Game program from Columbia-Penn Homecoming game at Baker Field, 1950
Pennsylvania Quakers vs. Columbia Lions
Homecoming 2013
Location: Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium
Homecoming 2013
Location: Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium
Kickoff Time: 1:30pm* (note later time)
Gametime Weather Forecast: 68 degrees, partly cloudy
How to Get to the Game
Here is my complete guide to getting to, enjoying, and even eating at a Columbia home football game.
TV/RADIO
Broadcast live on the Ivy League Digital Network
The Columbia student station broadcast is on WKCR at 89.9 on your FM dial
Lead Stories
Pick your poison.
Pick your poison.
Do you want to focus on the fact that Penn has defeated Columbia 16 years in a row dating back to 1996?
Do you want to focus on the fact that Columbia hasn't won a Homecoming game since thumping Dartmouth way back in 2000?
Do you want to focus on the fact that Columbia is 0-4 and has been outscored by an average of 32 points in every game?
All of the above facts just feed in to the feeling that this game presents only an upside for Columbia. A win in just this one game would be a massive positive and certainly presents the most upside of any single contest this year.
One game to rule them all!
The other big headline is the fact that freshman Kelly Hilinski, a 6-6 freshman from Southern California is now officially the starter at QB for the Lions.
Hilinski has a great back story, and certainly seems to have the demeanor and poise to be a QB, team leader, and media star. Now he just has to do it on the field.
The other lead story is Penn hasn't looked all that dominant so far this year. That's not really anything new for the slow-starting-fast-finishing Quakers of the last few years. But Al Bagnoli and company need to get going this season without the appearance of much of a running attack, and there are some other injuries as well.
Ivy fans praying for and end to the Harvard-Penn logjam at the top of the league will have a close eye on this contest for signs of hope.
Columbia Keys to the Game
1) Let Marcorus Lead
RB Marcorus Garrett had a super game against Penn in Philly last year and I think he's a better player now. He still hasn't been given the ball more than 27 times in a game in his career and that's a shame. Dump the balanced NFL-style game plan and let Marcorus run... a lot!
2) Throw Some Darn Screens!
You have a 6-6 QB who isn't all that ready to gun it down field and a Penn defense that wants to blast through the Columbia OL that has allowed a million sacks per week. What does that spell? It spells S-C-R-E-E-N P-A-S-S-E-S! Hilinski can easily toss the ball over the 2-3 Penn blitzers who will surely be harassing him routinely. This is a tailor made situation to use Garrett or the small and speedy Scooter Hollis to burn the blitz and give the young QB short and easy open targets to hit. It's so obvious, I worry our coaches will think it's too obvious and go another way. Here's a thought about that: JUST DO IT ANYWAY!
3) Don't Play Patty Cake with Ragone
Penn QB Billy Ragone is really their only serious weapon on offense. He's going to scramble and make big throws on 3rd down. He's going to make yards on QB draws. He's going to wiggle out of sacks and drive you crazy with a poorly-thrown ball that still goes for a key completion. The Lion defenders need to wrap him up every time they touch him. They need to make him pay when tries to run. And they can't hang back in soft coverage giving Ragone a million throwing and running options at the same time. The only way to beat Penn is to beat Ragone.
2) Throw Some Darn Screens!
You have a 6-6 QB who isn't all that ready to gun it down field and a Penn defense that wants to blast through the Columbia OL that has allowed a million sacks per week. What does that spell? It spells S-C-R-E-E-N P-A-S-S-E-S! Hilinski can easily toss the ball over the 2-3 Penn blitzers who will surely be harassing him routinely. This is a tailor made situation to use Garrett or the small and speedy Scooter Hollis to burn the blitz and give the young QB short and easy open targets to hit. It's so obvious, I worry our coaches will think it's too obvious and go another way. Here's a thought about that: JUST DO IT ANYWAY!
3) Don't Play Patty Cake with Ragone
Penn QB Billy Ragone is really their only serious weapon on offense. He's going to scramble and make big throws on 3rd down. He's going to make yards on QB draws. He's going to wiggle out of sacks and drive you crazy with a poorly-thrown ball that still goes for a key completion. The Lion defenders need to wrap him up every time they touch him. They need to make him pay when tries to run. And they can't hang back in soft coverage giving Ragone a million throwing and running options at the same time. The only way to beat Penn is to beat Ragone.
