Commitment Comeback

It seemed like the commitment news dried up as soon as the season started, but now we have news that 6-3, 193-pound Joshua Smythe-Macaulay has committed to the Lions.

Smythe-Macaulay plays DB at Bowie HS in Austin, TX, but Columbia is labeling him as a LB.

He will be only the second Bowie HS grad to come to Columbia Football after current sophomore star WR Josh Wainwright. 

Smythe-Macaulay made the Austin area All-District 1st Team as a cornerback last year and had quality offers from Rice, New Mexico, Navy, Air Force, and Army.


That brings our list on reported commits for 2018 to 10:

1) Inho Choi DB 6-1 175 lbs. Holy Names HS Windsor, Ontario/Deerfield Academy

2) Devin Hart LB 6-1 212 lbs. McEachem HS Powder Springs, GA

3) Drake Morey DL 6-5 250 lbs. Ashland HS Ashland, OR

4) Chris Park WR 5-11 175 lbs. Junipero Serra HS San Mateo, CA

5) Brandon Radice TE 6-4, 205 lbs. Ridge HS Basking Ridge, NJ

6) Mikey Roussos WR 6-1 180 lbs. River Ridge HS New Port Richey, FL 

7) Joshua Smythe-Macaulay LB 6-3 193 lbs. Bowie HS, Austin, TX

8) Mitchell Sturgill DB 6-1, 185 lbs Bellevue HS Bellevue, WA

9) Watson Tansil LB 6-3, 215 lbs. Franklin Road Academy Nashville, TN

10) Ryan Young RB 5-10 200 lbs. Wheaton Warrenville South HS Wheaton, IL

Ivy Power Rankings

1) Yale

Yale is tied in the Ivy standings with Columbia and Cornell, and Yale has beaten both Columbia and Cornell. Enough said.

2) Columbia

Of the three teams tied for first, the Lions look like the second best for now.

3) Princeton 

Another stumble at home to Cornell doesn't change the fact that the Tigers can still beat anyone in the league.

4) Dartmouth

A brutal two weeks for the Big Green have shown us that this team just doesn't play for 60 minutes.

5) Harvard

Definitely getting better, but not quite there.

6) Cornell

What?!?! A team tied for first in the Ivies is ranked 6th here? Yep.

7) Penn

Beating Brown by only 10 points is now a cause for concern.

8) Brown

The Bears have lost all their claws. 

A Coach's Greatest Challenge

We all are in agreement that Head Coach Al Bagnoli has done an amazing job making Columbia into a title contender so quickly after taking over a hapless team.

But now he and his assistants face another very difficult task: Getting a team that's suffered a loss to bounce back.

When Columbia went 6-0 to start the 1996 season, then-Head Coach Ray Tellier did his best work during his 14-year tenure with the Lions when he got them to refocus after two tough losses, (one razor-thin loss and one rout), and win the final two games of that season against two decent teams.

Now, Bagnoli and Co. must get Columbia to get back on track against an inconsistent and hard-to-read Harvard team that's on tap for this coming Saturday at Wien Stadium. The bubble has burst on the dreams of a 10-0 season, but the chances for a championship are still very much alive.

This will require more than an inspiring pep talk. The staff needs to adjust game plans and try new strategies to resume the winning.

And then there's the changing challenges that come with having to play the final weeks of a season with the usual number of injuries and player replacements.

Columbia hasn't beaten the Crimson since 2003. A win of any kind over Harvard would be a big deal, but winning this weekend would also mean the Lions go into the final two weeks of the season no worse than tied for first place.

The stakes are still high and, as Dartmouth found out the hard way with its loss at Harvard Stadium, the challenges are still great. 

Yale may very well be the best team in the Ivies, but the Elis still haven't faced Princeton and the Yale-Harvard game is always a toss up.

There is much work still to be done.

Ground Down

Yale 23 Columbia 6


Why Yale Won

The Elis dominated the lines of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On offense, Yale's RB Zane Dudek had a monster game with 173 yards rushing and 6.9 yards per carry. On defense, the Bulldogs held the Lions to 31 net yards rushing and just 206 total yards.

