, 3.91; Mike McCabe, Holy Cross, OT, 3.62; Mike McElroy, Southern Illinois, S, 3.73; and Matt Rae, Rhode Island, DT, 3.71.

Senior linebacker Jordan Haynes was Yale's lone representative on the All-Ivy League first team.

Haynes, the team captain, led Yale with 81 tackles while sharing for the team lead with five tackles for losses and two fumble recoveries.

Chris Smith, who was honored as a receiver and returnman, offensive guard Gabe Fernandez, running back Alex Thomas, defensive tackle Jake Stoller, linebacker Will McHale, cornerback Drew Baldwin and return specialist were second-team selections.

Quarterback Patrick Witt and receiver Deon Randall were honorable mention selections.

Princeton running back Chuck Dibilio was named the league's rookie of the year while Penn offensive tackle Greg Van Roten and linebacker Erik Rask, Dartmouth running back Nick Schwieger and Harvard defensive tackle Josue Ortiz and defensive back Matthew Hanson were unanimous All-Ivy selections.

When Jordan Haynes and his fellow seniors came to New Haven, expectations were high.

Yale had won 17 games over the previous two seasons and visions of Ivy League championships were bouncing around in an impressive recruiting class.

However, their run at Yale ended without any league titles, no H-Y-P crowns and one of the most humbling losses in recent Yale football history.

Haynes, the linebacker and team captain, was a rock solid spokesman right to the end trying his best to express his disappointment after a 45-7 loss to Harvard, the worst in the series since 1982.

"It came down to us not executing against a good football team and being the captain and ending my career this way it is definitely a low point for me in my 12 years of playing football," Haynes said. "All I can hope for is we have a good group of football players (coming back) and Yale football doesn't end here. I can hope that the guy in the coming years can make things happen."

The loss was a tough one for record-breaking quarterback Patrick Witt who threw three interceptions including one which was returned for a touchdown.

"In the same way that a pitcher goes out there and get shelled a little bit, I just didn't have my good stuff today and it is unfortunate on such a big stage not to perform the way you know you can," Witt said.

The focus in the coming days and week figure to center around the future of Yale coach Tom Williams, the subject of a Yale internal investigation to verify he is the Rhodes Scholarship candidate he said he was when applying for the Yale job and in recent interviews when Witt was going through the process of picking to play in the Harvard game and pass on his Rhodes final interview.

A source told me that Stanford has confirmed Williams' claim that he was endorsed to pursue a Rhodes Scholarship during his days at the school while other sources believe Williams could be in danger of losing his job.

Yale senior linebacker Jordan Haynes and senior quarterback Patrick Witt were named to the Capital One Academic All-District 1 squad.

Haynes, the Yale captain, leads the Bulldogs with 70 tackles and has recovered two fumbles. He also carries a 3.62 grade point average with a double major of political science and international studies.

Witt, a Rhodes Scholar finalist and also a finalist for the Campbell Trophy, had thrown for 1,763 yards with 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He already owns Yale's career records in passes completed and attempted and needs 54 yards to break Alvin Cowan's school record for career passing yards.

The first practice of the week did not lack for intensity but after seeing a few scuffles between teammates and some chirping back and forth did not sit well with Yale coach Tom Williams.

Williams began his post-practice address by challenging his players to talk the talk only if they can walk the walk, something that did not happen enough in Saturday's loss at Lafayette.

"I made that point after practice that the line is drawn when the play on Saturday is not a result," Williams said. "When you can talk the game on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and not play that way on Saturday, it is just talk. They have to make sure they back it up. That is my whole point. If you want to be a tough guy, you have to be a tough guy on Saturday. Don't be a tough guy Tuesday-Thursday, be a tough guy on Saturday. I am anxious to see if we can do that."

It was a pretty productive practice other than the stuff after the whistle. Chris Smith, whose 174 receiving yards against Lafayette was the 11th best performance in Yale football history and most since Peter Balsam's 181 yards against Brown in 2008, made some impressive catches including a sweet grab of an underthrown ball which resulted in an enthusiastic greeting from his position coach Kefense Hynson. His fellow receivers were not having as much luck holding onto the ball.

Defensively, Jake Stoller (who has 3 1/2 sacks in the last two games) and Jordan Haynes came away with turnovers with Stoller bringing a fumble back about 50 yards for a score.

