The Rams lost on Saturday against Villanova, a squad they defeated last year. The score was 50-6, in Villanova's favor. Drew DiPane/The Fordham Ram

BY DAN GARTLAND

EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR

On a cool, crisp autumn day in southern New England, Fordham’s offense was as hot as ever.

The Rams torched Yale for 614 yards of total offense en route to a 52-31 victory.

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Michael Nebrich turned in another stellar performance, throwing for 421 yards and four touchdowns. Junior receiver Sam Ajala caught all four of Nebrich’s touchdown balls and had a school-record 282 receiving yards.

Ajala and Nebrich got the scoring started early, hooking up for a 68-yard touchdown on the game’s second play from scrimmage. The pair connected again later in the first quarter, but the Fordham offense didn’t really get going until the second half.

The Rams took a 17-7 lead into the locker room, but came out in the second half firing on all cylinders offensively. The Rams scored 35 points in the second half, while the Bulldogs only managed 24.

Where Fordham really hurt Yale was with the play-action pass. All four of Ajala’s touchdowns came on play-action. As soon as Nebrich faked the handoff to his running back, the Yale defense would hesitate just long enough to let Ajala get one or two steps ahead of his defender, and Nebrich was able to hit Ajala in stride for a touchdown.

“Their play-action game was a good game,” Yale head coach Tony Reno said. “Their receivers are too fast to be able to have a misstep. You have a misstep and all of a sudden they’re by you.”

Fordham’s defense surrendered 509 yards of total offense, including a staggering 359 rushing yards, though that number was inflated to some degree as Yale broke several long runs. Tyler Varga, Yale’s talented junior running back, gained 88 yards on 14 carries, but spent the second half on the sidelines on crutches. Freshman Candler Rich picked up right where Varga left off, though. On Rich’s first carry after the Varga injury, he gained 58 yards. Rich totaled 160 yards on 11 carries thanks to a few long runs, including a 48-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

Yale’s quarterbacks also ran the ball well. Senior Henry Furman took off for 32 yards on a scramble in the first quarter, but did not play in the second half due to an apparent injury.

Furman was replaced by Morgan Roberts, a sophomore transfer from Clemson. Roberts was not as efficient a passer as Furman, but did a better job holding onto the ball (Furman lost two fumbles) and threw two touchdowns.

With the win, Fordham improved to 8-0 for the first time in the modern era. The last time the Rams were 8-0 was in 1886, the same year President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. It was 20 years before the advent of the forward pass, and the school was still known as St. John’s College. That year’s team went 26-0, playing mostly against amateur athletic clubs.

“It’s been a tremendous ride for us,” Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said. “It’s a testament to the commitment of these young men.”

Fordham’s sudden rise — from 1-10 in 2011, to 6-5 last year, to being now positioned for a run at a perfect season — has caught the attention of the national media. In recent weeks, the team has been featured in Newsday, The Bergen Record, The New York Post, ESPN New York, The New York Times and in a story by the Associated Press that ran in newspapers across the country. But Moorhead knows his players won’t let it get to their heads.

“The message that we send to our kids is that we challenge them to be impossible to ignore, and because of their play on the field, that’s happened,” he said. “They appreciate the attention we’re getting, they’re glad it’s giving our program exposure. But at the end of the day, there isn’t a newspaper article in the world that’s going to help us win a ballgame.”