The official "watch list" for the Walter Payton Award, (like the Heisman for FCS players), is out and Columbia will be one of three Ivy teams this fall that will face more than just one person on that list.
Every Ivy but Cornell will face watch lister QB Jeff Mathews of the Big Red. But Cornell is not off the hook by any means because the Big Red have to face Colgate's Payton watch list member QB Gavin McCarney in week three.
The Lions have to face Mathews in week 9, but also Fordham watch lister RB Carlton Koonce in the season opener in the Bronx.
However, no Ivy team will be forced to go up against more Payton watch list players than Yale.
The Elis face McCarney and Colgate in week 1, in a game that is also Colgate's Homecoming.
Then Mathews and Cornell invade the Yale Bowl in week 2.
And Koonce and Fordham come to New Haven in week 5.
I still say Columbia has a super tough schedule for 2013, but Yale's may be a tad bit tougher.
Moment #74: Faked Out... or Not
After Princeton jumped out to a 7-0 lead on Anthony Gaffney's 94-yard kickoff return to start the game, the Lions defense did a good job to settle the game down.
It was still 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter when the Tigers mounted an impressive drive starting from their own 20.
But the drive stalled at the Lion 14 where Princeton faced a 4th down and six.
Freshman kicker Nolan Beck was called on to attempt a 31-yard kick... or was he?
It's a question because while the snap was high, it's not clear whether the Tigers intended to fake the kick in the first place.
Either way, the results were disastrous for Columbia. Holder Tom Moak completed the TD pass to Des Smith and special teams fiascoes were now the sole reasons for a 14-0 Lion deficit.
On the season, Beck would end up attempting only 10 field goals total. He made six with a long of 34, showing a very weak range for a Princeton program that had become very spoiled in the placekicking department thanks to Patrick Jacob, who had graduated the year before.
6 comments:
I can't believe that someone did not ask the P coach after the game whether it was a planned fake. It worked Perfectly!
I don't think that the Princeton touchdown was planned. At the moment the snap flew high, you could see kicker hesitate, seemingly uncertain of what to do. If the play had been planned, he would have had a somewhere to go.
It was quite obvious to this observer that, while the kick was indeed muffed, the Tigers had scripted a back-up plan, which would be triggered if the holder or the kicker shouted some key word to release the back-up downfield receiver.
Give the Princeton holder and receiver full credit for staying calm and executing the back-up plan exactly as they had drawn it.
It was a botched play. No question.
thanks for the cogent analysis
I disagree, the play was planned all the way, and brilliantly so, right down to the kicker's hesitation. A smart and creative play by a smart and creative coach.
For what it's worth, the touchdown pass is described on Princeton's website today as "a botched play."
If the kicker's apparent hesitation was indeed scripted into the play as suggested by the poster above, then the Princeton football staff is simply smarter than we are. We need to find dumber opponents.
Post a Comment