Wes Gavin, who started the first four games of the season at left tackle, remains on crutches with his injured left ankle protected by a walking boot. It doesn't look promising for Gavin to be back for Saturday's game against Penn. Freshman defensive back Nick LaTesta, a special teams standout, missed Tuesday's practice with a shoulder injury but Williams is hopeful LaTesta will be ready for Saturday's game.

Even if Georgetown hadn't opened the season with wins over Davidson and Lafayette, the Hoyas are in no danger of being overlooked by Yale on Saturday when the Bulldogs open the 2011 season with a noon game against Georgetown at the Yale Bowl.

The Bulldogs seemingly had the game well in their control with a 27-14 halftime lead. Spurred on by touchdowns by New Haven natives Jeremy Moore and Keerome Lawrence, Georgetown scored 21 straight points to take a 35-27 lead and needed a last-minute drive to come away with a 40-35 victory.

Patrick Witt threw for 407 yards and a pair of touchdowns and had the game-winning score on a 1-yard run as time expired.

Witt has a pretty good idea of how Georgetown wants to play defensively.

"There is a lot out there against this defense," Witt said. "One of the big things about them, is they don't want to let you get behind them. You have to be patient and be willing to take five yards, eight yards at a time and not try to be greedy."

Here is senior linebacker Jordan Haynes' take on Georgetown.

"Defensively, we are excited," Haynes said. "It will be a good challenge for us. They have some good receivers, a good quarterback who played last year. We are excited for the opportunity to test our eyes. They run a lot of different , they have several different receivers, they have a quarterback who likes to run it."

Yale coach Tom Williams likes what he has seen from his team during practice this week.

"I think our team is hungry and ready to go," Williams said. "I know our offense wants to have a better showing than against Dean. Now that we have a game plan and have some concrete examples of what they are going to see on Saturday, I expect them to be better and the defense will look to pick up where they left off."

I will be hosting a chat with Yale senior linebacker and team captain Jordan Haynes today. The event will start at 1:15 p.m. with Jordan expected to join me around 1:30 p.m. The event will run until 2 or until we run out of questions, whichever comes first since the first of Yale's weekly press gatherings is slated to start at 2 p.m.

You can check the www.nhregister.com site or try this link

Yale senior linebacker and captain Jordan Haynes has graciously agreed to take part in a live chat tomorrow from 1:30-2 p.m. before the first of the weekly Yale press gatherings at Mory's. You can keep an eye on the www.nhregister.com site for more specific details but I will post a direct link so people can ask questions of Jordan or myself.

Yale's defense, outside of one play, and special teams had strong performances in Saturday's 24-7 win over Dean College in a scrimmage at the Yale Bowl.

Yale had seven sacks (of course with the no hitting the quarterback rule at the scrimmage, defenders only needed to be in the general vicinity to get some of these sacks.

Carter Deutsch, who is back on defense after a move to the offensive line, had three of the sacks while Cliff Foreman had two sacks. Jordan Haynes led Yale with six tackles (according to my unofficial stats). After Haynes made his presence felt on Dean's first offensive possession, one of their assistant coaches could be heard telling his players "we've got to block the Mike (linebacker). Why can't we block the Mike." I am sure more than a few Ivy League coaches said or thought the same thing since Haynes is the Mike or middle linebacker at Yale. Haynes was not the author of the best hit of the scrimmage. That came from sophomore tight end who rumbled for yardage on his only reception when a Dean player came in and tried to lay a huge hit on Coty. The result was the defender being knocked backwards and Coty continued to move forward as if he was barely touched. The play happened in front of the Yale sideline and Coty's teammates went absolutely crazy after the play.

On special teams, Gio Christodolou brought back a punt 65 yards for a touchdown and a fumble recovery on a dropped Dean punt led to Alex Thomas' 2-yard touchdown. Yale coach Tom Williams was impressed with the efforts of his freshmen punters Parker Toms and Kyle Cazzetta.

He was not as happy with the effort of the first-team offense. At halftime he challenged them to come down the field and score and the Bulldogs did just that. Thomas ran three times for 41 of his team-high 45 yards on the six-play, 79-yard drive which ended with Patrick Witt hooking up with Chris Smith on a 28-yard touchdown.

Witt struggled at times throwing the ball down the field although he finished 13 of 20 for 122 yards with the one touchdowns and an interception. Smith led the team with 51 yards on three catches while Allen Harris had a team-high four catches.