Why Columbia Lost

The Lions offense struggled all day, especially when it got inside Yale territory. QB Anders Hill was off target with many of his throws, while the CU defense had serious trouble containing the Eli running game.

Key Turning Points

-Already trailing 13-0 with 13:43 left in the first half, Columbia took over at the Yale 46 following an interception by DB Landon Baty. But after two tough 3rd down conversions, the drive stalled at the Bulldog 12. The K Oren Milstein's FG attempt banged off the right upright and the Lions came away with no points.

-With the score still 13-0, Columbia got the ball first in the second half and immediate began a strong drive. But on 3rd and 2 from the Yale 15, QB Josh Bean was thrown for a five yard loss and then Milstein missed the ensuing FG try wide left.

-With the score now 16-6 Yale with 12:00 left in the game, the Lions rode two straight pass interference penalties to a 1st and 10 at their own 37. But Hill then underthrew a pass that Eli DB Deonte Henson picked off at the Eli 30, and that basically iced the game.

Columbia Positives

-The Lion positives were basically limited to the highlight variety. One was KR Will Allen's hurdling return in the second half for 42 yards to the Yale 44 that set up Columbia for its only score of the day.

-The second was WR Kyle Castner's stunning one-handed grab for 40 yards to the Yale one.

Columbia Negatives

-In addition to Hill's off target throws, there a number of WR drops throughout the day.

-Dudek is a talented runner, but Columbia padded his stats with several missed tackles against him.

-Suddenly, Milstein seems to be suffering from a bit of a sophomore jinx.

Columbia MVP

-If it weren't for DB Ryan Gilbert's amazing 18 tackles, Yale would have won by more on long TD runs by Dudek. The overall CU pass defense was not bad thanks to Gilbert, and the rest of the secondary.

What's Next

Columbia is now in a three-way tie for first in the Ivies with Yale and... Cornell. Yes, Cornell stunned Princeton last night 29-28 at Princeton. The Lions must regroup and Continue the Mission against Harvard next week to keep pace.

Continue Mission

Columbia Lions (6-0) vs. Yale Bulldogs (5-1)

October 28, 2017

Yale Bowl

Kickoff Time: 1:00pm

Game Time Weather Forecast: Mostly cloudy and 65 degrees

The Line: Yale is favored by 7 1/2 points

TV/Radio: The game will be broadcast on SNY with Yale play-by-play man Ron Vaccaro on the mike with color commentator Jack Ford. Columbia's free audio stream will feature Jay Alter on the play-by-play and Shawn Fitzgerald '80 doing color.

Leading Storylines

1) Another week, another game of the century for the Lions who are trying to keep their magical run going. A win here gives Columbia a clear inside track to its first Ivy title since 1961. The Lions haven't started a season 7-0 since 1932.

2) Yale is riding a pretty strong turnaround itself. A program and a coaching staff that looked dead in the water before last season's upset win at Harvard is now 5-1 and playing strong on both sides of the ball. Head Coach Tony Reno looked like he could be fired 12 months ago, but now he has the Eli faithful believing in a new era of winning.

3) Beyond the focus on the programs, this game will be played by a long list of standout players for both teams. Columbia features QB Anders Hill, WR Josh Wainwright, and CB Cameron Roane. The Bulldogs have two of the best RB's in the Ivies with Deshawn Salter, Zane Dudek, the much-improved QB Kurt Rawlings, and possible the Ivy League's most dangerous defensive player in LB Matt Oplinger.

Week 7 Picks

I basically held serve last week with a 4-1 record straight up and a 3-2 mark against the spread. My totals for the year so far are 27-12 (.692) straight up and 23-16 (.589) ATS.



Dartmouth -2 1/2 at Harvard

Harvard's offense has been erratic since last year, but last week the defense was simply terrible at home vs. Princeton. The Big Green is simply the better team and should win.


Penn -17 1/2 at Brown

I'm done picking Brown to win or cover this year.


Princeton -22 over Cornell

The Big Red is in big trouble Saturday night.


Bryant +10 1/2 at Wagner

I just don't think the Seahawks are strong enough to win by two scores. They'll win, but it will be close.


