The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bulldogs pick up 900th win in program history
Yale downs previously unbeaten Columbia for milestone win
NEW HAVEN — Earlier this week, Yale football coach Tony Reno gathered his team at Jensen Plaza outside the Yale Bowl for a history lesson.
They talked about legacy and tradition and the 144 teams that came before this current group.
“And we talked about leaving a mark on Yale football that people will talk about the rest of their lives,” Reno said.
On Saturday, the 145th team etched in stone its place in Yale lore and at the same time put itself in position to add to that legacy. The Bulldogs victory over Columbia, a convincing 23-6 decision before 15,422 at the Yale Bowl, was the 900th for the program.
In the history of college football, only Michigan, with 941, and Notre Dame, at 903, has won more games.
“I didn’t even know about it until we sat downstairs and talked about it,” said running back Zane Dudek, who tied his career high with 173 rushing yards on 25 carries. “You think about it, and it’s crazy. Only three programs in history have 900 wins, us, Michigan and Notre Dame. I’m proud to say I was a part of the team that did that.”
In knocking off previously undefeated Columbia, the victory also positioned Yale (6-1, 3-1) as one of the teams atop the Ivy League standings with three games remaining. The upstart Lions and the winner of Saturday night’s Princeton/Cornell matchup also have only one league loss.
On Saturday, Yale won with defense and a running attack that broke Columbia’s will.
Dudek, the brilliant freshman who entered the game averaging 9 yards per carry, spent most of the game side-stepping Columbia tacklers with vicious jump cuts. In the game’s key offensive series, he ran five times for 63 yards. It set up a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Kurt Rawlings to Michael Siragusa that gave the Bulldogs a 23-6 lead, all but sealing the win with 8:29 remaining in the fourth quarter.
There were also several hardcharging runs where he hammered through the line to help run out the clock. He was removed from the game after a first-down run with a little over 2 minutes left, and received a standing ovation from the fans.
“When you look at Zane,
what he’s done is a much better job of trusting the offensive line,” Reno said. “The runs you look at are the flashy ones; the ones I look at are the 3-yarders because he follows the path of the offensive line.”
On defense, Yale once again made running the ball a near-impossible task while making things equally difficult for Columbia quarterback Anders Hill. The Lions finished with 31 rushing yards on 24 carries. Hill was intercepted twice, by Hayden Carlson in the first half and Deonte Wilder in the second half. Wilder’s pick came after he’d been called for pass interference two plays earlier, with Columbia down only 10 points and still very much in the game.
Among Yale’s other triumphs on Saturday? Polishing some of the luster off one of the best reclamation projects in college football.
Al Bagnoli, the East Haven native who retired from Penn three years ago only to resurface months later at Columbia, has turned a perennial doormat into a contender. The Lions only Ivy League championship came 57 years ago; they hadn’t won their first six games since 1996.
Ever the realist, Bagnoli noted the national hype Columbia’s received might be a bit premature.
“I’ve been trying to tell everybody to keep things in context,” Bagnoli said. “We hadn’t played 50 percent of our Ivy League games before today. And I think people have a tendency to put the end product before this week. We knew we’d have our hands full. I think everybody’s got to be careful.”
Yale did most of its offensive damage in the opening quarter.
Lining up for a 37-yard field goal early in the game, holder Andrew Johnson, quarterbacking a preset unbalanced line, called for the snap and lobbed a 10yard touchdown pass to tight end Jaeden Graham.
Later, capitalizing on Carlson’s interception, Rawlings snuck in from 1-yard out to give Yale a 13-0 lead.
Columbia struggled with its kicking game, missing two short field goals, and trailed 16-0 before finally scoring a touchdown to pull within 10 points late in the third quarter. Wilder’s interception, and the ensuing touchdown drive, quelled any chance of a Lion comeback.
Seventeen years ago, Yale became the first program to hit 800 wins. Being third on the list is still quite the accomplishment, especially considering the company.
“Some teams could play another 20 years and not get to 900 wins,” Reno said. “We’ve done a nice job so far. But our story isn’t finished yet.”