Yale offensive starters were Witt, Mordecai Cargill at tailback, Cameron Sandquist, Deon Randall and Allen Harris at receiver, Kyle Wittenauer at tight end and the offensive line of tackles Roy Collins and Wes Gavin, guards Gabe Fernandez and Colin Kruger and center John Oppenheimer. On defense, it was ends Matt Battaglia and Austin Pulsipher, tackles Reed Spiller and Jake Stoller, linebackers Haynes, Will McHale and Wes Moyer, cornerbacks Drew Baldwin and Dawson Halliday and safeties Geoff Dunham and Nick Okano.

As for the freshmen, William Chism and Ben Carbery saw time on the second-team offensive line, linebacker Will Vaughan, running back Wynston Bouknight and corner Nick LaTesta where the ones I noticed as well as the two aforementioned punters.

There have been some injuries among the freshmen. Running back Kahlil Keys suffered a knee injury during practice earlier in the week and he may miss the season, defensive back Ethan DeSilva had a knee injury late in his senior season at Mission Viejo (Calif.) and will not play this season. Chism hurt his hand in the scrimmage and had an MRI done on Saturday.

Thanks to one of the readers of this blog for providing the link on the Consensus Draft Services Preseason FCS All-American teams.
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Senior linebacker Jordan Haynes and senior quarterback Patrick Witt were named as honorable mention selections.

Haynes led Yale with 102 including 10 tackles for losses and also had three fumble recoveries and two interceptions as a junior.

Witt led the Ivy League with 2,216 passing yards in 2010 and heads into his senior season sixth on Yale's career charts with 3,665 passing yards.

Yale captain and senior linebacker Jordan Haynes was one of 41 Football Championship Subdivision linebackers named to the preseason watch list by the College Football Performance Awards.

As a junior, Haynes led Yale was 102 and was also the team lead with 10 tackles for losses and three fumble recoveries while he had two interceptions and 1 1/2 sacks.

Classmate Patrick Witt, who had 2,216 passing yards with 12 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions in 2010, was named to the quarterback watch list last month.

Also, I'm about a week late on this but Yale was picked to finish third in the Ivy League by the Sporting News (which is a few months premature in picking the order of finish considering fall drills don't start until August). Penn was picked to finish first followed by Harvard and Yale.

Former Cheshire High star Billy Ragone, a quarterback at Penn, was named the preseason player of the year while Yale incoming freshman Max Fink was predicted to win the rookie of the year award.

If picking the order of finish is a little dicey at this time, picking a freshman of the year is just outlandish. I've never seen Fink play so I can't say what sort of impact he will have. However, considering the amount of returning experienced players in the defensive front seven (where Fink projects to play), I'd be surprised to see any freshmen contribute early on. If I were picking a Yale player as a potential impact player as a freshman I'd lean towards offensive lineman Ben Carbery (not that an offensive lineman is likely to win an award like that) or defensive backs Rob Coury and Ethan DeSilva since Yale lost two starters on both the offensive line and in the defensive secondary.

As for the player of the year, Ragone was a finalist for the Bushnell Cup in 2010 so it's certainly possible that he could win the award in 2011 especially if Penn wins the title. Dartmouth running back Nick Schwieger does return after sharing Ivy player of the year honors as a junior. I said in the days leading up to the announcement of the Bushnell Cup that no other Ivy League player impressed me more than Harvard defensive lineman Josue Ortiz and since he is back for his senior season, he would be my pick for player of the year.

Tight end Chris Blohm didn't waste much time making an impression in front of New England Patriots scout James Liipfert and Ray Walsh Jr. of the New York Giants.

Blohm benched 225 pounds 30 times at Yale's pro day on Thursday and also was the only participant to clear 10 feet in the broad jump, maxing out at 10-1 throw in a 35 inch vertical leap and 40-yard dash times of 4.89 and 4.91 and it's easy to understand why Green Bay and Atlanta are among the teams showing interest in Blohm.

"It's been intense," Blohm said. "I was hoping to hit the number, the magic number (30 on the bench press) so it was exciting to get it. I am excited to see what happens and hoping for some positive reaction to these numbers. I was pretty pleased with all of them. The 40 was a question mark and it turned out to be OK. I am going to keep working out with these guys (fellow Yale seniors Shane Bannon, Tom McCarthy, Adam Money and Sean Williams) and (Yale''s head strength and conditioning coach) Emil (Johnson) and wait to see if there is any feedback."

While Blohm took part in every drill, Bannon, McCarthy and Williams picked their spots since all three had strong performances at other pro days.

