With less than nine minutes remaining against Penn at Franklin Field last year, Yale quarterback Alvin Cowan found his team in a 31-10 hole.
Unfazed by the bleak circumstances, Cowan rallied the Elis by throwing three touchdown passes to force overtime, in which Yale ultimately succumbed to Penn, 34-31.
While Cowan did not secure a victory for his team against the Quakers, he did show how dangerous Yale could be as long as he is under center.
"All quarterbacks gain confidence when they lead game-altering drives," Yale head coach Jack Siedlecki said. "Alvin's performance in the Penn game last year certainly helped him and his teammates come back and beat Princeton last year."
Indeed, just three weeks later, Cowan engineered another comeback, this time leading his team to victory against Princeton. Down 17-3 at halftime, Cowan threw two touchdown passes in the second half, one as time expired, to force overtime. In the extra frame, he had another scoring strike as Yale prevailed, 27-24.
"In terms of drama and gaining a win, I would rate last year's Princeton overtime win S as his best performance," Siedlecki said.
Perhaps one of the reasons Cowan is so successful at rallying his team is because of his fiery attitude.
"He is a competitive leader who is not afraid to get after his teammates," Siedlecki said.
Cowan, an Austin, Texas, native has proven he can shine in the second half, but his 2003 numbers tell the story of a quarterback who dominated almost all phases of the game.
In 10 contests last season, Cowan completed 227 passes for 2,994 yards, both tops in the Ivy League. His 22 touchdowns were second best, four fewer than Penn's Mike Mitchell.
However, it is what Cowan does outside the pocket that makes him so dangerous.
When he wasn't beating teams with his arm, Cowan did so with his feet, amassing 435 yards rushing to go along with seven rushing touchdowns.
This dual threat had such a successful 2003 campaign that Cowan was the only Ivy League finalist for the Walter Payton Award, given to the best player in Division I-AA football.
Consequently, coming into his senior season this year, Cowan faced lofty expectations.
So far this season, the Elis quarterback leads the Ancient Eight with 10 touchdown passes, but is fifth in the league with 1,026 passing yards.
With his team's record at 3-2 (1-1 Ivy), Siedlecki does not believe that the preseason hype has affected Cowan. Rather, he believes that Yale's struggles can be attributed to other circumstances.
"Alvin has performed well and our slow start had more to do with a number of players missing preseason practice because of nagging injuries," he said. "[Alvin] is handling the hype well and performing well."
Perhaps another reason for the decline in Cowan's passing statistics is that he is not stretching defenses with his feet this season. Clearly the biggest disparity between this year and last year is that the Yale quarterback has negative-35 yards rushing.
Siedlecki attributes this difference primarily to Cowan's not calling his own running plays because of the threat of injury.
Penn coach Al Bagnoli understands Siedlecki's reasoning, but also wouldn't be surprised to see Cowan scramble this weekend.
"You have to keep your kids healthy," he said. "Then again, I think when it's crunch time and you've got to win the game, they're going to let him do what he does."
If Cowan does revert to his ambulatory ways, the Quakers will be ready.
"I guess he's just not looking to scramble as much this year, so we're prepared for that, but it's not something we expect," Penn senior defensive tackle Michael Sangobowale said.
With all the praise Cowan has already received, Bagnoli summed up his importance to Yale in a few simple words.
"He's the guy that makes that offense go."
