Yale ground game dooms football's bid to end streak

NEW HAVEN, CONN. — Standing five feet, seven inches tall and weighing 190 pounds, Robert Carr looks more suited for carrying an equipment bag than a football team.

But on a cold and windy Saturday afternoon, as Princeton and Yale renewed their rivalry for the 127th time on the sunken field of the ancient Yale Bowl, Carr hoisted the Elis onto his deceptively strong shoulders and hauled them to victory.

In a middling game worthy of the opponents' mediocre records, both squads seemed to waste more chances than they capitalized upon. But one team had to walk away as the victor, of course, and on this day Yale (5-4 overall, 3-3 Ivy League) would do so, primarily because the Elis had Carr on their side and the Tigers did not. Unable to contain the shifty senior tailback, Princeton (4-5, 2-4) suffered its fourth straight demoralizing defeat, falling 21-9.

Perhaps head coach Roger Hughes knew his team was in for a long day when he watched Carr scamper through a large hole on the left side of the line and pick up 26 yards on the game's first play from scrimmage.

But on the other sideline, Yale head coach Jack Siedlecki must have been ecstatic. Establishing a ground attack had been his top pregame priority. Out of respect for the Tigers' linebacker corps, he called for Carr to run right at them on the first three plays of the game.

"We wanted to prove to ourselves and to them that we were going to be able to run the ball on offense," he said. " And we did."

Carr marched the offense down the field, picking up 43 yards on five carries. He didn't carry the Yale offense alone, however. The threat of the run gave Eli senior quarterback Alvin Cowan plenty of time to throw. He connected on both his throws on that first drive, including an 18-yard touchdown strike to Alex Fahrety, and went 10-of-20 for 143 yards on the day.

"[Carr's early rushing success] allowed us to run the whole offense, to run a balanced scheme," Siedlecki said. "We executed it the way we wanted to."

Siedlecki continued to call Carr's number on the second drive of the game. After returning the kickoff 50 yards, Carr carried the ball five more times, including a 13-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-one that put Yale up 14-3.

After allowing Carr 70 yards rushing the first quarter, Princeton did a much better job in the second and third quarters, giving up just 29 and 15 yards, respectively. Hughes credited the improvement to a defensive adjustment — the Tigers began slanting and moving their defensive linemen more. With Carr momentarily slowed, the Tigers held the Eli offense in check, rallying to cut the gap to 14-9.

But the dam burst on Yale's first drive off the fourth quarter. After the Elis recovered a fumble at the Princeton 17, Carr took just three carries to punch the pigskin in, bursting up the middle and dragging several defenders with him on his touchdown run. He would pick up another 29 yards as Yale massaged the clock towards zero, finishing with 160 yards on 32 carries.

"The word I'd use to describe Carr is slippery," junior linebacker Justin Stull said. "You think you've got him wrapped up, you think you might even be able cause a fumble. And then all of a sudden he just slides out of your grasp and gets three or five extra yards. It's very frustrating."

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But to Carr, who holds Yale's record for career rushing yardage, it was just another day at work. Told of Stull's compliment, he shrugged his shoulders and seemed wholly unimpressed by what he had done. "The guys up front open up the holes," he said. "I just run hard, stay low and go from there."