Mark Your Calendars!

Some Dates and News:

If you’re following the daily countdown/top moments of 2012 series on this blog, you already know we’re 61 days from the start of the 2013 season.

But there are some other dates to be aware of now.

August 6^th is the official Ivy League football media day. That’s when the preseason poll is released and each of the eight head coaches will speak for a few minutes about their teams. Then, each will take questions.

These events always do end up breaking some news about two or three teams. Usually, that news concerns previously unknown injuries, eligible and ineligible players, and some good hints on key starters.

With Stanford transfer QB Brett Nottingham coming to the Lions, I expect Head Coach Pete Mangurian to get grilled a  lot about him and his expected impact on the team. Mangurian will be hard pressed to stick to his line about how the starting QB position is not yet decided, but I think he’ll stand firm.

I’ll be providing many updates throughout the day on the news conference and what Mangurian and the other coaches say.

August 20^th is the day that Columbia players will report to training camp. But a good deal of the team has already been on or around campus for big chunks of the summer. That includes the incoming freshmen. Hopefully this means camp will be more about getting down to business and less about orienting to new surroundings in New York City.  

And another date I’ve already written a little about is August 29^th.  That’s the day Columbia’s week one opponent, Fordham, begins its regular season. Yes, that’s a full 23 days before the Lions hit the field for real against the Rams in the Bronx. And I’m pretty sure that’s a record disparity for a Columbia team to face when it comes to a week one opponent's preparedness. Of course, as I have also pointed out on my Columbia blogs many times over the years, this has played to CU’s advantage many times as the Lions get to see what the other team can do but they can’t do the same to them. With a brand new QB taking over this season, that advantage may be more pronounced for Columbia this time around.

Another consideration on this matter is that while Fordham’s week one opponent is a weak-ish Rhode Island team, its week 2 and 3 opponents are very tough and could potentially put a hurting on the Rams. That week 2 opponent in the Bronx is Villanova and on week 3 Fordham has to travel to play the resurgent Tempe FBS program in Philly.