1) This team is worse in every way than it was in 2011.
Head Coach Pete Mangurian attempted to tamp down any expectations for winning this year in his CCT interview. But we were promised better fundamental football. We've received neither. We drop passes, we drop fair catches, we snap the ball into our QB's throat, our DB's look hopelessly lost, etc. The embarrassment that is Columbia football goes far beyond the final score. Mangurian, and everything he promises and does are a complete FRAUD.
2) Dianne Murphy is a coward.
Last year, when confronted on a number of occasions by some bigger-donor alums, Athletic Director Dianne Murphy just smiled and told them they would be happily surprised by the football team's play this year. But after training camp showed what we were in for in 2014, she decided to run and hide.
Murphy is a well-documented control freak. And control freaks are almost always cowards because they attempt to completely control the unknown, which scares them.
3) Congrats to Yale
Good for the Elis for stunning Army yesterday. But it was tough to watch in some ways with the knowledge that Columbia couldn't beat Army or Yale's third teams.
24 comments:
Jake, perhaps it bears mentioning that Pete I once said the biggest improvement in a program is from year one to year two. But that was hardly the case. With NW's recruits he won three games in year one. Then we went backwards in historic fashion in year two. Year three is his team. So what is the excuse now? And if we lay an egg at Homecoming, can Ray come back for the remainder of the year while a new coaching search is underway? But as Big Dawg has said don't we need an independent consultant to run the search?
Excuse the typo, no "I" after "Pete".
Kansas fired Charlie Weis today. I am not sure what benefit there is to keeping Pete one day longer than is necessary. The team clearly is not capable of competing, much less winning. Pete is a fraud, as Jake says, and doesn't deserve to stay on to ruin another year for the football team. These are his recruits playing in his system.
Here is what I've been thinking about: Kelly Hilinski looked so overmatched last year that it was hard to believe he'd been a D1 recruit. He transfers to a juco and plays well enough that he's got an offer from Maryland (4-1 record) before the end of September. To point out the obvious, Maryland plays on a completely different level than we do. To me, that's a scathing indictment of our program: the place where good players go to regress and be embarrassed.
He will have more offers before this season is done. 850 yds in three games which compares with the 334 yds he got in four Columbia starts last year. The 2013 season stats btw only show 9 QB starts for their 10 games. He has a new HUDL highlight up at www.hudl.com/athlete/278082/highlights/171605382 it looks like an xbox video game.
We all saw this coming, even those who won't admit it. Though I would urge not firing Pete until the season is over (and if that does not happen then that only exposes admin hypocrisy even further).
Who would take over? It matters. Rippon is the only qualified candidate. It might not be the worst of scenarios but an unnecessary one. Just fire Pete and staff at Thanksgiving.
Not Rippon, please. Surely you can see how his defense is doing.
Don't get after Pete for getting rid of KH. The kid left school for other reasons. Nothing to do with football.
Rippon only in terms of coaching experience. There is no one else on the staff qualified to be a HC. If this was a bigger program Pete would be gone this morning and they have have to appoint someone on staff to be interim HC. Though, my take is the AD does not want step through that gauntlet. Keep up appearances and let the winds blow as they may. They are going to have to fire Pete and the entire staff but they will likely it will happen after game 10.
Our 2 best players so far are our offensive tackles. Neither tackle has given up a sack and they have run blocked well. The freshman left guard has played well too.
Are you kidding me with "neither tackle has given up a sack"?
We've been outscored 84-7
Homecoming will be the moment of truth. If we continue to lose by lopsided scores and then get blown out at Homecoming, then Pete will have to be replaced by an interim HC to finish the season. Ray Tellier is the obvious choice if he is willing to do it. There is some Ivy precedent. Pen fired its basketball coach in mid-season a few years ago. Obviously something has gone very badly askew. Even in our worst years we never got blown out with such consistency. By hindsight, we should have kept Norries and fired his OC.