62 comments:
I've seen a lot of those early century programs on EBay for all teams. Some of them are very funny!
As for this game, well, what can you do except use Penn as a model. Remember, Penn was an awful program. That is a distant memory however. History will see them as a stalwart power. If all CU is doing is fulfilling their charter obligation to field a team they have succeeded but barely.
Columbia had the opportunity to do what Penn did (i.e., let kids in that couldn't get into other Ivies). The campus almost rioted. Have to find some other model. Brown, maybe?
How does Columbia expect to compete when the offense cannot protect the QB? This QB is very talented but look at his physique-he looks very fragile. Penn will exploit this and blitz Columbia all day long and they will go right at Hilinski. Also, on offense look for Penn to go to a power running game and wear down the front seven for the Lions and Ragone will then exploit the secondary.
This game has the potential to be a blowout. Columbia does not have the horses to support their few skill players.
Agree with your game plan, Jake, especially the part about soft coverage which killed our chances against Lehigh! Can we bump some receivers at the line of scrimmage?
Based upon what I saw at the Lehigh game we do have the ability to compete tomorrow. Our run blocking was much better and the pass protection was improved. The problem with our passing game last week was that our receivers rarely got separation. The Lehigh offense is better than the Penn offense, and we generally did a good job against the run. We were playing soft at the corners, which gave #80 too much of a cushion.
Are Nelligan, Connors, Wannamaker and Gross all hurt? Jake felt preseason these four represented a strong receiving corps but none are on the two-deep. We desperately need a receiver who can make a play.
Very amusing some people lean on the academic prowess of CU as a crutch or an excuse for the football program. If anyone thinks getting into Penn is easy or easier than CU then you have your head wedged very firmly up your duff. Penn's football program is mighty because their administration (not just the AD) made the commitment to making it happen.
I also disagree Ragone is Penn's only weapon. Their depth will wear down this weak CU squad.
All the receivers listed above, Mangurian and his staff have treated like bums. He as all but ran them off because they don't fit the Pete sterotype. He is looking for his type of guy, and would rather lose than give up on his huge ego...
Jake, Al's Wingman is a Penn guy. How about deleting his blogs.
Al, Penn's a great school today. But we were talking about the 1980s when Penn first became a power. Different story back then.
If the players cited above have been made unwelcome because they did not fit some system, I absolutely assure you there will never be a winning season with this staff. It's a lock. Nor will there be the slightest chance of a win tomorrow.
This head coach is a travesty.
This head coach is a travesty.
Just curious anonymous above who states the 4 players listed were treated like bums. How do you know this? I know for a fact why 2 of them are not playing, and it's not because they were treated like bums.
No proof. Just deductive reasoning based on past experience and here say. Nothing concrete. Still want the best for the team and the guys putting forth the best efforts.
Well...Why are they not playing? I'd love to her from some players about PMs coaching style or lack of it
I spoke to the parents of one of the four WRs at the Lehigh game. He had a serious quad injury and is still recuperating but still expects to play this year. The tyranny of this blog is uninformed and false accusations. The parents, by the way, think the coach is doing the right thing by their son.
Old lion please continue to set these uninformed "gossipers" straight.
Flea flicker !!
Old lion
This is true for one wr. Not 4 others who should be on field helping this team, whom we will not see out there. 4 first downs today I haven't seen the players so down on themselves or their team in recent history. My heart goes out to them. This has to be the nadir in a historically bad program. I'm at a loss for where all the issues are but the coaches have to step up and assume the lions share (no pun intended).
Opponents: 177
Columbia: 45
0-13 on 3rd downs
118 Total Yards
This coaching is an embarrassment Will somebody on the Nathan's Hot Dog Committee FINALLY realize it!
Simply put, embarrassing!
So who went to the Football dinner Friday night? What was said? What asurances did Coach M. give alums? Please let us know???
Agree. This coach abandoned any type of leadership and character building in lieu of his stupidity and lack of people skills. Good talented freshman don't have the seasoning and there is NO sense of team. Leadership on the field comes from leadership at the top. We don't have.
