Football Faces Yale Juggernaut

This weekend, the Columbia football team will face what should be its toughest test of the season as it takes on Yale. Going solely by the numbers, the Lions are a 30.5-point underdog against the visiting Bulldogs—the biggest spread in the Ivy League this season. The Bulldogs have distinguished themselves as the class of the Ancient Eight, as they were picked to finish first in the pre-season media poll and have lived up to all expectations, going 6-0 to open the season.

Yale comes in with a respectable resume, winning its six games by an average of over 20 points. In their three Ivy League games, the Elis dismantled Cornell and Dartmouth, winning by 39 and 40 points against those two teams, respectively, and outlasted Penn in a gutty triple overtime win last week.

One of the main reasons that Yale has had so much success has been its running game, which has averaged 303.3 yards per game—tops in the Ancient Eight. It is impossible to talk about Yale’s offense, especially its rushing attack, without talking about junior tailback Mike McLeod, whose 1,142 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns lead the Ivy League.

By this point in the season, it has become common knowledge within the Ivy League that Columbia’s rush defense is the worst in the Ancient Eight. With this in mind, it can be expected that Yale will come out and run the ball a great deal unless the Lions are able to prove that they can stop the run.

For the Lions to be successful defensively, they will have to contain the Elis on the ground, which will be a tall task. If the Lions have success doing this, however, Yale is fully capable of moving the ball through the air. Quarterback Matt Polhemus has not had to throw much, but has been efficient when he has had to make plays. This season, Polhemus has only thrown three interceptions, all of which came last week against Penn.

“It’s going to come down to whether we can get some stops on defense and whether we can take advantage of every possession on offense and score with the football,” head coach Norries Wilson said.

What makes things difficult for Columbia is that not only does Yale have a potent offense, but it also has the best total defense in the Ivy League. The Bulldogs have allowed the fewest yards per game and have the best turnover margin in the Ancient Eight.

“They, for lack of a better phrase, do what they do, but what they do, they do well,” Wilson said. “They play defense and they don’t make mistakes and they wait for you to make a mistake and they capitalize on them.”

Against a strong and aggressive Yale defense, the Lions will need to minimize mistakes and score early on in order to have a chance to stay in the game. Every time that the defense stops the Bulldogs, the Light Blue offense will need to capitalize if it wishes to upset Yale.