Georgetown +15 at Holy Cross

I just don't think Holy Cross is ready to win by multiple scores now. They will win, but just barely.

10 Key Games with Yale

Columbia and Yale played the first "Ivy League" football game, (the Ivy League wasn't even a figure of speech at the time, let alone an actual athletic league), in 1872. In a game that was a lot more like soccer than American football, the Elis won 3-0.

Since then, the two teams have met 92 more times, with Yale holding a commanding 71-20-2 record over the Lions overall.

In honor of the oldest Ivy football rivalry, here are the 10 most important games in the series for the Lions:

1872: Yale 3 Columbia 0

Years before the Bowl was built, Yale played its games on Yale Field. But before that, the Elis used Hamilton Park in New Haven. We don't have many real details of the first Columbia-Yale game, but we do have the program for the contest... which is simply amazing.

1934: Columbia 12 Yale 6

After Yale destroyed Columbia by a combined score of 112-0 over three games from 1903-1905, the Lions declined to play the Elis for 29 years.

But after winning the Rose Bowl in January 1934, Head Coach Lou Little agreed to renew the rivalry in the 1934 season opener at the Yale Bowl.

In front of a crowd of "only" 22,000 (50,000 were expected but the weather was uncooperative), Columbia stunned the Elis with a 12-6 win, and you can see the highlights here.

After the game, visiting Lion fans tore down the Yale goal posts despite a valiant effort by many Eli fans to defend them with thrown whiskey bottles.

Columbia went on to finishing the season at 7-1 including wins over Penn State and Syracuse and a lone loss to Navy.


1961: Columbia 11 Yale 0

Columbia's one and only, (so far), Ivy League championship season was bolstered by a stunning 11-0 win over the Elis at the Yale Bowl despite the 11-game winning streak the Elis were riding into the game.

Not only was Yale undefeated coming into that game, (the contest was in week 3), but it hadn't even been scored on all year either.

As these newsreel highlights show, it was another rainy day in the Bowl.

This was the game that proved the '61 Lions were for real.


1962: Columbia 14 Yale 10

On Homecoming, the Lions were led by all-time great QB Archie Roberts in his first season with the varsity. But it was the defense that came up big with a huge defensive stop in the final two minutes as Al Butts first nailed the Elis on 2nd and goal from the 5 with tackle for a 5-yard loss and then intercepted a Yale pass on the next play and returned it all the way to the Bulldog 24.


1971: Columbia 15 Yale 14

The Lions beat the Elis on Homecoming at Baker Field after falling behind 14-0 at the half. A dramatic two-point conversion sealed the game for Columbia as the Lions went on to a 6-3 final record and their last winning season for 23 years.


1983: Columbia 21 Yale 18

The 1983 team beat the Elis at the Yale Bowl for not only their only win of that season, but it would be five more years before Columbia won another game at all. Yale Head Coach Carm Cozza was relieved when the Lions finally beat Princeton in 1988 and his team was no longer the answer to the trivia question: "Who was the last team Columbia beat in a football game?"


1994: Columbia 30 Yale 9

En route to their first winning season since 1971, the Lions came in the Yale Bowl t 2-2-1 and hoping to gain some momentum. The easy win began a stretch of four straight wins over Yale.


2009: Yale 23 Columbia 22

In what was probably the toughest loss of the Norries Wilson era, the Lions fell victim to a late Yale rally. The game did feature the debut of Sean Brackett '13 at QB, and his dazzling play did provide something of a silver lining.


2012: Columbia 26 Yale 22

Three years later, the Lions got revenge for the 2009 loss when a shocking late fumble by the Elis allowed Columbia to steal the game away from Yale. The game was also memorable because Yale RB Tyler Varga played almost the entire game at the wildcat QB position because of an injury to the Bulldogs' regular QB.


2015: Columbia 17 Yale 7

After nearly beating eventual Ivy co-champ Dartmouth in a 13-9 battle in Hanover, the Lions defense kept roaring with this first Ivy win of the Al Bagnoli era. In addition to a nifty fake FG for a TD that really sealed the win, the game featured the first real scoring drive engineered by then sophomore backup QB Anders Hill. 

