Columbia fans must look at what victory looks like from afar
Cornell 30 Columbia 27
Why Cornell Won
RB Luke Hagy rushed for 148 yards, had 167 total yards, and scored three TD's capped off by the 63 yard game winning run for the final score of the game. The defense had three interceptions and stepped it up on Columbia's final drive of the game.
Why Columbia Lost
The Lions dug themselves an early 21-0 hole, stormed back to a 27-21 lead, before bad luck and bad play calling doomed their fate. 11 penalties, including four false starts, didn't help either.
Key Turning Points
-This game turned on a bizarre play. After Columbia energized the home crowd with a tie-breaking TD by Cameron Molina, the extra point attempt was blocked and returned for a two-point conversion by Cornell. As many fans pointed out, that missed point plus the two gift points for the Big Red were the difference in the game.
-Leading 27-23 and moving the ball well on the ground, Columbia opted not to go for it on 4th and half a yard from their own 43. Instead, the Lions just tried to draw the Big Red offside on the first play of the 4th quarter. Three plays after the ensuing punt came Hagy's game winning 63 yard TD.
-Now trailing by 30-27 with 8:55 left in the game, Punter Cameron Nizialek pinned the Big Red all the way down at their own six yard line with a 42-yard boot. But Hagy accounted for 28 of Cornell's 32 yards on the ensuing drive and even though the Big Red had to punt, they had shaved more than four minutes off the clock and flipped the field position when their punt went 44 yards to the Lion 18.
Columbia Positives
-Molina finally had a complete game, getting 118 yards rushing on 29 big carries and scoring two TD's.
-The defense actually held the Big Red to under 300 total yards. That and a big interception in the third quarter helped the Lions take their brief lead.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions looked sloppy to start the game, falling behind 21-0 and committing five penalties, (one was declined), including a drive-extending face mask violation on a Cornell 3rd down.
-Columbia's 4th quarter possessions went as follows: delay of game on a 4th and a half yard, (see above), interception, punt, and a loss on downs. In that 4th quarter, the coaches seemed mercurial when it came to relying on Molina. Nowhere was this more evident than on the Lions' penultimate possession of the game where Molina gained 24 yards on the first three plays to bring Columbia to the Cornell 48. But then the coaches went with two straight pass plays that both fell incomplete and the Lions had to punt.
-Columbia finally faced an opponent at home with equal talent, but still couldn't manage the game properly and were out-coached. The Lions have now lost an incredible 20 games in a row. This however, was the first of those losses by fewer than two scores.
Columbia MVP
Cameron Molina
7 comments:
Well, I'll just say that Pete is consistent... He will NEVER take the blame, or shoulder the responsibility for a loss "... it's the players not executing my plan. It has nothing to do with me..." At what point does that get old. Hopefully, we'll find out soon.
Can you really blame Pete though? I mean, BC, Diane, and the NHDC, refuse to say that they were wrong either.
What is amusing to me is how we keep getting solicitations for former players, NHDC Committee members, administrators, etc. to contribute to the program. The intelligent response is that "We will not contribute any funds until Pete is gone and/or the administration takes Athletics/Football seriously." The inherent response from these blind sheep is "you're only hurting the Players when you don't contribute". My (our) response, is that by contributing, we are accepting mediocrity (from the top down). Let’s not accept mediocrity!
If they just could've stayed with Molina!
The color man on the Fox broadcast said : I think they
Should keep running it, they're making good yardage- over and over, then they got pass happy. One reason might have been the fact that we keep burning timeouts randomly to get play calls in, and then time runs down, no timeouts left, then they get pass happy because they feel clock pressure.
Both teams are really frustrating. They take positive steps only to implode. Cornell had every opportunity to blow the Lions out but then a ridiculous mistake on a punting snap gave the Lions easy scoring field position.
Hagy is an impressive player and I like their QB as well. We knew defensively Cornell was vulnerable and Columbia was able to move the ball occasionally as a result.
It would have been nice to see Hill for more snaps but I think they only put him in because McDonagh made boneheaded errors and was pulled. Just a guess. If they used this game to get Hill experience he would have played more. He looked pretty raw and it was clear McDonagh snapped back to life maybe as a result of having a fire lit under him. I think they should play Hill against Brown. They are going to have to replace McDonagh anyway for next season since he does not have winning timbre.
If anyone is paying attention to the poor coaching then this staff should be out on their duffs in a week.
The Mangurian Candidate's decision to punt at beginning of 4Q was the most gutless and stupid call of his tenure here. We were up 27-23 and had a 4th and inches at our own 43 yd line. Our offense had finally shown it could move the ball scoring 4 TDs in 3Qs. Cornell which couldn't stop anyone the whole season had been unable to even stop our anemic offense to that point. On the other hand, Cornell's O, which had put up quite a few points during its previous 8 games and had 3 scores against us in 3Qs had shown it could easily move the ball not only against us but better teams as well. Plus, as The Mangurian Candidate had previously advised, Cornell had an explosive RB with breakaway speed. So we punted ( but not until we burned a crucial time out which we could have used on our last drive of game). Two Plays later their RB broke thru for a 80 yd TD run.
On a related note, Jonathan Schiller did respond to my letter (see "Right Message" which Jake posted a few days ago.) Since it is conceivable that Schiller considered this response to be a personal and not public communication, I ll give him the benefit of the doubt and not publish it. For what it's worth, amidst a rehashing of the Bollinger/Murphy drivel, he did state that the new AD would "probably come from a university with a football program."
It sounds like the type of game that Ray Tellier never would have lost. Ray tended to be a good game day coach.
Okay ! Hearing something positive -"probably come from a university with a football program" - not as good as "definitely come from a university with a football program"-but It's moving forward in the right direction .
That's the keyword we look for, probably!
Will Pete be fired?
Probably.
When?
Probably eventually.
Can you be more specific?
Probably not
Do you enjoy Nathan's hot dogs?
Yes!
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