So ridiculous, "our two best players are the offensive tackles." Best players! 76 got a blatant holding penalty when he was beaten by the defender and grabbed the guy from behind -- but he had to do it, as the announcer said, "to save the quarterback's life."
I'm sure a genius coach could come in and turn these guys around -- but CU this year and last year is the worst team I've ever seen and I've been watching this stuff a long time. They're not just bad for one game, they're ALWAYS bad. You can depend on it. You can set your watch by it.
And by the way, playing "better" when you're 40 points behind or somebody "playing well" in a total blowout is a classic marker of a really terrible team. They'll lose by at least 40 on Saturday, depending on how soon Princeton substitutes. A 50 point loss is also very possible.
Mitch S. 68CC
Mitch, considering your age you should know that ALL olineman hold on occasion especially when they have situational awareness. ALL olineman get beat but our tackles and the left guard have played exceptional. The left tackle at Fordham is an All-American and gave up 2 sacks to our #58. Ours haven't given up any. Giving credit where credit is due considering those are very important and difficult positions to play especially on the left side.
i just love how the supporters said Pete did a great job recruiting, the offense is much improved, our o line looks good in camp and now it is, players dont want to come to Columbia, our two best players are our tackles, etc.
and some have even abandoned their support. With friends like you guys who needs enemies?
we just are not a good team right now and that isnt going to change under the current regime.
The OL has allowed Nottingham to stay in the game and have a college football career. In that sense the OL has been exceptional. They also have a semblance of a running game. If only it wasn't 1 step forward, 2 steps back every drive. Too predictable, too basic. Every nice run Molina has is followed up with negative yards.
Danny, yeah, considering my age and the fact that I was a CU player and a winning HS head coach I know all about it. How pathetic.
Mitch S. 68CC
We're not getting on Pete for getting rid of Hilinski, we're getting on him and Elizondo for not using him properly when we had him. Pete gets the worst out of his guys.
Yes, I think my post above was clear that this is not about Kelly leaving. This is about the fact that when Kelly was here, he looked awful. He leaves and is immediately posting great numbers, to the point that he has an offer from a strong D1 program. What does that say about our coaching staff? Kelly was a HS star and a juco star and sandwiched in between he completed 40% of his passes and looked lost. Posters on Voy are saying you can't blame the coach for the fact that no good football players will play for CU. That seems to ignore the fact that two of NW's players are in the NFL and our former 3rd string QB has an offer to play for Maryland. Our coaching staff is not making players better. To say the least.
Roar Lion
On Voy, do they say why players are reluctant to play here?
The usual: Baker is too far from campus, football players don't want to live in a big city, the student body hates athletics. They forget the baseball team has won three of the past six Ivy titles.
The baseball team was in the basement of the
Ivies for years, and the administration couldn't have cared less.. Mediocre players, rotten facilities, etc. Even a blind chipmunk will sometimes find a chestnut. So Dianne lucked out with Brett Boretti. And singlehanded ly, with the help,of at least one generous alum, we rebuilt the baseball facility to,the best in thenIvies. And we built the best roster in the league, played the top baseball schools in the country, and showed how to win as a team. It's like what we learned in CC and humanities, that one extraordinary person can move mountains. What we need to find is the football equivalent of Brett Boretti.
Of course talent is part of the problem, but the bigger problem is that the admin has never made a total effort for our program to be the best. Talent won't come here when our facilities have lagged behind the other programs year in and year out, and when our admin does not provide the same amenities to our teams as do the competition.
It was only a few years ago when we apparently did not own ponchos to give to our players during a blizzard at home. Yale came from New Haven prepared yet we did not.
That has been going on since at least the 80's. When you are a student and you know that the admin really does not care about you, it starts when you recognize that we are embarrasingly less outfitted than the other schools, then the facilities, then the lack of the leadership every committing to excellence, etc, etc.
It is exactly the admin's laissez faire attitude that has made us this bad for decades.
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