Ivy Power Rankings

1) Columbia

The Lions have faced and passed every test at home and on the road. No one else in the Ivies has. Period.


2) Princeton

The Tigers are looking very strong now. It's hard to believe they could be better on offense if John Lovett came back.


3) Yale

The Elis still haven't beaten a very good team, but they the best they've looked overall in years.


4) Dartmouth

The Big Green are still a very strong team and aren't out of the race yet.


5) Harvard

For the first time this season, the Harvard defense looked as weak as the offense. This can't stay this way, can it?


6) Penn

The Quakers just don't have the pieces to beat good teams in the Ivies this season. But an easier stretch of their schedule begins now.


7) Cornell

I'm still not convinced the Big Red will threaten any of the top teams.


8) Brown

This is as bad as the Bears have looked in the Estes era. I'm not sure why it's happening now, but there does come a time in every coach's career when the recruiting pipelines dry up.

Another Game of the Century

As Columbia's magical 2017 seasons rolls on, every week presents a new challenge that is essentially the Lions' next "game of the century."

This week's game against Yale isn't a battle of unbeatens like last week at Darmouth, but it is another contest where 1st place in the Ivies is on the line. And every game that brings Columbia closer to a possible first championship in 56 years rises on the Richter scale of importance.

Here are some of the top stories right now as the hype builds for the game:

-The opening line is Yale favored by a hefty 8 1/2 points. For the record, Yale is 6-0 against the spread this year and Columbia is 5-1, or 5-0-1 if you count opening lines only.

 -There will be FREE fan buses to the game leaving from the Columbia campus. Click here to reserve your seats.  And you can also get your tickets and admission to the fan tailgate buffet and BBQ by clicking here.

-The Yale Bowl is the largest Ivy venue with a 61,446 seating capacity. It also has the best tailgating atmosphere in the league.

-Head Coach Al Bagnoli grew up extremely close to the Yale Bowl. He mostly owned the Elis during his time at Penn, and Yale was the first Ivy team he defeated after taking he helm at Columbia.  Bagnoli's overall record against his home town Ivy team is 18-7 and he's 8-5 at the Bowl.

-Yale has the best running attack Columbia will see all season with freshman RB Zane Dudek, senior Deshawn Salter, and QB Kurt Rawlings all putting up big numbers in the stat sheets.  In just Ivy games, Dudek and Salter rank #1 and #2, in rushing yards, respectively.

Final Thoughts on Dartmouth

The Players

-WR Kaleb Pitts, (raise your hand if you had him on your radar before Saturday), got most of the throws that probably would have otherwise gone to the injured Ronald Smith. He finished with 7 catches for 86 yards, including a nifty 40 yarder on a deep ball down the sideline. And it's only fair to note that the fumble he lost came after a punishing hit from the Dartmouth defender.

-But don't forget WR Christian Everett who made perhaps the most acrobatic catch in coverage along the other sideline later in the game. His 34 yard reception with Big Green CB Isaiah Swann really all over him was probably the best play of the game. Everett finished with 3 receptions for 56 yards.

-QB Anders Hill deserves more of the credit for the win, despite the costly interception in the end zone that gave Dartmouth new life in the 4th quarter. With the help of some of his best protection all year, he completed 17 of his first 20 passes and spread the ball around to seven different receivers.

-Hill is now 8-5 as a starter, and is riding a personal seven-game winning streak.

-Did anyone watching the Eleven Sports Network coverage of the game note the special mention and graphic they put up on Hill's 3rd down passing stats? Yeah, someone over there clearly reads this blog. Anyway, on 3rd downs against Dartmouth Hill was 5 for 6 for 54 yards, two 1st downs, and no TDs, INTs, or sacks. His full season totals on 3rd down are now 33 for 42, 377 yards, 21 1st downs, 5 TDs, 2 INTs, and 6 sacks.

-When was the last time Columbia beat a team without forcing a turnover? Answer: Week one of this season against Wagner.