You coaching know nothings are becoming so tiresome. Please stop making fools of yourselves and calm down. This program is a multi year turnaround project. Get real. We don't have the horses we need in place yet.
Experience is the best teacher.
Let's face it. This program as run by Bollinger, Murphy
Although the outcome was disappointing, credit must be given to the fans for a) showing up (10,800!) and b) creating an electric atmosphere.
I was sitting on the Penn side (it's more toddler-friendly over there during Homecoming games) and the roar from the homestand on the flea flicker and the touchdown was really something. Wow.
OldLion, you are right most of the time, but you are wrong here. The program is run by Bill Campbell. Murphy is a puppet and BC is the puppeteer.
Hey Bill, this guy is bad news! The kids are tired of his holier than thou "NFL attitude". You may not want to relize this, but he is a bad coach. You may not want to know that you picked the wrong guy coach (again), but you did. (By the way, that makes you 0-6 for Head Coaches). You may not want to realize that the Football Committee wants him GONE, but they do.
You have your Campbell Center, thank you! Now please GRACEFULLY walk away so that we can piuck a winner.
Coach M has NOT been shy for asking for what he needs (for his Staff or recruiting - which we have the largest budget in the Ivy Leage and the worst record); and everyone has made sure that he gets it. Now we're tired of the asking WITHOUT any results! If Coach M were President of Google, Apple or Intuit, would you keep him? I didn't think so. So why are you making us go through this pain (again)? Norries stayed 4 years longer than he should have; don't make the SAME mistake with Pete! UCONN and USC get it, why can't you?
Multi-year turnaround project??? You are a joke! Four years ago, Dartmouth was behind us. Three years ago, Princeton was behind us. Last year Yale was behind us. Now everyone is ahead of us.
Is this part of Pete's Master 4-year plan again? We don't know anything about coaching? Are you kidding? A blind monkey could get a win in this league and this guy is an albatros to the program!
Mutli-year turnaround... Ha!
That's not only funny, but true. In addition, nice call on BC.
4 first downs the whole game (1 by penalty), 0 for 13 on third down, most of our yards came on the flea flicker. Penn had 438 yards of total offense to 118. some can claim stats dont matter, but when stats are consistent and have merit, which they do after this many games, something is wrong.
Des Werthman
Isn't anyone going to claim a moral victory? Only five more moral victories away from a moral championship!
Pete is a good coach. He blames it on the players. That a way Pete. We believe in you.
Des, do you ever talk with your old coach, Ray Tellier. Seems like he should have a birds-eye view, but can he be truthful?
Once again the team looked okay at the start, even real good, or so we thought, when we had the flea-flicker and TD. I'm sure many of were thinking that we might win it at that point. But then the lack of creativity and absence of brilliance came into play on offense. For me the series that sealed it was when we had the ball with 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half and elected to run a couple of the usual go-nowhere running plays up the middle, despite the fact that Marcorous wasn't getting anywhere on that play all day. Maybe we didn't want to give them back the ball but to do that you have to make at least one first down, and that was beyond us so of course they got it back and scored. Sorry to say but with this staff "what shouldn't have happened did." Pete was once an OC himself, but was he any better than JE? It would be hard to top our OC for dull and ineffective play-calling.
Pete is responsible. They both lack creativity and are grossly overpaid. I have seen better, more imaginative play calling consistently in local high school programs in my area.
I do not subscribe to the Bill Campbell is running the show theory. I have zero inside political vision of the situation but he did speak his thoughts at an event I went to this past year. He says if he had answers he would done much better when he was the head coach. He donates because he wants the program to succeed and draw recruits. He also mentioned the people in the athletic department make the decisions. He offers his opinion if it is asked for and no doubt that occurs but to what degree he pulls strings seems kinda a stretch considering the guy is really busy with other priorities.
As for this game, Penn was sloppy or it would have been a lot more points. CU defense is hanging tough. Would have been nice to see a big play like an INT return for TD. There's not enough playmakers period and as we all recognize, CU coaching staff is inferior.
The punter is all-ivy. He has made 2 TD saving tackles I have seen this year. One today against Penn and against Princeton. Maybe he has had more.
Tellier won't tell anyone the truth. He's on scholarship and all he has to do is put up with Diane! Come on!
