As crucial as the football team's come-from-behind, overtime victory against the University of Pennsylvania last Saturday was for its Ivy League title hopes, this weekend's game could prove to be even more meaningful. The Bears (3-4, 2-2 Ivy) host Yale - the only team undefeated in Ivy play at 4-0 (6-1 overall) - Saturday at noon.
"I think it's going to be a great game for the fact that Brown is all of a sudden rising and Yale comes in here undefeated," said Head Coach Phil Estes. "I think our players feel it and I feel it in practice. Their focus has been excellent, so I think they understand where they're going and what they have to do to get there."
While Estes generally does not like to look back at the previous week's game, he acknowledges that the comeback against Penn proved the team's mettle.
"It was a great confidence boost for us and showed that we had a little character," he said. "We might have gone in the tank as we had in the (College of the) Holy Cross game, the (University of Rhode Island) game and even the Harvard game a little bit. It shows that if we play together and play disciplined football we have a chance to beat anyone on our schedule."
This weekend will be one of the rare instances in which both the offense and defense are coming off a strong performance the previous game. At Penn, quarterback and tri-captain Joe DiGiacomo '07 threw for three touchdowns and 340 yards in directing Brown's comeback. He won this week's Boston Globe Gold Helmet Award for his efforts and has started to establish a solid relationship with his receivers.
"We're pretty confident right now," DiGiacomo said. "We're an offense that knows what (it is) capable of, and it seems like we're finally getting a chance to show how good an offense we are."
DiGiacomo was also pleased about how the offense has scored on its first drive in the past two games after not doing so in the season's first five. At the same time, he realizes the offense can be even more consistent.
"We're just trying to play as well as we can, and I don't think we've played our best yet," he said. "We just need to keep the intensity up the whole game. In the second and third quarters (against Penn) we slowed down a little bit. Maybe this Saturday we can play that complete game."
Meanwhile, the defense has also come into its own, allowing no more than 17 points in the last three games. After struggling to stop opponents earlier this season, the defense has finally started to play with more confidence.
"We know what we're capable of now," said linebacker and tri-captain Zak DeOssie '07. "We've settled down after having trouble earlier, but now it's all second nature. Now we just have to go out there and keep on performing."
Despite having won three in a row in the series, Brown faces a formidable challenge from the Yale squad. For starters, the Bulldogs' offense is completely different from the pass-happy attacks the team has featured in recent years. On the strength of tailback Mike McLeod, Yale has chewed up its opponents to the tune of 201.4 rushing yards a game.
"They run the football with Mike McLeod from one- and two-back sets, and they have a big offensive line," Estes said. "They're big, they're strong, they're physical and they can consume a lot of clock."
McLeod has taken the reins as Yale's offensive catalyst. The 2005 Ivy League Rookie of the Year is just eight yards shy of 1,000 for this season and leads the Ancient Eight with 141.7 rushing yards a game and is second in touchdowns with 11.
"He's a little more physical than he was last year," Estes said of McLeod. "He'll get the ball going downhill and he can make you miss if you don't get a grasp on him. He has outstanding speed and great change of direction and acceleration."
Yale also features a solid trio of senior receivers in Chandler Henley, D.J. Shooter and Ashley Wright for quarterback Matt Polhemus to throw to. While the passing game has not been heavily featured in the Bulldog attack, Yale has used play action effectively when opposing defenses have loaded up to stop McLeod.
"You commit people to stop McLeod and they'll play action you," Estes said. "It's a lot like we did last year with (Nick) Hartigan ('06). Hartigan got a lot of carries, but people don't realize how much he influenced a football play with just a fake. They do the same thing and it's created some nice opportunities for their receivers."
Defensively, the Bulldogs are very strong up front, which opens things up for the zone blitzing schemes they like to run. However, arguably the best player on their defense is sophomore linebacker Bobby Abare, who leads the team with 58 tackles.
"Bobby Abare is probably 100-percent improved from last year," Estes said. "They use him to put pressure on the quarterback, but he's a great run-stopper as well. This year he has a lot of confidence, and he plays very physically and very fast."
The momentum from Bruno's stirring comeback a week ago - combined with Yale coming into tomorrow's game undefeated in league play - makes for a highly anticipated game. A Brown win would keep its hopes of repeating as Ivy League champions alive and would open up the race for the 2006 title.
"This game is one of the biggest games in my career," DeOssie said. "We have a chance to knock off the top team (in the league), and everyone else in the Ivy League is rooting for us to knock them off. I can't wait for kickoff."
