Yale rallies past Columbia, remains in Ivy League race
YALE 37 COLUMBIA 30
NEW HAVEN — The day was dreary. The “next men up” were needing next men up. Yale’s chances of sticking around in the Ivy League football race were starting to look a little frayed Saturday afternoon at Yale Bowl.
Down 11 in the first half and nine before they touched, or at least possessed, the ball in the second half, the Bulldogs got their offense in gear, made key stops on defense and came back to beat Columbia 37-30.
“I feel strongly this was a statement game for us. We were behind the 8-ball a bit. Our guys just did the things that we preach all the time,” Yale coach Tony Reno said.
“That’s how they were able to climb out of the hole we were in and respond the way we did. I’m really proud of this team and how we’ve grown.”
Spencer Alston ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns, including a 54-yard score to put it away, on 17 carries. He also caught one of Nolan Grooms’ two third-quarter touchdowns. Grooms was 20-for-29 for 279 yards, throwing the go-ahead score to Darrion Carrington with 3:32 left in the third. Grooms also threw for a trio of two-point conversions on a rainy Saturday.
Yale (4-3, 3-1 Ivy) remained a game behind undefeated Princeton with three games to play; the Bulldogs visit the Tigers in two weeks after a trip to Brown next weekend. Dartmouth beat Harvard on a last-minute field goal to keep pace at 3-1.
Columbia and Harvard are both 5-2 overall and 2-2 in the league after a Saturday that broke the logjam a bit at the top of the league.
Yale was again without star running back Zane Dudek, was on its third starting left tackle of the season, was short a starting linebacker and a couple of defensive linemen (and lost another early in the second half ).
Melvin Rouse, who had made a couple of big catches and ran a punt back for an 86-yard touchdown in the first half, was injured as he muffed a punt to open the second half. (Rouse remained down awhile, but he got up under his own power, and Reno said the training staff told him Rouse is OK.)
From just about every one of those positions, someone stepped up with a big play or a big game. We could start where the second-half comeback started, with a couple of long passes from Grooms to receiver Mason Tipton, on a drive that ended with Grooms’ 9-yard touchdown pass to Alston.
“Coming into the game we knew they were going to give us one-on-one, especially with the rain. They were going to press to the boundary,” Grooms said.
“We knew if we won a couple of one-on-ones, we were going to win the game. Coming out in the second half, Mason Tipton, boomboom, two posts, wins in the one-on-ones, gives us some momentum.” Attendance was 3,437. Columbia sacked Grooms three times in the first half but didn’t get him in the second. Yale put up 288 yards of total offense in the second half after amassing just 133, and netting minus-1 on the ground, in the first half.
“The first half had to happen to Nolan to get the second half,” Reno said. “It’s like anything else, and I’ve seen this with (2019 Ivy Offensive Player of the Year) Kurt Rawlings and growing him as a quarterback.
“You see some different things, have experiences, and what (Grooms) did an amazing job of today is he learned quick on the job, and he was able to take that experience of the first half and then capitalize in the second half.”
Yale converted on 11 of 19 tries on third down. Its nation-leading third-down defense held Columbia to 4-for-19 and held the Lions to field-goal tries four times.
Field goals weren’t necessarily a given in the rain, which was heavy at times. The Lions scored with a short field after Yale had a punt snap go over Jack Bosman’s head. Ben Corniello of Madison recovered a fumble for Columbia.
The teams managed the weather.
“Tuesday was rainy here. Our coach told us that the game, Saturday was going to be rainy,” Alston said. “So all week it was no gloves, no sleeves like I always do to make sure the ball’s protected. That’s the No. 1 thing as a running back.”