Friday, July 18, 2014

Capital Changes


Say Goodbye to Bob Ford and that hat


Now back to previewing our 2014 opponents. My look at Fordham from back in May is here.   

Sorry, I wasn’t able to do a week-by-week update as I promised but now I have better information to work with anyway.

Albany is the week two opponent for the Lions and the 2 hour 45 minute journey from campus will be the longest road trip of the year. This is the return engagement for Columbia after Albany came to CU in 2011 an won by a score of 44-21.

Albany has a new stadium with 8,500 seats and is named after their legendary coach Bob Ford.

But the Great Danes are a much different team than they were in 2011 when they beat the Lions at Baker Field. Despite losing a number of close games against good teams, there’s no getting around the fact that Albany was a putrid 1-11 last season.

The great Bob Ford has retired, succeeded in December by Greg Gattuso. Gattuso seems like a good choice for Albany, but the transition from Ford who was the only coach ever in Albany football history, will not be easy.

The Great Danes appear to be much stronger on offense than they are on defense. That’s thanks to a stellar RB, Omar Osbourne, who ran for 1,206 yards last season and has been named to the CFPA running back award list.

Joining him on the award watch list for tight ends is another red shirt senior, Brian Parker. Parker is a good combination blocker and receiver who pounds defenders with his 260-pound frame.

And Albany has a great QB, and yet another red shirt senior, in Will Fiacchi who passed for 2,300+ yards last season.

Expect a big boost from Maryland transfer Mike Madaras, an excellent offensive lineman who was originally recruited by the Terps by coach Gattuso. Another potential quality transfer is 6-4 QB Dan Harding, but I’m not sure if he is eligible to play this season. If so, he could push Fiacchi or just use this year to gear up for 2015.  

Albany’s best defensive player is senior safety Olatunji Idowu, who is also a top student academically. But watch out for Michael Smith, who is officially listed as a DT but is really a LB and was the Great Danes leading sacker last season.


For all intents and purposes, this seems like one of the more winnable games for the Lions.  But that’s only a relative observation. Just about everyone else on CU’s schedule is tougher. 

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

It only seems like a winnable game because Albany went 1-11 in '13. The fact is they are a much better program with better overall talent and better organization. They changed conferences and as a result had some difficulty but they will destroy CU pretty easily. The disparity will show itself like it does with Fordham.

Chick said...

Albany's 1-11 reminds me that we need to play more games. We've got a high school schedule now. 12 games would give us a better chance of not going winless. It would also help the coaches and players get their act together. I know, the Ivy Presidents have a fit at the thought of playing more than 10 games, but I don't give a damn what they think. If the Ivy, unlike every other league in the nation, can't fit in more games, then extend the academic year and give everyone their tuition's worth. Or quit the Ivy League. What good does it do us? You all know we won our one half-championship 53 years ago. We'd pack the stadium by having Army and Navy come in to slaughter us, instead of letting Albany and Monmouth do it.

Anonymous said...

Navy would be a disaster. They are a top flight program. Army is terrible right now but would likewise, physically maul the CU players so it would not be worth it.

I would definitely be in favor of more games. Schedule a west coast game - not Cal-SLO or San Diego, the powerhouses Yale and Harvard schedule. Thinking more like a Menlo College right here in Silicon Valley.

Chick said...

Navy is good now, and used to be terrible...reverse that for Army. I was generalizing, Al, that I'd rather see better opponentsi with a decent crowd in the stadium than mediocre ones who beat us anyway in an empty stadium.

The Admin has tried gimmicks--free tickets for neighborhood residents, free beer, etc. but only one thing draws large numbers--a good team that can win and is exciting to watch. They really should try that one.

Chick said...

Al, I don't know what kind of football Menlo College plays, but I suspect it's not worth the trip, even for Columbia.
In the '90s with Marcellus Wiley they did travel to St. Mary's not far from SF, which during the '40s anyway was a strong team with Herman Wedemeyer.

We had a running QB who was the heart of the offense, and a good fullback who cracked over from the one for the win with time running out and us a few points behind. I think Tellier was the coach. Don't know why he didn't keep coaching or become AD. Anyway, the next year St. Mary's dropped football. Don't know if we get the credit. I think our basketball coach came from there so the Gaels helped us out again.

alawicius said...

Chick, I was at that game. You forgot to mention that we had Jonathan Reese, our record-breaking RB.

alawicius said...

