Sunday, September 27, 2015

Stomach Punch

Georgetown 24 Columbia 16


Why Georgetown Won

The Hoyas played virtually error-free football while taking full advantage of almost every Columbia mistake. Georgetown QB Kyle Nolan had one of his best games ever, throwing and running well enough to keep the Hoyas in control. The Georgetown defense bent but got tough in the red zone.

Why Columbia Lost

The Lions made crucial errors at the worst possible moments. But Columbia's defense was also not able to play consistently enough to win. The Lions also lost too many points because of an inaccurate kicking game.

Key Turning Points

-After the Hoyas tied it at 10-10 with just 29 seconds left in the half, Columbia fumbled the squib kickoff and Georgetown recovered. The Hoyas scored moments later to take an improbably 17-10 halftime lead.

-The Lions looked like they were going to answer on the opening possession of the second half with a brilliant drive, but a holding penalty negated the tying TD, and after a missed FG a blown coverage gave Georgetown an 80-yard TD pass on the very first GU play after the FG miss.

Columbia Positives

-QB Skyler Mornhinweg showed good ability to move the offense, at least in between the 20's. He threw and ran extremely well and shows lots of calmunder pressure. He's particularly comfortable with WR Scooter Hollis who had a career day with 10 catches for 131 yards.

-RB Cameron Molina showed good durability with two TD's and a solid 79 yards on 19 carries.

-Columbia kept fighting to the end. It was a good sign that after falling behind 24-10, they did not allow another score and kept moving on offense. 

Columbia Negatives

-Crucial special teams problems basically let the game get away. The Lions missed two chip shot FG's, a PAT, and the squib kick fumble all led to 14 points given away.

-The Columbia defense had its moments, but blown coverages and the inability to adjust to the scrambling Nolan cost the Lions dearly.

-The red zone offense needs to improve. While the FG misses hurt, TDs on those drives would have avoided the need for chip shot kicks in the first place. 

Columbia MVP

Scooter Hollis was on fire for most of the game. Now, he just needs to find the end zone.



16 comments:

oldlion said...

Breakdown on pass coverage led to a wide open Georgetown receiver and an easy 6 points. Mediocre line play on both sides of the ball led to the Georgetown QB staying on his feet all day. Our run blocking was mediocre. Our receivers had two drops and none of them can stretch defenses. But the mental errors were huge. Not covering the kickoff at the end of the second half was a back breaker. But the key as far as I was concerned was the fall off in line play on both sides of the ball. The staff has work to do this week. Very quiet game for Padilla, Akinleye and Washington, who should be dominating. And an off game for Pace at LT.

oldlion said...

PS Nice to see our very good men's basketball team sitting together yesterday cheering on our guys.

Jake said...

I saw a lot of the baseball players there too.

Big Dawg said...

I thought we played down to the competition.
The over sharpness and quality of play seemed noticeably less than against Fordham. How do you compare 5 sacks last week to none this week.
For whatever reason, and there are several possibilities, we looked lackluster through much of the game. Whether because of good G'town scouting and prep for us, a letdown from last week, a motivated opponent, or just mistakes catching up to us, it was déjà-vu. With the exception being that our quality of play was still far superior to past years.
This doesn't ruin the season, just delays expectations.

oldlion said...

Agree in all respects with the astute observations of Big Dawg. Five plays made the difference, all mistakes: holding penalty on the apparent TD; letting a WR break free: not covering the kickoff; blowing FG 1; and blowing FG 2 (and missed PAT). We need a place kicker.

Coach said...

Georgetown did not have better players than Columbia- very disappointing.

oldlion said...

Good press conference by Al. Indicated disappointment but not despondency. Said we did some good things, that the good news is that we are competitive, but we need to eliminate mistakes, learn how to play with a lead, and avoid big plays. Mornhinweg was high on the OL and said that he got excellent protection. The stats bear out the fact that we lost this game on a handful of plays.

Anonymous said...

Not having seen the game, just followed the feed by downs, the sequence of events described does sound like a stomach punch.

I have been harping on the kicking game problem since last season. It is completely unacceptable and should have been made a top priority to fix by the new coaching staff (among their list of 100 other top priorities). The replacement patchwork now, using the punter, is clearly not a solution and the team is paying the price for it.

Though kicking alone did not lose this game. I will reserve further analysis until seeing next week's performance.

Unknown said...

More excuses from the faithful. Don't understand why CU can't win games. One of the best schools in the country in the best city in the country. Mind boggling to say the least. Don't see another winnable game on schedule to be honest. Cornell is playing much better. Maybe Brown.

Unknown said...

Jake and Big Dawg are both on point. Only one receiver was able to get separation from the DBs was Hollis. Special teams is a key component to a team you have Gabriel who should be on punt returns and kickoffs that seemed to be what he was go at. Both DE were knifing all day which made it easy for the QB to buy time and pick apart an already suspect secondary.

Chen1982 said...

Been processing my disappointment....but if we all just go back to last winter when Bagnoli was hired, we were much more sanguine about this season. Only as the build up to the season occurred have we allowed ourselves (myself included) to grow a bit over exuberant.

Where I draw some solace is the fact we have enough skill on the field to win. And we have been competitive in each game. Yes, mistakes and lapses cost us this one, but I cannot help but believe that these mistakes will abate as the season progresses. Without mistakes, we win this one 31-10. (2fg missed, 1xp, holding call on TD, fumble leading to their TD)

Let's stay the course with this and measure the season's progress.

oldlion said...

To win some games we need a better kicking game, one receiver who can get separation on the deep ball (Hollis is a slot receiver and excellent in the midrange game but cannot stretch defenses), and one DB who can lock down the opponent's best WR. Not sure if we have those players on the roster. OL is good, QB is good, as are RBs, DL is good, LBs are OK.

Chick said...

Someone on the Ivy Sports Board suggested that maybe we should be able to beat Wagner. But I think Wagner was a scheduling mistake. We should have gone for Beethoven instead....I think he was smaller.

Unknown said...

DL lack discipline in that last game and if the OC has confidence in the OL they should have ran the ball when it was first and goal. I agree they need a deep threat receiver. Who is the fastest receiver on the team? Because that will keep the defense honest.

Unknown said...

Columbia has a great wide receiver #11 Denzel Hill. I believe he is the fastest receiver on the team. I know he can help Columbia get the job done! He is the deep threat missing from the OL....put Denzel in so he can get the job done...Let's Go Columbia!

KB

Coach said...

30 year anniversary of Coach Jim Garrett's one year at Columbia.