Friday, October 12, 2012

Quaker Crunch


Ben is checking out the spreads


Columbia Lions at Pennsylvania Quakers

October 13, 2012

Location: Franklin Field Philadelphia, PA

Kickoff Time: 1:00pm

Gametime Weather Forecast: 57 degrees, sunny

The Spread: Penn is favored by 17 points


Penn Game Notes (the Quaker notes list RB Brandon Colavita as the starter, but I believe he is still injured)


HOW TO GET TO THE GAME

DIRECTIONS
FROM THE NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE AND POINTS NORTH:

Take exit 4 of the Turnpike. Take I-295 to the Walt Whitman Bridge. Take I-76 West to the South Street exit (346A). Turn Left onto South Street and proceed to 33rd Street where you will make another right. Franklin Field is located on the right and the Ticket Office is at the top of the driveway in front of the stadium.
FROM THE PENNSYLVANIA TURNPIKE AND POINTS WEST:
Take exit 24 (Valley Forge) of the Turnpike. Follow I-76 East to the South Street exit (346A). Turn right on South Street and proceed to 33rd Street. Turn Right onto 33rd Street and proceed to Market street (Past Franklin Field,) and make a left. Franklin Field is located on the right and the Ticket Office is at the top of the driveway in front of the stadium.
FROM POINTS SOUTH:
Follow I-95 North to PA 291 East and follow signs to I-76 West. Take I-76 West to the South Street exit (346A). Turn Left onto South Street and proceed to 33rd Street where you will make another right. Franklin Field is located on the right and the Ticket Office is at the top of the driveway in front of the stadium.

TV/Radio

You can't get free audio and pay-per-view video on SideLion Pass. Jerry Recco and Sal Licata have the call.
The Columbia student station broadcast is on WKCR at 89.9 on your FM dial.

Lead Stories

So continues the Ivy League's most unsuccessful "rivalry." Penn has won the last 15 contests dating back to 1997. Both teams' fans have tremendous disdain for one another and I imagine the players and coaches do too. Even the new regime of Columbia Head Coach Pete Mangurian is probably looking at the Quakers like an old enemy. 

The big news surrounding Penn is whether the Quakers can shake off a rough 1-3 start while clinging to the convenient fact that their one win is the Ivy contest at Dartmouth two weeks ago. After falling back into the pack in 2011, Penn fans are wondering if this group has what it takes to challenge for the title. 
Columbia appears to be at a bottom right now. After a decent defensive showing in the opening win against Marist, the Lions "D" has run into some troubles and the offense never got going to begin with. Columbia detractors and fans alike are openly wondering if this team is somehow worse than it was last year. 
So Penn wants a game that will jump start a title run, while Columbia is looking to stop the bleeding and start showing real improvement on the field, 

Three Keys for Columbia

1) Get the Offense Going!
This has been the #1 key since week 2. And with Penn's uncharacteristically average defense this year, it's not impossible to finally get it done this time. The Quaker defense has been especially generous when it comes to opponent completion percentage this year, which is CU QB Sean Brackett's biggest problem. 

2) Attack the Short Passing Lanes
Penn's improved passing game this season relies on lots of short tosses and hoped-for runs after the catch. The Quakers still aren't very likely to try to burn opponents with deep sideline patterns, etc. The Lions need to harass that area 8-10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage where the passing plays are going to originate.

3) Make Ragone Pay
Penn QB Billy Ragone does what Columbia fans wish Sean Brackett could do: run and gun. So when Ragone decides to run, the Columbia defense must make him pay with clean but hard hits that make him think twice. Letting Ragone get comfortable will be the kiss of death. 

37 comments:

InwoodTiger said...

Penn fans are mean. Really mean. Small children used to yell obscenities at me when I would go to Penn-Princeton basketball games once they saw my Princeton sweater. Most Ivy stadia are gentle, friendly places but if you wear your Columbia colors to Franklin just be a little more aware of your surroundings. The jerk factor will be high.

