Five things we learned from Saturday

Here are a few things to take away from Yale’s season-opening 24-21 win over Georgetown on Saturday...

 

1. Tyler Varga is for real. If there were any concerns about how Varga would adjust to American football, he put those to rest Saturday. The freshman running back was last year’s CIS National Freshman of the Year while at Canada’s University of Western Ontario. He split carries with Mordecai Cargill and pounded his way for 103 yards and two touchdowns on 21 carries in his debut. Varga was named Ivy League rookie of the week.

2. Perhaps it was first-game jitters or some miscommunication, but center John Oppenheimer struggled with his snaps, and that’s something that needs to be addressed heading into Ivy League play. The junior who started every game last year, had trouble Saturday with high and wide snaps throughout. One snap resulted in a fumble that set up a go-ahead touchdown for Georgetown in the third quarter.

3. Freshman quarterback Eric Williams looked solid in his debut. He also showed at times that he is a freshman. Yes he set a Yale record with a 98-yard touchdown pass to Cam Sandquist, the longest play from scrimmage in the program’s 140-year history. But Williams also threw three interceptions. He finished 19-30 for 250 yards and a touchdown.  

4. The Bulldogs lost a lot of speed with Chris Smith and Deon Randall out for the season. But Cam Sandquist showed why Yale still has at least one speedster and playmaker at WR. Sandquist finished with 187 yards and a touchdown on nine catches.

5. The Bulldogs looked pretty good defensively considering all the new faces on that side of the ball this season. Yale allowed just one offensive touchdown Saturday (the two others were on a punt return and an interception return). Georgetown threw for just 94 yards and Collin Bibb came up with a game-sealing interception in the final minute.