Right now, Penn isn't the only Ivy League team that has more questions than answers at quarterback. Yale does, too. But the Bulldogs, who last year were the league champions right up until they weren't, won't have much experience under center no matter who gets the nod.
The two candidates are senior and local Connecticut boy Ryan Fodor, who hasn't started a game since high school and has thrown only five passes (three incomplete) for Yale, and hotshot sophomore Brook Hart, who played for the junior varsity team last season.
Whoever wins will almost certainly not be the star of the Bulldogs offense. That distinction goes to Mike McLeod, who has been a regular feature in the first paragraph of Yale game recaps for three years now. He is certainly the best returning running back in the league and arguably one of the best in I-AA football.
McLeod rushed for a school-record 1,619 yards despite nursing a broken toe during the second half of last season, and with his senior year ahead of him already owns the Yale records for rushing touchdowns and yards. He was the Ivy League MVP and is the odds-on favorite to repeat.
But if last season proved anything, it's that McLeod can't win games for Yale on his own. After an impressive undefeated streak for its first nine games last year, and rising into the national rankings, Yale finally did the unthinkable and lost - badly - to Harvard in the 2007 edition of The Game. McLeod's diminished ability had a lot to do with that, and it's probably the only reason Yale wasn't alone at the top of the Ivy preseason poll.
The Bulldogs have the most to replace on defense. They lost three All-Ivy defensive lineman and sport a lighter look up front this year. The player to watch in the secondary is junior Matt Kelleher, who after spending two years trying to crack the depth chart at quarterback should now get some playing time as a 225-pound defensive tackle and long snapper.
On special teams, junior Tom Mante handled the punting duties last year and will now add place-kicking to his responsibilities despite not attempting so much as a PAT since high school.
Yale has the benefit of easing into its season with an opening-day matchup against Georgetown this Saturday, which lost to Lafayette 24-6 last season and has proven to be easy money for Ivy League teams in recent years.
