Coming into this season, the football team's seniors had — at some point in their college careers — beaten every team they have faced except three: the University of Rhode Island, Holy Cross and Yale. But the Bears beat URI, 28-20, in a home game on Oct. 3.
The next week, they took down Holy Cross, 34-31. Now, only Yale remains.
The Bears will kick off against the Bulldogs at 12:30 on Saturday in the Yale Bowl in New Haven.
Brown (4-3, 2-2 Ivy) is coming off a 14-7 overtime loss to Penn. The Quakers, now 4-0 in Ivy League play, stand at the top of the league standings, tied with Harvard.
"We had a tough one last week," said cornerback David Clement '10. "Definitely the fact that we haven't beaten Yale is helping bring us back. And we're definitely as motivated as any game we have had this year."
Penn shut out the Bears' offense last week, which had led the Ivy League in scoring before the game.
Paul Jasinowski '10, a co-captain and offensive tackle said the Bears' offense is coming into the Yale game with a chip on its shoulderpads.
"We definitely have something to prove against this defense and against this team," Jasinowski said.
Brown and Yale (4-3, 2-2) are tied for third in the league, sporting identical records. No team with two league losses has won the Ivy League title since 1982, and both Yale and Brown will need a win to keep their slim title hopes alive.
Like Penn, Yale has one of the top defenses in the league and an offense that ranks in the middle. Yale's defense has allowed just 13.3 points per game, which is second best in the league — behind Penn.
"Penn and our defense have some similarities in terms of scheme," said Yale Head Coach Tom Williams. "We're going to run our defense and look to try to contain the Brown offense."
"Obviously they've got explosive capabilities," he added.
Yale's defense has held the Bears to only 10 points in the last two years combined. The Bears' only Ivy League defeat last season was a 13-3 loss to Yale.
"We beat Harvard and we had won all of our Ivy games up to that point," said Jasinowski of last year's Yale game. "That was definitely a really tough defeat for our team because that was our one loss in the league and the one that made us end up having to share the title."
Yale's offense — which runs out of a two-quarterback system — ranks fifth in the league in scoring. The pass-happy Bulldogs are last in rushing offense and second, behind Brown, in passing offense.
"They have good quarterbacks and good skilled-position players," Clement said. "They throw the ball, run the ball — they're definitely a solid offense. But if we do our jobs and are more physical than them, we should be fine."
