Weekend Lessons

It was an extremely eventful Labor Day Weekend for Columbia Football, even though the regular season hasn't even started.

Here are the key takeaways in quick form:

-Training camp has wrapped up and now we're just a few days from learning the starting lineups for 2015.

-My 11-year sentence as the biggest generator of Columbia football news may soon be coming to an end and I might get a lot more rest according to this new piece in today's Columbia Spectator, and of course based on what we've already seen online. Oh it would be nice to do this 2-3 times a week at the most and go back to being a normal fan!

-Week one opponent Fordham may indeed be just as good as they were in 2013 and 2014, despite my prediction that they wouldn't be. This is a program that is stopping at nothing to achieve what I believe is its dream to host 2-3 home games per year at nearby Yankee Stadium. To do that, the Rams will have to continue beating teams like Army and occasionally defeat an even bigger program over the next five years or so. This marks the wisdom of the decision to discontinue Columbia's series with Fordham.

Many, many, many misfortunes that have befallen the Lion program are none other than the Columbia administration and influential alumni's own fault. This is NOT one of them. Fordham has decided to go off the reservation of academically excellent FCS football programs and I wish them success. But this is a place Columbia cannot go. Again, this was no fault of the Columbia program and that's why I believe consultant Rick Taylor made dropping the Fordham series his very first recommendation. That way, he didn't have to start with all the things that were indeed Columbia's fault.

Fordham may get a tough home opener this Saturday against Villanova, but don't be surprised if the Rams cruise to victory.

-The big new uniform unveiling Sunday was a big hit among the current players and recruited players alike. Ditching most of the light blue color was something Head Coach Al Bagnoli basically promised to do in his introductory news conference, so we see this is a man of his word.

For the purists out there, you should know that there have been many times in Columbia football history when light blue was not even evident on the uniform at all. That includes some of the glory days at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century.

The helmets featuring the large Lion are an improvement over the way too small "clawing lion" decal we used from 2003-05.  There's a little gray on the helmet, but for the most part the light blue and white school colors are best represented on the head gear.

-Getting back to the out of conference schedule, there was good news on that front and also terrible news. Home opener/week two opponent Georgetown looked weak at St. Francis Saturday in just about every facet of the game. Week 4 opponent Wagner should some very interesting formations and execution on offense in a predictable rout of a loss at Rice. It's harder to get a handle on the Seahawks right no, but they may not be as strong as they were the last couple of seasons.

Either way, that Georgetown game is taking on some historic importance as it now must be seen even more as a must win.

But the most important thing is to keep Georgetown LB Ty Williams in our prayers as he broke five vertebrae on one play in the game and is hoping to regain movement. Some of the most recent reports have been a bit better concerning his prognosis.