"It's hard when you are an Ivy League guy," Yale defensive line coach Duane Brooks said. "I think all these guys can get in (camps). Tommy had the breakout at Fordham's (pro day). Blohm had a great day today and Bannon (Wednesday in Tolland). The question is can they get into a camp. The Jaguars and Miami are in the (Yale football) office. Tommy's going down to Jacksonville, Blohmer is probably going to San Francisco at some point. Detroit called, Atlanta called because when your numbers hit, people want to be involved. Money is a wild card guy. He is a guy who can do a lot of things and it's something he didn't think about before. It is a lot to think about. I think Tom (Williams, Yale's head football coach and a former assistant coach with the Jaguars), the way he talks to us, the way we practice it gives you a feel of what that life can be if that's what you want. Who thought about Shane Bannon (as an NFL prospect) and all of a sudden he is on the radar."

McCarthy's stock has been soaring since a standout effort at Fordham's pro day earlier this month. Before leaving on Thursday, McCarthy gave Liipfert his e-mail address, a pretty good indication that the Patriots are interested. Jacksonville and the Giants head the teams who have reached out to McCarthy and he is expected to have private workouts for both teams next month.

Bannon had a strong effort on Wednesday at a pro day in Tolland highlighted by a 4.69 clocking in the 40 and testing out well in the agility drills as well. He made a brilliant one-handed catch during pass receiving drills on Thursday.

"It is kind of a relief," Bannon said. "It is kind of emotional being here doing this after all this time. It is something we dream of and the fact that we got to do it was pretty awesome. For my size, my numbers are right where I wanted them to be. I am pretty pleased what I was able to do and accomplish these past couple of days."

Former Xavier High star Shea Dwyer, who set Wesleyan's single season record for rushing yards, as well as Southern Connecticut State defensive back Richard Kirkland also took part in the pro day on Thursday.

Yale will be having its junior pro day on Saturday with quarterback Patrick Witt, running back Alex Thomas, defensive linemen Jake Stoller and Pat Moran and linebacker Jordan Haynes expected to go through many of the same drills their former Yale teammates went through on Thursday.

Yale officially released its spring practice schedule and it will begin on April 4 and wrap up on Apr. 23 at 2 p.m. with the spring game which will start at 2 p.m. at the Yale Bowl.

No Yale players made the cut as the Ivy League named the four finalists for the Asa Bushnell Cup given annually to the Ivy League Player of the Year.

The four finalists were running backs Gino Gordon of Harvard and Nick Schwieger of Dartmouth, quarterback Billy Ragone of Penn (and a former Cheshire High star) and receiver Trey Peacock of Princeton. The winner will be announced on Monday.

What I'm stuck by is that not one defensive player is on the list. In the games I saw this season, the opposing player who impressed me the most is Harvard defensive lineman Josue Ortiz. Alex Gross of Columbia had an outstanding year and I think that without Jordan Haynes, Yale could probably add at least two more losses to its season total.

Yale junior linebacker Jordan Haynes will receive an award for being the top defensive player among the New Haven, Southern Connecticut State and Yale teams at the New Haven Gridiron Club annual awards night on Dec. 9 at the Cascade Banquet Facility in Hamden.

YALE RECRUIT HURT IN CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
Stephen Shoemaker, a two-way starting lineman at Bronxville (N.Y.) High, was taken from the Carrier Dome in a stretcher during Sunday's New York Class C championship game.

Shoemaker, who had 1 1/2 sacks on defense and was part of an offensive line which allowed Bronxville to run for 266 yards in a 34-14 win over General Brown, injured his ankle but x-rays showed no significant damage according to a report in the Journal News.

Junior linebacker and leading tackler Jordan Haynes, senior defensive end and team captain Tom McCarthy and senior safety Adam Money were named to the All-Ivy League first team.

Haynes, elected the captain of the 2011 Yale team, had 102 tackles, two interceptions, three fumble recoveries and 10 tackles for losses. McCarthy had 31 tackles, four sacks and forced three fumbles despite missing three games while Money had 37 tackles and three interceptions.

Yale junior quarterback Patrick Witt, whose 2,216 yards were the third highest single-season total in Yale history, junior running back Alex Thomas (710 rushing yards), senior tight end Chris Blohm (26 receptions) and sophomore receiver Chris Smith (team-best 46 catches) were second-team selections. Smith actually was a second-team pick both as a receiver and as a return specialist. Senior center Jake Koury, senior defensive end Sean Williams and junior cornerback Drew Baldwin were honorable mention selections.

Former Cheshire High star Billy Ragone was one of nine players to Ivy League champion Penn named to the first team. Ironically, the other first-team quarterback was fellow sophomore and Connecticut native Sean Brackett as the Columbia QB starred scholastically at Griswold High.

