Yale's 21-point, fourth-quarter comeback could be attributed to injuries in Penn's secondary. It could also be explained by the Quakers' offensive drought in the fourth quarter.
But rather than fault Penn for Yale's success, it might be more accurate to credit quarterback Alvin Cowan for the Elis' 28 fourth-quarter points.
Yale's senior quarterback guided his team from a seemingly insurmountable 31-10 deficit with just over 11 minutes to play in regulation to a 31-31 tie heading into overtime.
Yale was three-of-three on fourth-down conversions in the game -- all while trailing by three touchdowns.
"They were throwing the ball pretty well," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "The bottom line is, we got them to fourth down [three times] and all we had to do was mark those players on any one of those drives and pretty much you've got the game under control."
Bagnoli praised Cowan and Yale for their resilience.
"The credit, for the large part, goes to" Yale, Bagnoli said. "They did a nice job, and obviously we didn't play [Cowan] as well as we would have liked to."
Cowan began the game poorly, throwing two interceptions in the first 11 minutes of the first quarter, to Penn junior defensive backs Duvol Thompson and Bryan Arguello.
Yale posted only three points in the first half. In the first 30 minutes, Cowan completed just eight passes for 65 yards.
"Early, we came out and it was pretty ugly," Cowan said. "We went in at halftime and... we realized that we had to come back and do everything right in the second half."
And he did just that.
For most of the second half, Cowan could not be stopped -- literally.
The 6'2", 210 pound Austin, Texas, native evaded numerous potential sacks, effectively passing the ball underneath the defense or rushing if no one was open.
Cowan overcame well-placed punts by Penn punter Josh Appell and poor field position. Two of his drives in the second half totaled 32 plays, 164 yards and two touchdowns.
On second down and 10 on Yale's 34-yard line, Cowan avoided a potentially crucial sack by Penn senior co-captain Steve Lhotak during the Elis' drive that ultimately tied the game.
On third and 10 on Penn's 11-yard line in overtime, Cowan scrambled back as far as the 25-yard line, avoiding several tackles. He ran for a 6-yard gain, setting up a 22-yard field goal attempt that was blocked by Penn sophomore defensive back Casey Edgar. Penn would kick the game-winning field goal on its next possession.
Cowan finished with a game-high 344 yards, but credited his teammates for Yale's strong second-half performance.
"I was part of" the comeback, Cowan said. "But everybody else out there stepped up to make plays."
Arguello mirrored Cowan's sentiments.
"Their guys made big plays on third and fourth downs," Arguello said. "As a defense, we knew that we had to stop them and step up.
"But towards the end of the game, we just felt that they were driving the ball -- and they're a high-powered offense, you have to give them credit -- and we were there a couple times to make the plays but we just didn't make them."