The Sack

-An astute former Lions player tells me it's a good chance DL Mike Hinton's game-ending sack was not a missed assignment by any Dartmouth OL, but a very good call by the coaches to make the Big Green believe linebacker blitz was coming to the inside and forcing the Dartmouth LT to collapse his blocking movement away from the blindside corner where Hinton flew in untouched. This was all made possible by Dartmouth's use of a double twins WR formation with no TE. Also, this probably wouldn't have been possible without the time outs the Lions called on that last series to call that defensive play.

The Coach

-Speaking of the coaching, Head Coach Al Bagnoli is now 11-15 at Columbia. He's reached 11 wins 13 games faster than Norries Wilson and 30 games faster than Ray Tellier.

-Bagnoli has secured the Lions first winning season in 21 years.

-Dartmouth's hard luck issue with the refs not spotting the ball quickly enough at the end of the game may not have been about back luck entirely. Bagnoli's rightful protests against the refs at the end of 1st half for not letting the clock run out as it should have probably planted the seed in their heads not to mess with him again. The Big Green did get a gift extra play at the end of the 2nd quarter, only to squander it with a missed chip shot field goal. Previous Columbia coaches would have hooted and hollered too, but would the refs had respected them enough to worry about it?

-The staff needs to do something about sealing off the edge on PATs. K Oren Milstein really didn't have a chance on his two blocked extra point tries.

The Refs

-Speaking of the refs, the game featured too many bad calls that hurt both teams. But they were questionable penalties for the most part and none of them were the kind that could have been fixed by instant replay anyway.

The Crowd

 -I know the Dartmouth faithful are bummed about a clash of unbeatens on a beautiful day only drawing 5,300 or so fans. But I can promise you the crowd still was a factor. When the Big Green got back into it in the 2nd half that crowd got LOUD.

-There was a decent number of fans for both teams on the visitor side where I was sitting. But I'm wondering if midterms this week or this coming week played a role in Columbia not sending a fan bus to Hanover. I suspect there will be one for the game at Yale this Saturday, but I am not sure.

-I hadn't been to Memorial Field since 2013, and it's even nicer than the last time. I got a chance to visit the new press box and it's a major step up from what Dartmouth had in the past.

-The weather got consistently hotter as the game wore on. By the last quarter, it was really toasty in the stands and on the field. When was the last time anyone could say that about a game in Hanover in late October?

The Other Guys

-I have no explanation for why Dartmouth starts out slow every week and finishes so strong. I do think they should beat Harvard next week and of course Brown and Cornell. Can they beat Princeton at home in week 10? Not if they keep starting out so lifelessly on offense.

And Now...

-The stakes continue to rise as the Lions now travel to Yale to face a 5-1 Eli team that has also performed better than most expected this season. Yale eked out a 24-19 win at Penn Saturday. Will this game produce the large home crowd that Dartmouth was hoping for against Columbia?

Survival in the Woods

Columbia 22 Dartmouth 17


Why Columbia Won

The Lion defense dominated the 1st half, and then rallied to stop the Big Green on two consecutive scoring chances at the end of the game to seal the win. Meanwhile, the Columbia offense got off to a hot start, roared to a 16-0 halftime lead, allowed no sacks for the entire game, and put up just enough points in the second half to win.

Why Dartmouth Lost


The Big Green did almost nothing offensively in the 1st half. And  though they woke up in the 2nd they still finished 0 for 9 on 3rd downs. The Dartmouth defense played well overall, but failed to sack Columbia QB Anders Hill even once. And the Big Green offense just couldn’t score the winning TD despite getting several golden chances on their last two possessions of the game.

Key Turning Points

-After Dartmouth jumped out in the 2nd half by forcing a three-and-out and then scoring a quick TD to make it 16-7, Columbia and the Big Green traded punts before the Lions got the ball back at their 20 with 8:14 left in the 3rd quarter. Columbia then began a 10-play drive that included a 28-yard pass to RB Chris Schroer and a 14-yard completion to WR Josh Wainwright that included perhaps his best run after a catch this season. The drive ended with goal line specialist QB Josh Bean sweeping into into the end zone for a 22-7 lead with four minutes left in the 3rd. Columbia had to settle for that score after a successful 2-point conversion was called back by penalty and K Oren Milstein had his second PAT blocked in the game.