My first posting this season.
Coach has set up an awesome program. Really is the best one we have ever had here. Coach and his staff work endlessly with sincere effort.
Today I noted the penn players were going home with their parents after the game. Criticism here is that coach never releases the pressure during the season. The kids are already very mentally tired. They need a break mentally. Sunday practice, lifting and meetings is over the top. The players are not physically beaten down as they were by Wilson. Coach needs to back off the time requirements a little bit for better performance.
That was the hardest hitting game I have seen in four years. That game was for big boys. Our guys never backed off. Defense played to the very last play.
Our defense is good enough to be in the top half of the league. Our kicking and punting are the best in the league. Our offense is so far behind everyone else we may go 0-10. That is with the best running back in the Ivy League.
It appears that the coach's big recruiting tool is promising recruits playing time their freshman year. I could see him sitting some seniors but seems to be no other excuse to see him sitting some very good sophomore and junior players. The freshman receivers are all catching the ball against their bodies and not with their hands. That is why we see so many dropped and broken up passes.
Seems the coaching change on the offensive line has provided much better protection on passing downs the last two weeks.
I know the coach wants to build but sitting the better older players completely hurts everyone. Mix the younger ones in slowly. This builds the younger players confidence and keeps up the moral of the older players and the whole program.
Pete is not making any friends anywhere. He better start winning real fast because the hard ass approach leaves him no support with players, staff, former players, alumni and parents.
My one request to the search committee was to bring in someone to raise the moral, to build up the players, to them they can do it. Last coach was a physical ass kicker. Seems this coach is a mental ass kicker. Pete, teach them to win! Don't beat them down,
Please... Dianne doesn't make a senior move in the football program without the approval of Campbell or Kraft. Pete does not get hired if Bill says NO!
Roar- I speak to Ray occasionally, but I have not spoken to him since before the season started so I cannot speak for him on this topic.
Des
The debacle rests clearly at Bill Campbell's desk! He made the decision to hire this retread. I recommended to Campbell two years ago to hire 2 time HS National Campionship Don Bosco Coach Greg Toal and Campbell laughed at me.
Toal is the only coach with the ability and the DESIRE to Coach at Columbia to turn this program around.
I plead with all of you to have a grassroots campaign to bypass Campbell and get Toal to come here in 2014.
Don't need another Jerry Faust. Need a good offensive coordinator from a FBS program with recruiting ties in the south. I can think of a couple.
He is not another Jerry Faust, he is another VINCE Lombardi. Trust me on this one.
And by the way Jerry Faust had a winning record at ND!
Thanks for posting, Coach Toal. We'll get back to you. Geesh.
Thanks for posting, Coach Toal. We'll get back to you. Geesh.
That's bush (geesh) to suggest that Toal is tooting is own horn here. He may or may not be the answer. At Columbia you never know until you know. It takes someone special. We need the Jack Rohan of football.
Des, maybe you should offer to volunteer as an assistant, work your way in, give yourself a break from the money-making racket...I think you're too sincere for Wall Street.
Pseudo coach: You are FOS for suggesting Campbell is making the decisions. Reminds me of the tomfoolery on the voy forum.
The bottom line on Toal is that Bill said "NO" and move on. We should all do the same!
One small point... Don Bosco beat Paramus Catholic on Friday (who have 8 D-1scholarship kids). Oh, and Don Bosco's O-Line is better than ours!
We had 118 TOTAL yards on offense. Our O-Line is horrible!!! Did you see Penn's O-Line? They looked FAT! Look at that... Overweight winners. Hmmmm...
P.s. NO underclassmen saw the field on the O-Line for Penn. Clearly, Bagnolli is an idiot!
Oh, you forgot that Bagnolli uses his JV team to develop players. Again, what an idiot he must be compared to our MENSA Member head coach, Pete!
Can anyone provide feedback from the Football dinner on Friday night? What was said? Where are we on Pete's "4-year plan"? Was it more of "we have to stay the course..."
This is actually a serious question?