Also, bring some toast to chuck on the field when the Penn Band plays that highball thing after the third quarter. It's perfectly ok to do this, the Toast Zamboni will clean it up. Good fun.

Anonymous said...

Good first half; D played well; 6-3 Lions

Anonymous said...

Heartbreaker. But much better offensive effort and good play from QB. Got the interval improvement we've been looking for. Now need to sure up safety play and we will be OK.

Go Lions.

See you guys at Homecomming!!

RedTiger61 said...

In the 3rd Qtr, we finally saw flashes of the 2010 Brackett ... everyone is going to use the "no-huddle" against us until we figure out how to play against it .... we just don't look very organized against it ... the LB's have to do a better job stopping the mid-range pass game that everyone is hurting us with ... looks like we found another pretty good freshman RB .... Molina did pretty well ...

Anonymous said...

I rarely bitch about the refs, but I was at the game and we had some truly terrible calls against us. Carter had an interception that was called an incompletion. On the play that we got called pass interference, there were two penn players obviously holding CU players, yet nothing was called. Instead of Penn getting a first down on the interference, the penalties should have been offsetting. The other terrible call was on thee first play of the game, but at least that one was then reversed.
-Dr.V

jock/doc said...

Is a heartbreaker loss any better than a moral victory?

Anonymous said...

A much better effort however good teams and good coaches win those games. We completely outplayed Penn and have nothing to show besides a demoralizing loss.Meanwhile Princeton shuts out Brown---frustrating.

WOF said...

A friend and former player went to the game and we talked aferward.

He said that game was like any other CU game since the 80's. We played just good enough to lose.

Man, is this tiring...

Anonymous said...

On a positive note Columbis is tied for 2nd in the Ivy in rushing defense only allowing 2 rushing touchdowns in 5 games and only 2.9 yards per carry.

Anonymous said...

Quick diversion from football to note that our Columbia Lion Basketball Team has now been selected by several publications as the "dark horse" to win the Ivy League Championship this season. Two of the players, Brian Barbour and Mark Cisco are pre-season 1st Team All-Ivies. Columbia, Cornell, Harvard and Princeton are epected to fight it out for the Ivy League Championship with Penn next and then Yale, Darthmout and Brown.

Anonymous said...

Freshman Cameron Molina at running back and freshman,Chris Connors at wide receiver were both impressive. Molina is a quick hitter with lots of potential. Another promising freshman is defensive back Travis Reim. Anyone know the extent of Gross' injury? We certainly can use his long-range pass cathching ability, although Nelligan and Garner were solid against Penn.

oldlion said...

What happened to the Gerst brothers?

RedTiger61 said...

It seems like the blog comments are roughly 50/50 on whether Mangurian is doing a good or bad job (i.e. comments like :no different siince ;80;s) .... I am at the point where I am giving him the benefit of the doubt .... there are some positives I see out on the field ... yes, they need to be more consistent .... the Penn game they were better (at times) ,,,, I truly believe Mangurian will get them where we all want them to be ... let's focus more on where we are going, rather tan where we have been ...

oldlion said...

I think Mangurian will turn out to be the best coach since The great days of Columbia football. He is changing the culture while emphasizing conditioning, playing in a system, taking responsibility and not making excuses. Spend five minutes with the man and you will see he is the real deal. Jake may take me off the blog for saying this, but let's get off Pete's back.

Anonymous said...

At Penn, Brackett was allowed to play to his considerable talent --- in contrast to earlier games. Perhaps what I'm seeing now is the better play that is the result of the better coaching we had expected.
I hope so and expect some wins this year based upon what was demonstrated yesterday.

Leonlion

#1 Lion said...