-After Dartmouth resumed its rally to bring the game to 22-10 midway through the 4th quarter, the Lions marched the ball right back down the field and had a 2nd down and 10 at the Big Green 14. That’s when Hill made his one big mistake of the game and forced a pass into heavy coverage that Dartmouth’s Ben Straton picked off for a touchback. It only took the Big Green seven plays and two minutes and 39 seconds to score a TD to make it 22-17 with almost 7 minutes left in the game.

-Columbia’s offense was stymied the rest of the game, but twice in those final minutes the defense stepped up to deny Dartmouth QB Jack Heneghan the winning score despite 1st and goal opportunities. The first was a 1st and goal at the 6 with just over three minutes to go that turned into a 4th and 27 pass into the end zone that both Lion LB Justin Woodley and safety Ryan Gilbert got their hands on for the breakup. That was dodged bullet number one.

-After a penalty dashed Columbia’s hopes of running out the clock on their next possession, Dartmouth got the ball back for one last possession at their own 31 with 58 seconds left and no timeouts. It took six plays and 41 seconds for the Big Green to get a 1st down and goal at the Lion 7. But on the ensuing play, a Dartmouth lineman missed his assignment and Columbia DL Mike Hinton sacked Heneghan for a 10 yard loss. Heneghan went down to the turf with about 13 seconds to go, but the first official had trouble controlling the ball and spotting it in time to give Heneghan one more play. Game over.

Columbia Positives

-The Lions were the better team, and that was clear for most of the day. That’s not an insignificant fact considering this was a brutal road trip against what was the only other undefeated Ivy team.

-The offensive line faced one of the better pass rushing defenses in the Ivies and gave up no sacks and few real threats to the pocket.

-Other than the near killer interception in the 4th quarter, the Lion passing game was still lethal despite the loss of Ronald Smith to injury.

-Columbia’s defense shut down the run and did a much better job pressuring the passer.

Columbia Negatives

-The Lions did a lot to give Dartmouth chances to win the game. They turned the ball over twice inside the Big Green 20, flubbed two extra points, and committed some untimely penalties.

-Granted, Dartmouth is a very good team against the run. But the Lion running game struggled way too much for most of the day.

-The Big Green has been a great comeback team all season, but the way Heneghan marched his offense down the field in the 4th quarter so quickly was just too easy.

 Columbia MVP

Josh Wainwright has had games with more yards and more TD’s, but he was the most consistent and crucial weapon for Columbia all day. Without Smith in the game to take the pressure off him, Wainwright still delivered every time.

Clash of the Titans

Columbia Lions (5-0) at Dartmouth Big Green (5-0)


October 21, 2017

Kickoff Time: 12:30pm

Memorial Field

Game Time Weather Forecast: Sunny and 67 degrees, (no, that's not a typo)

The Line: Dartmouth is favored by 6 1/2 points

TV/Radio: The game is on national TV on the Eleven Sports Network with Bill Spaulding and Matt Goldstein handling the call. That broadcast will also be available on the Ivy League Digital Network and on Eleven Sports' Twitter feed. Columbia will offer an audio feed of the game with Jay Alter and Shawn Fitzgerald '80 doing the call.

Leading Storylines


1) This battle of unbeatens is not only a rare occurrence for Dartmouth and Columbia, it's rare for the entire Ivy League. As the Valley News and Bruce Wood's Big Green Alert pointed out, this will be just the 11th time in Ivy history that two unbeaten teams have met this late in the season. It's a first for Columbia, but Brown and Cornell have never played in such a game. I'm declaring this the biggest Columbia football game since its 1971 battle with Ed Marinaro and Cornell, with the hope of even bigger games to come this season.

2) Both teams are riding a wave of comebacks and resiliency into this game. To that end, the only real surprise would be if this contest ends up being a blowout win for either school.

3) The injury story for both teams appears pretty fluid. Dartmouth may be getting big wildcat QB Jared Gerbino back, but WR Drew Hunnicut appears to be out and CB Danny McManus will probably play with a bad finger. Columbia's CB Denzel Hill is definitely out, and LB Sean White also appears not available. WR Ronald Smith's status is not 100% clear, but he was listed as the starter on the two-deep.

