Friday, August 16, 2013

The Marsh Effect


Lyle Marsh


I do expect to get some actual solid details on the Lyle Marsh story in the next couple of days, but the fact is this: Penn’s top RB is not going to play this season.

Does that affect the Ivy title race?

I have to say yes, because even though Penn has a lot of talent at running back, Marsh was a clutch gamer much in the way that Quaker QB Billy Ragone plays his best when games are on the line. Marsh was a guy who found the end zone when it mattered, got open on 3rd and 4th and long, and was generally tough to bring down.

The only chink in his armor was his health. Marsh was very injury prone, and we shouldn’t rule out that some kind of injury is the reason for his departure from the roster.

But when he was healthy, he was as good an offensive weapon as you’ll find in the Ivy League.


Training Camp Confidential

With the Lions set to report to training camp in just four days, we can all start looking for drips and drabs of information from the athletic department.

We won’t get all that we want when it comes to having our questions answered, but I’d like to at least my top 5 questions in a sort of “letter to Santa” kind of way:


1)      Who will win the starting QB job, and barring injury, will the starter for the entire season be named by the end of camp?
2)      What player or players will be suspended because of the Twitter embarrassment and is Chad Washington going to be on the team this season?
3)      Who will get the starting jobs for the two open slots at linebacker?
4)      Who will be the starting five offensive linemen?
5)      Other than Travis Reim, who will be the starting defensive backs?


Of course, I don’t expect to learn the answers to these questions straight up at any time during training camp. BUT, we’d love a progress report or two that includes some updates about which players are in the running for the starting slots and how the competitions are looking.

A guy can dream…


Scoops on the Uniforms


The very solid website Football Scoop Football Scoop has a short take on Columbia’s new uniforms. 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Columbia really should have a social media lecture to their football team, can't represent your college like that. Disrespectful.https://mobile.twitter.com/crmolina31

ungvar said...

Anonymous,

You are twisted. Because Cam Molina's Twitter account is protected, only confirmed followers have access to his tweets. So, you signed on to his account to report on his transgressions. That's messed up. Give it a rest, idiot.

And notice, I'm not posting as anonymous.

Anonymous said...

Pete and/or some other official, perhaps players (in Spec?) said they have lectures on social media.

oldlion said...

Jake, why do,you assume that there will be suspensions? Let's put this story to rest. How about more of a positive focus. Or if you want to do some muckraking, how about an exposé of Bagnoli's long history of intimidating the refs in our league? Or the travesty of Cornell football now going the community college transfer route, like in Cornell wrestling? As far as our QB situation, Mangurian knows that to earn the players' respect whoever winds up with the job has to earn it and not have it handed to him. Sure, based upon credentials and the fact that he is older and a mature player I would expect Nottingham to be the starter, but just like anybody else he has to earn it.

jock/doc said...

Jake,
I think you said earlier that the practice in Sat Sept 14th will be open for those of us who can't live without CU football. Do you know what time of day and any other details? Will it be a scrimmage with refs in order to get the guys ready for beating Fordham the following week?

Anonymous said...

Agree with Old Lion as usual. The details of the spring incident truly would not have even made a ripple at most universities, particularly in regards to other player involvement. Chad will be vindicated with regards to criminal activity and guilty of a brief transgression of being a jerk for a minute. Nothing more, nothing less. The University over reacted, profiled, and came down hard on a group of kids who were present, but contributed very little, if at all to the incident The student body had a rallying point to operationalize deep seated bias against a group of student athletes that they disdain. Coach M was forced to pile on so he took action in the least disruptive manner to the collective health and well being of the team. Of course nothing will happen to the victim/s for filling false claims and embellishing, to the University for not protecting Chad against libelous media and hate crimes by the beloved student body, or the Deans who passed judgement against the other players in a kangaroo court-like manner, before the facts emerged, during finals week, in an effort to get things done before summer break. That's it! Done! All the facts you need to know! Please, Jake! If you are truly a Columbia fan, stop trying to be an investigative reporter. Trust Coach M and help the team out and put this all to rest. The more you learn about this incident, the more you will be embarrassed for the university and your degree. Lets talk football!

Anonymous said...

Chad will play. He worked out all summer with the team. He is innocent and never put his hands on the kid. Bret will start. He knows the offense and has the much bigger arm. The student athletes get social media training weekly as well as other forms of training and awareness on various topics.