Princeton receiver Trey Peacock, Harvard defensive lineman Josue Ortiz, Harvard defensive back Collin Zych and Dartmouth return specialist Shawn Abuhoff were the only unanimous first-team selections while Cornell quarterback Jeff Mathews was the unanimous selection as the league's rookie of the year.

The Yale players I thought would have garnered at least honorable mention honors not on the list are junior guard Gabe Fernandez and sophomore linebacker Will McHale.

Here's the complete list
FIRST TEAM ALL-IVY
Offense
OL -- Patrick Conroy, Brown
OL -- Jeff Adams, Columbia
OL -- Ryan O’Neill, Dartmouth
OL -- Joe D’Orazio, Penn
OL -- Luis Ruffolo, Penn
OL -- Greg Van Roten, Penn
QB -- Sean Brackett, Columbia
QB -- Billy Ragone, Penn
RB -- Nick Schwieger, Dartmouth
RB -- Gino Gordon, Harvard
FB -- Luke DeLuca, Penn
WR -- Alexander Tounkara, Brown
WR -- Tim McManus, Dartmouth
WR -- Trey Peacock, Princeton*
TE -- Andrew Kennedy, Columbia

Defense
DL -- Charles Bay, Dartmouth
DL -- Josue Ortiz, Harvard*
DL -- Brandon Copeland, Penn
DL -- Tom McCarthy, Yale
LB -- Alex Gross, Columbia
LB -- Erik Rask, Penn
LB -- Zack Heller, Penn
LB -- Jordan Haynes, Yale
DB -- A.J. Cruz, Brown
DB -- Calvin Otis, Columbia
DB -- Shawn Abuhoff, Dartmouth
DB -- Collin Zych, Harvard*
DB -- Josh Powers, Penn
DB -- Adam Money, Yale

Special Teams
PK -- Patrick Jacob, Princeton
P -- Drew Alston, Cornell
RS -- Shawn Abuhoff, Dartmouth*


SECOND TEAM ALL-IVY
Offense
OL -- Brian Ellixson, Brown
OL -- Austen Fletcher, Dartmouth
OL -- Chris LeRoy, Harvard
OL -- Kevin Murphy, Harvard
OL -- Ben Osborne, Harvard
OL -- Drew Luango, Penn
QB -- Patrick Witt, Yale
RB -- Trevor Scales, Harvard
RB -- Brandon Colavita, Penn
RB -- Alex Thomas, Yale
WR -- Andrew Kerr, Princeton
WR -- Chris Smith, Yale
TE -- John Gallagher, Dartmouth
TE -- Chris Blohm, Yale

Defense
DL -- Jeremy Raducha, Brown
DL -- Josh Martin, Columbia
DL -- Chucks Obi, Harvard
DL -- Drew Goldsmith, Penn
LB -- Andrew Serrano, Brown
LB -- Alex Gedeon, Harvard
LB -- Nick Hasselberg, Harvard
LB -- Jon Olofsson, Princeton
DB -- Steve Peyton, Brown
DB -- Emani Fenton, Cornell
DB -- Matthew Hanson, Harvard
DB -- Matt Hamscher, Penn

Special Teams
PK -- Alexander Norocea, Brown
P -- Joe Cloud, Princeton
RS -- Chris Smith, Yale

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-IVY
OL -- Jack Geiger, Brown
OL -- Jared Mollenback, Penn
OL -- Jake Koury, Yale
RB -- Mark Kachmer, Brown
RB -- Jordan Culbreath, Princeton
HB -- Kyle Juszczyk, Harvard
WR -- Jimmy Saros, Brown
WR -- Nico Gutierrez, Columbia
WR -- Michael Reilly, Dartmouth
TE -- Nicolai Schwarzkopf, Harvard
TE -- Luke Nawrocki, Penn
DL -- Clay McGrath, Brown
DL -- Brian Wing, Penn
DL -- Mike Catapano, Princeton
DL -- Sean Williams, Yale
LB -- Chimoso Okoji, Brown
LB -- Zack Imhoff, Cornell
LB -- Luke Hussey, Dartmouth
LB -- Brian Levine, Penn
LB -- Andrew Starks, Princeton
DB -- Adam Mehrer, Columbia
DB -- Bradford Blackmon, Penn
DB -- Drew Baldwin, Yale
PK -- Foley Schmidt, Dartmouth
PK -- Andrew Samson, Penn
P -- Nate Lovett, Brown
P -- Scott Lopano, Penn
RS -- Bradford Blackmon, Penn

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
QB -- Jeff Mathews, Cornell*

*Unanimous Selection

I just realized that I tweeted up a storm about Yale's 27-24 win over Brown but neglected my blog. Of course not having working internet in either the media room or press box at Brown Stadium following the game added to the delay.