Oldlion- Sorry, but this was yet anothetr COACHING loss! He's the guy NOT supposed to be making these types of mistakes! What mistakes you ask??? Beyond his inability to KEEP Brackett in the shotgun formation, he THREW the ball late in the 4th quarter over the last couple of sets of downs. We needed the clock to run down and put even MORE pressure on Penn. I say stop blaming the kids for not executing HIS system, and he should focus on common sense coaching. I have no illusions that he will be here for 3-5 years, I get it, but ENOUGH with how well of a conditioned team we are,and what a nice giuy he is (see Norris Wilson). We have a starting guard that is 229 lbs (that's a FACT). That kid wouldn't make most HS teams for goodness sakes. Defenses are now focusing in on him. The Pen linebackers used our O-Line as punching bags... embarrassing! I'm looking for Mangurrian to get some transfers. Wannamaker drops too many balls and he can't spread the field. Maybe we can get Childress' brother who is a frosh at West Virginia.


#1 Lion said...

RE: Gerst brothers... Both uninjured. Mike (Freshman) suits up for the games and Nick (Senior) sits in the stands. That is Mangurrian's decision that befuddles lots of players on the team; especially the seniors - I met up with Nick over the weekend so that's my reference point.

Anonymous said...

#1 Lion,
We had almost 500 yards of offense and beat Penn in every statistical category except the most impt, final score! Punching bags! Really! Your ignorance is annoying and your negativity detrimental to the program. I do suspect that Penn is much worse than people realize, but we made huge strides on Saturday. Now the coaches and players have to learn how to finish and win. It really upsets me that you attend games and have access to players afterwards. You are part of the problem at Columbia!

#1 Lion said...

Did you see Garrett's runs? It was all him! I merely make observations... I suppose Recco and crew, along with he Penn commentators, are all wrong? That our O-Line is the weakest part of our game? THEY were the ones who commented that HS lines are bigger. I see, because we are "fitter" it's okay?

To the Gersts credit, they are very positive about the coach.

I find it offensive that these players work hard in practice (5:00 am) week in and week out and they can't even suit up for the games? I feel really bad for seniors who are asked to do that. It's embarrassing! And I'm the problem of CU football? Please...

Anonymous said...

Ok. Now your listening to the opposing team's broadcasters for insight. And Garrett, who was indeed great, could have done it alone? You are unbelievable. I am not a fan of not inviting recruits to summer camp or of leaving upper classmen off the field. But you are a malcontent who is poisoning the program. There has to be a culture change to build a winning program. These are the hard times. Give the team a chance.

Anonymous said...

Number one LION is correct--Coach M assured us on day one that his teams would always be prepared. His teams would never make dumb mistakes. They would never beat themselves. So, why do we get a penalty on the final PAT that cost us yards on the kickoff? Why do we get a holding penalty on one of the final plays of the game? Why were we forced to spike the ball on first down on that final drive? It never dawned on anyone that we might actually complete the pass and get the first? We didn't have a play called? Why did we throw it on third and three KNOWING that an incomplete would give Penn exactly what it wanted, namely the stopping of the clock? What about an option run by Sean on that all important play? Is our small O line incapable of getting enough push to get three yards on two carries? Why are we throwing the ball many many yards short of the end zone on the final play? If you want to run a gadget play on the final down---such as a hook and lateral, that would be fine. I am not suggesting that we must throw a hail mary....Number one is correct---it remains inexplicable why the upper classmen (and everyone for that matter) do not dress at home. This notion that small guys will beat big guys is a failure. In fact, it is our poor defense that is sucking wind ...I have yet to see an opposing defense or hear from an announcer that an opposing defense is gassed! We got out coached when it really mattered in the fourth quarter. Sad--the young men deserve better.

oldlion said...

Coach is starting Stock aT RG because he beat out guys much bigger for the starting position. Last year,we had an OL which averaged 290 and couldn't block my Aunt Fannie. This year we have already rushed for more yards than all of last year, and Garrett has a good shot at leading he league in rushing. So lay off Stock. And lay off the rest of the OL, the best five guys are playing. We can put a bigger OL on the field but what is the point? Our front seven has played reasonably well on defense despite the loss of one of our best guys at DE. So lay off the defense. Brackett wasn't playing well until last Saturday, but he is now going to show what he can do based upon what he did to a pretty good Penn team. We all want the same thing, so we should exhibit some support.

Anonymous said...