Golden Arms, Solid Hearts

Anders Hill

                                                                      Jack Heneghan



The biggest single reason why both Columbia and Dartmouth are undefeated is the improved play from their QB's. You can look at the two players' stats from 2016 at the five game mark compared to where we are now in 2017 and decide for yourself who's made the more dramatic improvement:


Jack Heneghan Dartmouth

After five games, 2016:

113 for 196 (57.6%),  1,202 yards, 7 TD, 7 INT.

After five games, 2017:

85 for 131 (64.8%),  978 yards, 11 TD, 2 INT


Anders Hill Columbiau


After five games, 2016:

57 for 113 (50.4%), 604 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT

After five games, 2017:

103 for 162 (63.6%), 1,365 yards, 13 TD, 5 INT


And then there's the stuff that doesn't show up in the stats. Both QB's have led their teams to dramatic comebacks. Heneghan doing it against Holy Cross, Yale, and Sacred Heart, (the comeback win over Penn was one I'm going to say Heneghan had to share with wildcat QB Jared Gerbino who made the big plays on the ground including the gutsy game winning TD as time expired. Gerbino has been out with an injury ever since).

Hill has done it against Princeton and Penn, and also led the winning drive in what was a tie game against Wagner.

At this time last year, both QB's were still getting their feet wet and didn't really have a total grip on the starting job. Now, they're both their teams' undisputed leaders.

Speaking of that, in a podcast interview Wednesday Head Coach Al Bagnoli finally clarified exactly what happened with the CU quarterback job last season. Skyler Mornhinweg simply did not recover from his off season surgeries as well as anyone had hoped. His foot was not strong enough to give his throws the zip they needed. And it's important to note that Bagnoli said the injury really occurred when Mornhinweg was still at the University of Florida. Hill had to be hurried into a starting job he was not expected to have for another year.

Heneghan had to win out against a QB in Bruce Dixon who at least some of the Dartmouth faithful were hoping could be a clone of all-everything QB Dalyn Williams. Now Dixon isn't even a Dartmouth student anymore.

Oh, how things can change in a hurry.

Okay, Let's Talk History (Top 10 Version)

Johnathan Reese

I've made the point here many times that focusing on history too much is simply not fair to the players who are all too young to even remember it, let alone take responsibility for it. That's why Head Coach Al Bagnoli said in his postgame news conference last week that he "gets nervous every time someone brings up history around here."

But as fans, a quick look at a few key moments in the past is helpful to help promote the game and explain its importance to our long-suffering loved ones who likely don't get why we still care so much about Ivy League football.

So, here are 10 historical points in ascending order to consider for this big Columbia-Dartmouth match up on Saturday:

10) Columbia's last win in Hanover was a 27-20 win in 2001 featuring good games from QB Jeff McCall and RB Johnathan Reese. But the Lions were almost forced to forfeit the game retroactively when it was discovered that DL Matt Stary wasn't taking enough credits to be eligible for Ivy play. The league ended up deciding that suspending Stary for the rest of the season was punishment enough.

Rick Taylor


9) Maybe they should call this game the "Rick Taylor Bowl." The former coach and athletic director was brought in to advise Dartmouth after the Big Green's 0-10 2008 season and his recommendations played a big role in the program’s slow-but-steady turnaround. Just two years later, Dartmouth had a 6-4 winning record.

8) Most of the Columbia-Dartmouth games over the last 30 years have been pretty good. Starting with the 1987 nail biter, 14 of the games have been decided by one score or less and six have been decided by a FG or less.

7) All the talk about Columbia ending its 20 game losing streak to Penn should have people remembering the 26 game winless streak the Lions endured against Dartmouth from 1972-1997. That streak was split down the middle by a 17-17 tie in 1983 in a weird game played at an almost empty Giants Stadium during the year when the Lions played every game away from Baker Field while Wien Stadium was being built. Columbia finally ended that streak in 1998 with a 24-14 win over the Big Green in Hanover. That was also the first Lion win at Memorial Field since 1946.

