We all know who this is
If there’s one team and its fans that should pay the least attention to Columbia over the
last 30 years, it should be Penn.
That’s because the past 30 years have been an incredible
period of consistent Quaker success in Ivy League football while the Lions have
posted just two winning seasons in that same time.
But for some reason, Penn fans, players, and even coaches
seem to have a single-minded obsession with putting Columbia down. It’s one
thing to be a sore loser, it’s quite another to be a sore winner.
I’m not a shrink, so I can’t really offer any expertise on
why this is so. But I’ve never heard any longtime Penn fan deny this. And far
too many Columbia fans are unable to ignore it.
One thing I’ve said for years to my fellow CU fans who
complain about all the ribbing and vitriol coming from Quaker-land is this: until
the Lions beat them, we have to take it.
It’s been 17 years now since Columbia last beat Penn. A lot
of the games have been close, especially the last two, but close doesn’t count.
And that leads me to the point I want to make about this
week’s Homecoming game.
The game this Saturday is one of those rare games that could
erase all the bad feelings and disappointments of the entire season in one
afternoon. Yes, the bad blood and hurt feelings are so prominent that a win
over the Quakers would mean that much to the fan base.
Would this be true if Columbia were contending for a title
or even a winning season? Actually, it would be pretty close. That’s how much
this program wants and needs to beat Penn. The fact that it’s Homecoming only
doubles the stakes as the Lions haven’t won a Homecoming game since 2000, and four
of the last five losses have been agonizingly close games.
Penn will be favored by at least two scores. Penn is the
defending Ivy champion. Penn rallied to erase a 10-point 4th quarter
Columbia lead to beat the Lions 24-20 at Franklin Field last year. Penn escaped
from Wien Stadium with a 27-20 win in 2011 after an epic collapse by the Lions
inside the Quaker 10 yard line late in the game and an inexplicable pass
interference call on the ensuing Penn drive. Pre-1982, Penn and Columbia had
won the same number of Ivy titles. Since 1982, Penn has won 15, and Columbia has none and Columbia is only Ivy team not to have won at least a
share of the Ivy title since then.
You can’t have a more obvious game pitting the haves versus
the have nots. And while the Lions surely won’t be awarded a winning season or
an Ivy title on the basis of one win alone, this is really the greatest prize Columbia
can grab this year.
Will it happen? Penn seems weaker than usual this year, but
the Quakers have been deceptively slow starters in recent years and they don’t
care about winning the Ivy title “ugly” if need be. Columbia, with its hopeless
passing attack, may not even be as up to this game as it was when it took on
Penn in 2011 or 2012. But stranger things have happened.
The point is, this is our Super Bowl.
I’m not a head coach or an athletic department shill, so I
get to say that truth out loud.
29 comments:
Columbia is + 19 1/2 for the game v Penn.
Take the points again.
Penn isn't my super bowl!
Colavita may be out with a knee injury.
I think that Penn fans hate Columbia because there is an enormous amount of resentment directed at the fact that we are more highly ranked, more selective, located in a better venue, and also because so many Penn students were rejected by Columbia. They are, without a doubt, the worst fans on earth, rivaled only by Eagle fans.
Colavita definitely out the rest of the season. He was not a gamer anyway.
How about Scott? Per Ivy stats he averaged 8 catches for 88 yards in two games, but has apparently not been in the last two games.
Strange as it seems, much hope and instruction can be found through study of the Penn football team. Many years ago NOTHING could have been more out to lunch than Penn football. Dead! And look at them now. What's more, the turnaround was accomplished with far less than CU has to offer. It can be done -- which doesn't mean it will be done here, but it could be.
One pet peeve. Don't let's have any whining about Penn admitting kids that are below Columbia standards. Yes, all the CU kids are geniuses, but CU would take Penn's football applicants if CU could get them. Trust me.
If there is an academic issue, it's that CU's curriculum allows so little flexibility: "our way or the highway." This is not an appetizing prospect to many kids. It's not going to change, and I don't think it should. But this is a big difference between Penn and CU (and even more so with Brown.)
Finally, Penn's uniforms used to be really terrible. They're still horrible, partly because the human eye can't focus blue and red at the same time. But now they're so ugly they look kind of tough and cool. CU's uniforms? Don't get me started.
Penn came to prominence in the 1980s because the league powers (Dartmouth, Yale) instituted AI banding in 1981 whereas Penn waited until 1986 to start their AI bands. THey were stacked with guys that couldn't get into any other Ivy.
It's different today, and Penn deserves credit for that. But let's not kid ourselves that Penn magically "got good" just by good coaching in the 1980s. They didn't.