PS. The game was in the early 2000s. Previous game vs. St. Mary's was at Baker in 1995 (we lost that one after beating Harvard the week before).

Anonymous said...

St. Mary's is a respectable school with a good athletics program in general but like many other private west coast schools like Santa Clara, U San Francisco and Pacific, they dropped football.

The entire purpose of a home and home series is recruiting and exposure.

Chick said...

Alawicius, the game at St. Mary's was in 1998, but I must be mistaken about Wiley although I was at the game too.
He graduated the year before. I do remember Reese was there, but as I said I felt our QB was the spark. Do you remember his name? Just can't pull it up. I believe his brother played for us a couple of years earlier.

Anonymous said...

Paris Childress.

alawicius said...

Yes, that's right, Childress was playing very well, but then got hurt and was replaced by his backup (name, anyone?) who managed to pull out the win.

oldlion said...

Does anybody here really know how we will shape up this year? While I understand all of the doom and gloom, Mangurian is not a complete idiot. For example, what gains have we seen in the weight room? How has Nottingham done in his recuperation? Are there any first years who can make a difference? Can we expect a first team all Ivy year from Padilla? I know that there have been organized team activities this summer, but information has not been forthcoming.

WOF said...

Anyone know what happened to Mike Simpson. He was on our staff in the 80's and was very well liked as a coach. He had been D coordinator at Albany for the past 20 years or so. He does not seem to be on their staff any longer...

Chick said...

John Cavanaugh, a scrambler, was the backup soph QB who led the winning drive at St. Mary's in 1998. His brother Mike had played for the Lions.a few years earlier.
Can't find the game stats quickly but the winning last minute TD was scored on a plunge by the fullback who must have been Kirby Mack. Memory tricked me re Wiley who had just graduated....our big DE in 1998 was Rashaan Curry.

Anonymous said...

oldlion, Pete is intentionally keeping his winning playbook under wraps. His master plan is unfolding before our eyes and on his victory lap on his players' shoulders he will wag his finger to let us know he told us so.

alawicius said...

Above article joggs the memories of us veteran fans and reveal it was Ted Schroeder, not John Cavanaugh, who ended up piloting the Lions to that gutsy win over St. Mary's.

alawicius said...

PS. And yes, it was Kirby Mack, a transfer and one of our best-ever fullbacks, who scored the winning TD by powering a yard into the endzone (I remember it well, made my day).

Anonymous said...

wasn't there an argument on this board about fullback not being an important position anymore?

Chick said...

Alawicius and Alswingman, sorry to disagree but that Spec article was a season preview on Sept. 18, 1998, and it said nothing about what happened in the St. Mary's game which didn't occur until October. 3rd, 15 days later.
It would have been impossible to report the Oct. 3 game on Sept. 18 unless the Spec had Nostradamus on its staff.
I still recall Cavanaugh doing the job. If I'm wrong, I'll be happy to admit it and take memory pills, but what we need is Spec's game story for Oct 3, or ask Ray Tellier who was the head coach.

alawicius said...

It was definitely Schroeder...take your pills.

Jake said...

Yes it was Schroeder. Here's the full story:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/04/sports/college-football-columbia-makes-a-little-history-out-west.html

Anonymous said...

You where all of this is leading. It will be the return of the Ray Tellier reign, part II after Pete is dismissed in November.

Jake said...

Tellier is really gone from the scene now. Not even in a desk job. They'd have to go with one of the assistants. Not great, but it sends the message.

Chick said...

Alawicius, I will definitely take memory pills, but I propose in a helpful manner that you see your optometrist. You thought you read in a Spectator story dated September 18, 1998, the details of a game played 15 days later on Oct.3, 1998. I know Jake provided a NY Times game story
From October.3, but the Times hasn't told the truth in 40 years. I'm going to look for a Spec game story before I swallow those pills.

alawicius said...

As I said, Chick, I was at the game and my date commented a number of times about the substitute QB play, calling out, "Throw it, Schroeder!"

By the way, "Chick" is the name of a young boy character in a screenplay of mine set in the Gold Rush days. He explains that he was dubbed Chick by his father who said he "chatters like a chickaree squirrel." What's your story?

Anonymous said...

I wish I was at the game. A rare opportunity to have seen Columbia football live since I moved out west in the late 1980's. Bottom line is St. Mary's is now completely irrelevant as far as football goes and so is CU's win. The Gaels were never anything special but they let their program go to seed and it vanished.