It was quite an interesting affair with the headliner having to be sophomore Chris Smith and his two kickoff returns for touchdowns. He fell one yard short of the Yale single-game record for kickoff return yards in a game. David Knox had 179 yards against Penn in 2002. Just a hunch that he may be Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week.

Yale sophomore kicker Philippe Panico kicked two 36-yard field goals including the game winner with 9:30 to play and was 3 for 3 on extra points. He also handled the kickoffs exclusively for the first time this season.

Yale forced Brown to punt twice after retaking the lead. The play by Jordan Haynes (who ought to be in the equation for Ivy League Player of the Year) and Chris Dooley, who made his first career start, in stuff Brown's Zach Tronti on a 3rd and 1 at the Brown 16 was the defensive play of the game. Tronti is not an easy guy to bring down and throwing him for a 1-yard loss in that situation was a spectacular play.

"We had a few third downs throughout the day, it is something we drill during practice 3rd and 1, 3rd and 2," sauid Haynes, who led the Bulldogs with seven tackles. "It just seems like everything is coming together right now, it is a good feeling."

Following Brown's final punt, Yale took the ball and literally ran out the clock as Alex Thomas picked up 24 of his 121 yards on the first five carries of Yale's final drive.

"That whole fourth quarter we were moving the ball on the ground," Thomas said. "We knew there were four minutes on the clock and it was a matter of running it down. We practice the 4-minute drill, keep getting first downs. The O-line was doing their jobs. You can't say enough about how well they were blocking. Shane Bannon was doing his job. We ran like 10 powers in a row and we kept going full speed."

Those were the positive aspects of the game for Yale.

Now for the other side. Patrick Witt struggled more than his pedestrian (18 for 38 for 129 yards) line would indicate. He was short on a bunch of throws, none more glaring than when he missed a wide open Chris Blohm inside the 5 yard line on the drive in which Panico booted the second of his 36-yard field goals.

Yale's pass defense in the second quarter was downright horrible as Joe Springer threw for 207 yards in the quarter after missing on his only pass attempt in the first quarter.

The result of Saturday's games means that Yale has to beat Princeton while rooting for (gasp) Harvard to beat Penn setting up Yale for a chance to gain a share of the Ivy League title by ending the season with wins over Princeton and Harvard.

Yale's JV team will host Army JV tomorrow at noon at Clint Frank Field (next to Yale Field).

I thought it was pretty interesting that the Ivy League's co-offensive players of the week happened to be a pair of sophomore quarterbacks from Connecticut.

Former Griswold High star Sean Brackett threw for 273 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes in Columbia's 42-14 win over Princeton. Brackett also ran for 48 yards.

Cheshire's Billy Ragone ran for three touchdowns including the game winner in overtime and threw a touchdown pass in Penn's 35-28 win over Dartmouth. Ragone threw for 132 yards and ran for another 57.

Naturally, the play of the sophomores came up during Tuesday's weekly Ivy League football coaches' call.

"I guess the record has been around a while," Columbia coach Norries Wilson said. "We don't think Sean is out thre for personal accolades but, fort enough that he executes the plays.

"Sean is a guy who people have to defend and you also have to defend the pass. There are no designed runs for Sean. He will take off and run if everybody’s covered."

Ragone, who like Brackett got valuable playing time as a freshhman, fits the mold of the athletic dual-threat quarterback that veteran Penn coach Al Bagnoli, himself a Connecticut native, likes to have behind center.

"I think we kind of switched our philosophy," Bagnoli said. "We try to get a guy who can continue to play with their feet. Given all the gun run offenses, all the blitzes, given everything a quarterback has to encounter, he place a premium on kids who can throw the ball as well as run the ball."

While Yale does not have a Connecticut native among the eight quarterbacks on its roster, the Bulldogs have no complaints in the quarterbacking department as junior Patrick Witt is leading the Ivy League in passing offense with an average of 290 yards per game and is second in total offense (293.7).

Speaking of Ivy League stats, juniors Alex Thomas and Jordan Haynes are leading the league in rushing (81.3 yards per game) and solo tackles (23) respectively.