Yale vs. the Mountain: Chasing the Biggest Upset in FCS History

Yale Bulldogs vs. Montana State Bobcats - Saturday 2:00 pm 

The Bulldogs have overcome every obstacle and proven every doubter wrong over and over again and if they want their season to continue they will have to pull off one of the biggest upsets ever by defeating the Bobcats on the road. 

Despite being at home the Bulldogs had many doubters that they could go and beat the 9-0 Harvard Crimson the 'The Game' to end the season. After that win the doubters were loud that they couldn't hang against one of the best QBs in the country against the Penguins. Those naysayers got even louder and more boisterous at the half against Youngstown when there was "no way" that Yale could win. Except they did, and once again did the unthinkable. Now they will face the #2 seed Montana State as a 30-point underdog, but this team still has faith in itself even if no one else does. 

Fresh off of their historic 28-point comeback against Youngstown State in the first round of the FCS Playoffs they now travel to Bozeman, Montana. They will also be facing a lot of unknowns here. This will be the first game outside the Eastern Time Zone since 2013. It will also mark the Bulldogs' first-ever game played in the Mountain Time Zone. Yale is also Montana State's first opponent from New England since 2016. In addition, this will be Yale's first game played in December since 1945 and also is the latest date for a Yale football game since 1877. That's not a typo. 

The Bulldogs are led by an old school mentality and that is to run the ball and run it often. Josh Pitsenberger ran for over 200 yards last week just one week after rushing the ball 38 times. This team doesn't care if they are ahead or behind, they just want to run the rock. Pitsenberger recorded his sixth multi-touchdown game of the season, his fourth with three rushing scores, against Youngstown State and he became just the second Yale running back to reach 40 career rushing touchdowns. Their offense isn't all about him though as Dante Reno is also a major star in the making. He has been careful with the ball but does have some mistakes. If those are limited, we have seen his upside in the downfield passing game take shape, and with teams stacking the box against the run Reno has to be able to take that deep shot when it's presented. Reno was very good late last week after two early INT's. 

Defensively this team stepped up last week when they were needed most. They have had defensive issues during the season but they also have been absolutely shut down at times. Not unlike many basketball teams it seems the defense plays to the pace of the offense. The defense is led by Inumidun Ayo-Durojaiye who has 104 tackles on the season, and he is the first Bulldog to reach 100 tackles in a season since 2010. He will be the glue to stopping this Bobcats team. 

Montana State is a machine. Montana State finished the regular season 10-2 overall and 8-0 in the Big Sky Conference, winning the league. Under head coach Brett Vigen, the Bobcats are 57-12, the highest winning percentage (.826) of any coach in program history and their two losses came against Power Four opponent Oregon and MVFC powerhouse South Dakota State in two OTs. Montana State also doesn't lose at home with their 37-2 record at Bobcat Stadium over the past five seasons.

• The Bobcats can score and score quickly and that's the big concern for Yale here. They feature the Big Sky's second-ranked scoring offense, with more than 38.points per game but that's not all because their defense is just as good as they have the top-ranked scoring defense, at just 17 per contest. Offensively they are precise and surgical in how they dismantle teams. Quarterback Justin Lamson led the Big Sky in completion percentage finishing the regular season with 2,345 passing yards and 20 touchdowns. He was named Big Sky Newcomer of the Year. Defensively Caden Dowler was named Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the Bobcats with 78 total tackles and four interceptions. 

The Bulldogs have to rush the ball well and shorten the game if they want a chance to pull the massive upset, or at least not be completely taken out of their gameplan. That is vital to their success as they have rushed for more than 100 yards as a team in 27 straight games dating back to Oct. 14, 2023, and in 45 of their last 47 games.Their defense is a concern but they just played two high scoring teams and were able to come away with two victories. The 30 point spread is huge but it's understandable. We have watched this Yale team silence all the doubters all season long and even as recent as halftime last week. While this might be a tall mountain to climb it's hard to completely look past the Bulldogs who should make this a fight.