Agree that Penn fans are the worst! Their band is obnoxious too - playing over our Alma Mater and exhibiting not an ounce of respect.
On the flip side I've really enjoyed interacting with Dartmouth fans over the years. Do you have a school-opponent that you've found to be friendly towards us Lion supporters?
Everyone else will get less friendly if we ever start winning.
Their facilities are on campus, their new training center inside franklin field is amazing, their coach has been their for years and is a winner, they assist players getting into Wharton where they can actually major in business, and a fraction of their student body is interested in football and support the team. We should strive for all of that.
I don't intend to offend anyone with this Homecoming fact, but since the 9/11 terrorist attacks back in 2001, Columbia has yet to win a Homecoming football game. Last win came back in 2000.
Counter-intuitively, 9/11 did not hurt CU admissions or football recruiting. The real difference since 2001 is that we lost Ray Tellier, who despite his many failings, had a winning record in homecoming games.
If Columbia plays Penn every other homecoming, you can expect to lose most of them.
So regardless of tellier's short comings, he had his kids ready and the semblance of a game plan...things that haven't been seen since 2000 as well.
I think that, somewhere in the wafting smoke of history, Penn people got it into their heads that their university was the most prominent Ivy outside of HYP. That was probably always a bit of a reach but then, for a couple of years, Penn was ranked #4 and the once tenuous thought took hold in their minds. I believe that Penn alums find Columbia to be a competitor and a threat to that status. And now that Columbia is ranked #4, that fear has been realized for them.
In my humble opinion, it's that perception on the part of Penn people which drives the rivalry in their minds, which obviously is not the result of sports.
Look at the way Penn plays games with their founding date (1740--seriously?) to appear older than Princeton and Columbia. They've had an insecurity complex towards HYP and especially Columbia for literally centuries.
Penn basketball fans are even worse than their football fans, and we actually have to sit next to them when they buy up half the seats at Levien.
I am just asking to get a poll, but who will coach the better game penn or columbia?
Who is the bigger jerk?
Penn likes to beat us because Philadelphia feels inferior to NYC, and because Penn is sick and tired of Foehi too.
I'm not confident it'll happen Saturday, but I do have hopes for Hilinski developing into a top QB. After all, a year ago he was playing in a good but not elite league in LA. He's got an arm. Not easy for a frosh at first.
19 1/2 points is no big deal, we may have a shot at a stunning upset. If we're still in it by halftime, watch out.
In terms of just football, not a rivalry of academics or anything else, Penn enjoys giving CU beatdowns because they get to play a lot of players. Once they put things away by halftime guys that would not get a lot of time ordinarily will get int he game. They can also feel free to run whatever plays they like, experiment and have fun. This is the same thing Harvard does.
The joke is, if you field a team and we're on the schedule, we will do as we please. It's old school rules. No one has any leverage as far as scholarships. It's just you against us. Put your team together and come to play. If you suck it's your fault.
i have no problem with the above. if your team sucks feel free to run the score up. that is just football.
if CU ever made a commitment to the program than we would be in a similar position, but since that hasnt and will likley, never happen, we will suffer the fate that we deserve.
likely
Hilinski played in The the elite PAC-5 division. In HS
Mater Dei
Alemany
Crespi (beat in 4-ot game with winning TD land 2pt conv.)"
St John Bosco
Oaks Christian (he beat in the playoffs senior year).
Give him 2 or 3 more games and 80 percent of 1 team reps and 2:'25 secs and he'll produce. Guaranteed.
My son caught many of his passes and is looking at going to Penn. or Yale, Columbia said he wasn't tall enough for their system.
Kellys the most mentally toughest kid I've ever met.
the anony post just above is INTERESTING
Not tall enough? Our best WR in the last ten years! Austin Knowlin, was maybe 5'9". Absurd to avoid looking at slot receivers who are under 6'. Imcan think of a few who,play on Sundays. Anyway, once Hilinski gets the reps in practice and learns how to extend plays he will be a stud back there. Big arm.
Don't sweat the Penn fans, they are rude to everyone. You should see how they act at Princeton games -- right out of the Eagles Fan playbook. And yes, it is fueled my a massive insecurity complex.
Once I was at the Palestra for a Penn-Princeton basketball game, standing in a corridor with the Princeton Band. A little girl comes up to me, maybe 7 or 8 years old. Being a drummer in the Ivy League, this was quite common - we would always entertain kids and let them play our drums. (The CU Band is just as nice about this these days). But instead of saying "Hi, can I try your drum" the girl looks at me from a foot away and yells "PRINCETON SUCKS!" and then storms off. They train them young.
Beat Penn!
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