Goin' to the Chapple

U

Did Colton Chapple really deserve that trophy?


Harvard's Colton Chapple was a somewhat surprising choice as the Ivy League's Offensive MVP in 2012.

He's certainly very talented and put up big and impressive numbers for the year.

But Chapple was rarely ever forced to get the Crimson through in tight games, and in the most important game of Harvard's year he faltered against Penn.

That said, Chapple's passing stats on 3rd down last year were nothing short of fantastic.

He was 39 of 59 on 3rd down for a .661 completion percentage.

He threw for 466 yards for a 7.8 yards per attempt average.

30 of his 3rd down passes went for 1st downs, a .508 percentage.

Four of his 3rd down passes went for TD's, two were intercepted.

He was sacked just four times for just 17 yards lost, but one of those sacks was a safety to ice the Penn loss.

My issue is not that Chapple was not talented enough to win the Offensive Bushnell Cup, it's that he didn't show the grit to get the championship that Penn;s Billy Ragone did just about all season long.

Chapple has graduated, but the debate over whether he really deserved that MVP award will go on. 

TOMORROW: Penn's Billy Ragone

Moment #81: Murphy, Patterson, Lee & Martin Kick it up a Notch

With Columbia trailing 14-10 and Marcorus Garrett coughing up a rare fumble at the Lion 27, the CU defense needed to come up big to avoid the worst as the 2nd quarter began.

And that's exactly what it did.

Five plays into the drive, Fordham had a 1st and goal at the Columbia one. But after that, four different senior Lions would step it up over the next three plays before Lady Luck intervened for good measure.

On 1st down, LB Ryan Murphy stuffed Ram RB Carlton Koonce for a six yard loss.

On 2nd down, senior DE Will Patterson swooped in and nailed QB Ryan Higgins for a seven yard sack.

After a five yard false start penalty, Fordham was backed up to the CU 19 and on 3rd down senior DT Greg Lee and senior DE Josh Martin combined for a seven yard sack to push the Rams all the way back to the 26.

That set up a 43-yard FG attempt for Fordham's super kicker Patrick Murray, who had a great track record on kicks of that distance coming into this game. But his boot was wide left and Columbia had dodged a bullet.