Instead of breaking the Tigers down position-by-position, I think these are the three things that are the center of the CU coaches' thought processes as they game plan for Princeton:
1) Senior LT Mitchell Sweigart is an incredible weapon
I've been watching Ivy football for about 30 years. I have never seen an offensive lineman dominate a game as much as Sweigart did for Princeton against Columbia last year. I'd say he's a bulldozer, but bulldozers aren't as fast and as strong as Sweigart. I don't know how he can be neutralized at all. But to be fair, the entire Tiger O-line is the best the Lions will see all year. It seems like every starter is an All Ivy player.
2) The Lions have to test the Princeton pass defense all day
Columbia needs to go to its strength and make the Tigers prove they can defend both Josh Wainwright and Ronald Smith down the field as much as possible. One part of this team that has not proven itself yet is the secondary.
3) Can Columbia get pressure on QB Kanoff?
This is a subset of item #1, since Sweigart and the rest of the O-line will presumably take care of a lot of this. But creative blitzing can change the game and we haven't seen really any of Columbia's blitz package so far, (and I think that's intentional). Guys like DB Landon Baty are quick and elusive enough to beat some of these big linemen and we know we packs a lot of punch for a player of any size. I think LB Michael Murphy may also be asked to use his speed to blitz Kanoff. At the very least, this might tire out Princeton's front five and the RB's by the 4th quarter as they are tasked with picking up blitzers.
Whatever the tools used, the Lions need to get to Kanoff somehow.
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