OldLion. It is not just the Gersts that are positive about the coach. From what I know it is the majority of the team, there are always a few negative ones (like you). If these guys are not in w/ the coaches, where would that leave them . Hey , i have a kid on the team , and to him hard work , learnig and staying positive is mandatory. Not sure about you , but I saw a better team yesterday. I also noted changes especially on offense. I'm sure for you it is frustrating watching Columbia FB as long as you have. There are always those that find fault with the coaches. I'm hanging in there with Mangurian. I expect to see even better playing this saturday.
GO LIONS

oldlion said...

To anonymous: I think you misread my post. I am very positive about the coach

Anonymous said...

Sorry, my mistake, i meant #1lion

Anonymous said...

As usual, Old Lion speaks with wisdom and represents a true fan. Coach M made none of the promises mentioned above; that post came from a parallel universe. Angry parent I suspect. You can always question calls or look back and say woulda, coulda, shoulda. I for one am grateful that only one or two plays was the difference between victory and defeat. Baby steps. it never happens overnight. It's OK to vent on a blog, but its not OK to do it right after a tough loss within earshot of the players and staff. Also, the continued negativity of #1 is a cancer to the program. This team needs our support! We all want the team to win. Please recognize you all have a part in the transformation.

Anonymous said...

Agree with anonymus above. However, I don't think #1 is a current parent. He is clueless as to what is going on with this team and the players attitudes. Why would Coach M play "favorites" if his main goal is to win? I can assure you these guys compete for their positions every week and the best players play.
#1 posts/rants are nasty, angry and just wrong. It's obvious he has never been a team player at anything in his life or he wouldn't be calling out specific players on this blog. So #1 just for your reference - you win as a team and you lose as a team. Stop the blaming! We are all anonymus here (other than Jake) so for the sake of the players and THEIR team why don't you keep your comments to yourself. Didn't your mother teach you that if you don't have anything nice to say not to say anything at all?

Anonymous said...

Seems to me that our guys came very close to getting over the hump against Penn. You need to score points to win games and our offense started doing that against Penn. Brackett showed that he can be a very good drop-back passer and the running game was excellent. We do have some outstanding receivers such as Nelligan and Garner. Our kicking game is solid. On defense, we almost completely stopped Penn's running game. The secondary still needs some work, but you can see that the players are very talented and it's just a matter of their becoming more experienced as a group. Looking ahead, I am confident that our Lions will have a winning record in the second half of the season.

Anonymous said...

I implied anonymous who misquoted the coach was a parent, not #1.

Anonymous said...

As far as the coaches playing favorites vs putting the best players on the field, there is a little of both going on. When choosing the players who will step out and get a shot, when the talent differential is small, as is the case with many positions on this team, new coaches definately "see something" more in the kids they recruited and more freely give them an opportunity. Its normal human psychology and one of the disadvantages of existing players during a regime channge. There are kids on this team who were "destined" to start or contribute greatly who have yet to take the field. Those who have been openly bitter may find themselves in the stands. Those who have bought in, continue to work hard and help the team, awaiting an opportunity to contribute are the real heros. Hopefully the coaches recognize this. These are the growing pains of a regime change.

oldlion said...

Ultimately the DBs will be a strength of our teams. Coach was particularly happy with the recruiting class at DB. We have some excellent young athletes who have the ability to play corner. But it is harder to teach pass defense techniques at this level than you might think. Take, for example, the correct technique for playing the ball rather than the receiver. That does not come overnight. I expect us to do better and better for the rest of the season.

#1 Lion said...

I'm the bad guy because I point out the obvious (which our own commentators, The Spectator, and opposing media outlets point out as well). I never said Mangurrian, or his Staff, were bad coaches (or bad guys). What I did say, is that they made BAD decisions that cost us two games this year. The ONE thing that we were supposedly be able to could count on thjis year is the fact that they would make better decisions than Norries. To date, we have not seen that (fact,NOT opinion). If you look at the Fordham and Penn games OBJECTIVELY (without name-calling), you will see that I am right. Also,it's NOT about me being right or wrong, it's about the kids; not fans, alums, or the coaches, the kids! This TEAM (emphasizing the fact that players 1-100 help prepare these kids week in and week out) put in 25-30 hours of work at Baker Field each week (film/lifting inclusive). The LEAST that the staff could do is allow the TEAM to dress for home games. To some of you, this may sound trivial, like "Parka-Gate" last year, however, it's a BIG deal to players and their families. We'll see this weekend at homecomming...

