The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Yale football set to open Ivy League season against Cornell
Freshmen making most of chances on veteran squad
NEW HAVEN — It’s not exactly a youth brigade at Yale this season.
The Bulldogs are led by a solid core of veterans, including fifth-year senior defensive back Spencer Rymiszewski, who is the team captain, and a slew of other juniors and seniors with plenty of experience. Even sophomore quarterback Kurt Rawlings “carries himself like a senior,” according to Rymiszewski.
But while Yale will only go as far as its upperclassmen take it, the Bulldogs had a revelation in Saturday’s 56-28 shellacking of Lehigh. Five of the team’s eight touchdowns were scored by freshmen — two apiece by running back Zane Dudek and receiver Melvin Rouse II, and another by running back Andrew Grinde.
In fact, those five TDs came on a combined 13 carries and five receptions by the three freshman.
“They made the most of the opportunities they had,” head coach Tony Reno noted. “Like I said to the guys, it’s one game. One game does not a season make. So, we’ll see what they do this weekend.”
The Bulldogs kick off both their Ivy League and home schedules on Saturday, hosting Cornell at 1 p.m. at the Yale Bowl. The Big Red are coming off a season-opening, 41-14 loss to traditional FCS powerhouse Delaware.
Cornell beat Yale 27-13 last season in Ithaca, New York.
In Saturday’s loss at Delaware, Big Red junior quarterback Dalton Banks completed 23 of 35 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown. He spread the wealth, as well, connecting with 12 different receivers. He was also picked off three times.
“Dalton Banks is a very good quarterback,” said Reno. “He’s got a very strong arm, he can manage the offense well. He’s had a lot of success in the league. He can hurt you with his feet. He puts the ball where it needs to be, throws the deep ball very well. You’ve got to find a way to make it hard on him to do his job on Saturday afternoon.”
Given the teams’ disparate results this past weekend, Reno was informed that his team might be the favorite for the first
time in a while on Saturday.
“Last time I checked we were 3-7 last year and they were 4-6, so I’d probably say they were the favorites,” he retorted. “We just need to worry about ourselves and continue to win plays. If we do that, it doesn’t matter who we play against, we’ll be OK.”
Indeed, these Bulldogs appear on a mission and certainly aren’t going to rest on the laurels of one victory - impressive as it may have been. Or not so impressive, according to Reno, who gave his team a grade of ‘C’ after its win at Lehigh.
“There was a lot of room for improvement, but it was definitely a good start to the season,” said Rawlings. “It’s gonna be a very tough test for us on Saturday.”
Saturday is Youth Day at Yale Bowl, though some might argue that was a more appropriate label for last Saturday’s win. Dudek carried the ball just nine times, but gained 131 yards and those two TDs. He was named honorable mention STATS FCS Freshman Player of the Week.
Rouse caught just two balls, but one was a touchdown. Grinde saw increased action in the fourth quarter and hit paydirt on one of his four carries.
On the other side of the ball, the Bulldogs’ defense was stout. But again, there was room for improvement.
“They only ran for 52 yards, but that was too many,” said senior linebacker Matt Oplinger. “There’s a standard that we know we should live up to as a defense. Spencer, Copache (Tyler), Foye (Oluokun) - all these guys are top-tier players. We know we should be stopping teams. To do anything else is unacceptable.”
Still, this is a team — and a defense — that feels pretty good about itself right now.
“You feel like you’ve got 10 guys around you working as one,” Oplinger added. “That’s how you want to be meshing as football team as you’re going into Ivy League play.”