Kevin Cooke and Aryan Hedge close in on a Grove City ball carrier. Grove City scored 33 points that day, but Carnegie Mellon has allowed just a total of 33 points in the five games since.  Carnegie Mellon athletics photo

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

Football is a big deal at Carnegie Mellon. And the Tartans are playing the sport well this season. Their 8-0 record this deep into the season tells you as much.

But as head coach Ryan Larsen explains, the success of this program runs much deeper than X’s and O’s, and he takes pride in seeing his student athletes make things happen on the field while taking care of business academically off the field at a challenging university.

“I’ve said this to a lot of reporters that our players deserve a lot of attention for what they do, but it’s not necessarily what they do in the win-loss column, but what they do to get there,” Larsen said. “Our guys are challenged academically. This place is hard. The knock on a bunch of smart guys is how good can they be at football? But they take their work serious in class, they take it serious on the football field, they take it serious in preparation for games, and I think that’s the really cool thing. They represent what it’s all about to be a student-athlete.”

Senior captain and defensive end Ben Coyne will tell you it takes time to get used to, but it’s something he and his teammates handle well because they keep their priorities straight.

“You take it day by day, and understand what you have to do that day,” Coyne said. “You’ll be successful no matter what if you focus on the right things.”

But as senior safety Aryan Hegde points out, that focus and that attention to detail began well before he stepped on campus.

“You come to a school like Carnegie Mellon because you know what you want for your future,” Hegde said. “It starts in high school. You build good habits and good time management skills and continue to grow in college.”

Now, back to football. The Tartans, ranked 18th in the D3football.com poll, are in the midst of a special run. Their win streak is at 15 games, the longest at any level of NCAA football. (Carnegie Mellon forfeited its spot in the playoffs last fall because of positive COVID tests.)

Expectations were high when the season began, but the Tartans weren’t ranked nationally at that time. In fact, they weren’t even picked to finish first in their own conference. Carnegie Mellon was tabbed third in the PAC.

Larsen appreciates the attention his team is receiving, that their success is being rewarded, but he also knows the respect and attention the Tartans are getting nationally can go away in a heartbeat.

“We are appreciative of the publicity and the recognition, but at the same time, you are only as good as what you’ve done most recently,” Larsen said. “If we keep our focus on the present moment, and take care of what is in front of us, those kind of things keep coming. We also know if you let your guard down, take things for granted, read your press clippings and lose your edge, those things go away as fast as they came.”

The defense has played a big part in keeping Carnegie Mellon on track, recording two shutouts and holding three other teams to single digits on the scoreboard.

The Tartans have forced 20 turnovers, including 14 interceptions, and four of those miscues by the opponent have been turned immediately into points.

Kevin Cooke returned a pick 43 yards for a score in the season opener against Whitworth, Nolan Pitsenberger took an interception 64 yards to the end zone against Westminster and Logan Young returned a pick 42 yards for a touchdown against Washington & Jefferson. In last week’s win over Geneva, Thomas Coury scooped up a fumble and took it 27 yards to paydirt.

“One thing I drive home with the defense is to be relentless around the football,” Larsen said. “Our guys are running to the football and good things happen in the game of football, on offense, defense and special teams, when you have more people around it.”

But for the Tartans, it’s not just about forcing turnovers. It’s about cashing them in.

“We place a high premium on turnovers, and not only taking the ball away, but doing something with it once you have it,” Larsen said.

That success on defense doesn’t happen by accident either.

“Our coaches do an incredible job of getting us prepared, and that allows us to play free and not think too much,” Hegde said. “We can be confident in doing our job.”

Coyne, who calls the defense a bunch of dogs, agrees the preparation is huge and it also helps that every player on that side of the ball knows his role.

“Our defensive coordinator (Ben Gibboney) instills the attitude in our mind before games, before practice, to get after it,” Coyne said. “To run hard, run fast and let it all out on the field. We get motivation from each other. Everyone here has the ability to make plays, and we understand the roles we have to play.”

Robert Coury leads the defense with 62 tackles. Thomas Coury has tallied 60. Seven other players: Adrian Williams (46), Evan Roper (41), Coyne (40), Hegde (36), Jackson Lajoie (35), Mitchell Stokey (31) and Logan Young (30) all have 30 or more tackles on the season.

Eight different players have picked off a pass, including four by Young, and five players have forced at least one fumble.

The defense the Tartans have also benefits the offense when it comes to game preparation.

“I believe the old adage that iron sharpens iron,” Larsen said. “We get better offensively because our defense pushes us in practice. The defense kicked our butt the other day in practice, so we have to be better today because of that. Competition has to be a part of this.”

Saint Vincent is up next. It’s the final home game of the regular season and another opportunity for the Tartans to keep their goals intact.

“We’re on track to accomplish the goals we set at the beginning of the year, which is to win the conference and go to the playoffs,” Hegde said. “We are focused on the game in front of us.”

Coyne is thrilled about that and while he’s happy with what the team has done up to this point, he knows the job isn’t done.

“I’m happy our senior year has turned out so well, but we still have a job to do,” Coyne said. “We still have to win this week. Our focus is on winning this week.”

Larsen is looking forward to seeing his team continue its winning ways and also honoring the 20 seniors on the team this weekend.

“We have a huge opportunity. I told our guys if you want to honor these seniors the right way, go win,” Larsen said. “If we go 1-0 this week, we keep everything we want in front of us, and that includes getting another game at Gesling Stadium. To get another game here would be amazing. But our goal now is to take care of this one and be prepared to do our best.”