I feel as though some of you fans are just blind loyalist. That's fine, but I'm not. I want to see improvement. Just because this staff doesn't yell and demean the players like Norries' staff did, doesn't make them better coaches. They're more civil and more professional (thankfully), but some of the moves (and personnel decisions) on the field are very questionable. It's very clear that Coach M is making a ststement by playing Freshmen. That's fine and that is his perogative. Is he sacraficing NOW for the future? When does he line up Brackett at TE or Wide-Out?

Okay, OBJECTIVELY, if YOU were the head coach of another team, how would you play/attack Columbia? You would exploit their weakness. And where is that? I'm being villified for pointing out what everyone else sees and this guy won't change. So be it...

I'm the "cancer to the program" that gets these kids summet internships and jobs by the way. They have NO career guidance/ advisement in the Football/AD department and most of these kids are left on their own... again, 25-30 hours per week (in-season). I know what I do for the program, what do YOU do?

To me, this TEAM is more than just being about wins and losses.

CULionPride said...

Why oh why are there posts blasting Coach Mangurian already? Some of these remind me of last year regarding Coach Wilson. If any of us were capable of coaching then that may have been our chosen profession. The regime changed and that means change. The Wilson methods did not work. Let Coach Mangurian have some time to prove or disprove he is a good hire.

Anonymous said...

BRAVO number one LION----

Jake said...

I just posted my take on the game, but let's all realize that we're on the same side here. The fact is, NO ONE is calling for Mangurian to be fired or not given his 3-5 years of a chance. But I do insist on pointing out the pluses and the minuses as they come. We're 1-4 and making a lot of the same mistakes we made under the last regime. That's a fact. It's also a fact that we have some positive going our way that should lead to more wins relatively soon. I also think that despite his vow not to change his strategy in that KCR interview, Mangurian clearly HAS made some changes since that were positive.

RedTiger61 said...

I'm really glad #1 Lion sat iun on all the Spring and Summer practices and saw how everyone who wound up startuing perfrom .... I am also amazed that he got a chance to view all the films of opposing teams that makes him so good at analyzing our game plan .... better yet, I assume he is sitting up with the coaches in the press box and thoroghly understands why a particular play was called ... if anyone thinks it's ONLY coaches or ONLY player miscues that are reasons for why we lost the Penn game ... then maybe you should be out there coaching ... players execute, and coaches call plays ... if one makes a mistake, the play doesn't work .... even at LSU and Alabama, sometimes an OC will make a call he thinks will work, but doesn't ... players aren't perfect ... they can miss a block away from the point of attack and not effect the play .... we are ALL paaionate about wanting to see a turn around ... I still think it will come ... I believe we have a shot against Dartmouth and Yale, Brown maybe/maybe not, we can't trade scores with Cornell if we hope to win, and Harvard is the class of the League .... whatever happens this year, I still think Mangurian will turn it around ... the overly harsh rhetoric doesn't help ... they haven't been perfect ... they will be better .... hopefully better sooner for ALL of us ...

Anonymous said...

#1. I'm the anonymous guy who has been riding you hard. I'm happy to hear that you are involved with the players as a mentor and help with carreer guidance. I agree that the AD has been weak in that regards. While some students can sit on the steps of the library contemplating majors and career choices, our boys can't. They are up at 430 am for fb and are largely in bed at or before 10, leaving little time for anything other than nutrition, class study. So God bless you! However, this commitmment doesn't give you the right to poison the program and I sincerely hope you save your comments to career counseling with the players and not football. You need to have perspective and more objectivity and patience. You cannot use your access to players as a conduit for your vitriole. You could become a part of the losing history of Columbia football.