I thought that the defense played well, especially the front seven for most of the game. Sometime we lost containment on the right side but that improved when Chad moved over there. A few times we didn't wrap up, or lost containment, but I was disappointed that our safeties cost us 60 important yards on four unnecessary unsportsmanlike conduct calls. Conversely, Penn should have been called for one on Olinger when he was being pummeled while he was on his back. Our DBs still need to learn how to play the ball rather than to face guard the receiver. On offense, not having Connors ready and sitting down Nelligan due to the injury last week cost us in terms of our passing game, insofar as I counted six catchable balls. Also, the two first year WRs, who have obvious potential, still need to learn not to give up on plays, to run better patterns, and to catch with their hands. The pass protection, with the exception of one spectacular failure to pick up an obvious blitz by #54, was better. Hilinski has to learn to get rid of the ball after 3 seconds if nobody is open, or better yet after he knows his receivers, to throw it to spots where he expects the receiver to be, not where he is. The run game doesn't work when teams expect us to try to run, which with us is usually on first down. I thought that too many of our running plays were much too slow to develop. As far as the oft repeated story about running players off the team, in fact Gross and Wanamaker are both off the team, but to,say that the coaches ran them off is not the case. Without getting into specifics which may be unfair to the two young men, both cases differed one from the other and the coaches really can't be faulted in either case. You don't have to take my word for that if you know any of the parents who are familiar with what actually happened. Finally, based upon what Fordham, Monmouth and Princeton did yesterday, where 50 points seems like close to the new normal, there is something that needs to be said about the type of schedule we have had year to date. If we can show some offensive life, especially in the passing game, maybe we'll surprise a few people. I worry about next weekend, however. It is always tough to get our guys up for playing Dartmouth at Hanover. PS, Ragone was on crutches after the game. I don't see Penn doing anything without him. The guy wins ugly.
I guss I would ask, under what circumstances would the powers at be say "enough is enough"? Clearly this NFL mind set is wearing on these young men. Alums who I spoke to at homecoming, who have met coach M and are part of the inner circle (or so they claim), are tired of the rhetoric without any substantial gains. It doesn't take a consulting agency to figure out the problem; it's our leadership team: Bill, Football Committee and Dianne have failed on the last 6 coaches. That covers decades, think about it. Not only do we need a new coach, but please get new blood when selecting the guy. The current formula is clearly not working. Just a thought
Well, OldLion, if 50+ points is the norm, you'll be happy to know that we are almost there!!! After 5 gams we have scored a total of 45 points!
We need to lock Pete down for another 4 years!
So the underclass men on the line cost us the game? Your an idiot.
Old lion, as a recent former player I can assure you if someone leaves this team, it's because of this coaching staff. Coach M has no problem telling you he doesn't like you. He treats most players, like the other people, like crap. It's very hard to want to play and win for this guy.
Since when is the head coach supposed to be your best friend ? He is there to do a job. This is college football,not little league. Kids leave the team for various reasons,grades,money, not competitive. It is so easy to blame the coach instead of telling the truth about some of these reasons. He is the head coach . He is in charge as much as you may not like it anonymous complainers!
I have never seen him blame the players ,although he can't get out there and do it for them. He may just be stating fact.
line played much better this week!
Is 0-10 acceptable? If so, I’ll get in to coaching as well. How could I be any worse?
Seriously, what is the threshold for saying enough is enough. Quite frankly, I’m getting tired of the excuses “this is only Pete’s second year” and “believe in the system”. Well, it’s hard to do both when we haven’t seen any improvement. So when people tell us to be patient, PLEASE tell me what is acceptable? 3-7 last year, 0-10 this year, what next year?
We still have 5 more games.
OldLion your game insights are always on target. What is disturbing is the 3 second rule for the QB in the pocket. It's actually less than that but let's go with 3 secs. It so happens the program does not have a QB who is a dual threat, who can escape pressure and make plays. That is not Hilinski's strength. It certainly isn't McDonagh's either. Last year Brackett could do that. In fact, that is his game Though he was chided for it by Pete. Olawale was successful because he could escape pressure. Jeff Otis as well though he was far from a prototype running QB. Nottingham did not even last a full game, the guy was a natural at making plays. There is no one on the current roster that is a good fit to lead the offense due to the ineffectiveness of the OL. Fire Ed Argast.
^ apologies, my editing got messed up. Meant to say Otis was a natural at making plays. Nottingham never had a chance.
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