6) The fact that both the Lions and Big Green are undefeated has been mentioned many times over the past five days. But what makes that more interesting is the fact that there have been so many times in recent years when one or both of these teams have come into this game winless. Perhaps the most famous example was the 1987 game when the Lions were still in the midst of what would end up as record 44 game losing streak. Loss #39 ended when Dartmouth hit a late FG to take a 12-10 lead and Columbia missed a makeable FG try at the end of the game. That agonizing moment was caught in an NFL Films video you can see by clicking here. 

Columbia was winless again two years later when they met the Big Green again at Wien Stadium. A blocked punt late in the game led to a 13-12 loss.

Both teams were winless in 2004 when the Lions eked out an ugly 9-6 win, and they were both winless again in 2008 when Columbia won a more dramatic, rain and wind swept night game by a 21-13 score in New York. A year later Dartmouth came into the game in Hanover 0-5 against a 2-3 Lion team, but it was the Big Green that won that one in another rain soaked contest, 28-6. And of course, Columbia was winless in 2013 and 2014 when they played and lost to Dartmouth en route to back-to-back 0-10 seasons.

5) Another classic Columbia-Dartmouth game came back to life in the minds of savvy Lion fans just two weeks ago during the game at Marist. With QB Anders Hill approaching 300 passing yards in the 1st half against the Red Foxes, many of us were wondering if he had a shot to break John Witkowski's 35-year-old record of 466 passing yards against the Big Green. That game was a 56-41 win for Dartmouth and Witkowski racked up most of those yards after the contest was basically decided. His 466 yard mark stood for a few years after that as the Ivy single game passing yardage record and it's still the top Columbia mark.

4)  The greatest single performance by a player for either team that most of us have seen in this series over the last 30 years was put in by Reese in the 2000 game at Wien Stadium. Reese broke the Columbia single game rushing record with 236 yards and four TD's in less than three quarters of play. The Lions won on Homecoming, 49-21.

Dalyn Williams

3) If this game were taking place a year earlier, bad blood could be more of a story line. That's because in Dartmouth's 13-9 win over Columbia in Hanover in 2015, a decent amount of trash talk and alleged extracurricular activity after the whistle positively unhinged the Big Green and especially star QB Dalyn Williams. Dartmouth was flagged repeatedly for personal foul penalties and basically took their own offense out of the game in the 2nd half. But it's been two years and just about everyone involved in all of that has graduated.

2) The big game everyone is referencing this week is the last time the Lions and Big Green played each other with 1st place in the Ivies on the line. That was 1996 when they entered week 8 with Dartmouth at 7-0 and the Lions 6-1. Much of the hype around the game was lost when Columbia stumbled at home the week before to suffer its first loss of the year to Princeton, 14-11. And the hype really fell apart when the Big Green whipped the Lions 40-0.

Paul Kaliades #61


1) You have to go back 25 more years from there to find the next CU-DC game that meant something serious in the Ivy race. The 1971 Lions shocked Dartmouth at Baker Field with a 31-29 win that ended with a FG that barely cleared the crossbar.  Defensive star/emergency kicker Paul Kaliades provided the heroics. Dartmouth came into the game with a 15-game winning streak, including a 55-0 shellacking of the Lions the previous year. The 1971 game would end up being the Big Green's only Ivy loss of the year in a season where they had to share the title with Ed Marinaro's Cornell Big Red. Columbia finished just behind those two giants at 5-2 in the Ivies and 6-3 overall. 

Week 6 Picks

In week 5 I had a strong 6-1 week straight up, putting my SU record at 23-11 (.676) for the year. But I struggled with a 3-4 record against the spread, putting me at 20-14 (.588) ATS. 


Princeton -3 1/2 at Harvard

I think Harvard has to be better than it's looked overall this season. But other than that nagging thought, there's no reason not to pick Princeton here.


Penn +3 1/2 over Yale

Under Tony Reno, the Elis have always found a way to crash down to earth at some point. Look for the wounded Quakers to pull off an upset win.


Brown  +7 at Cornell

I don't know why I keep thinking the Bears will at least make games close. But perhaps a new sense of urgency on the team will kick in. Cornell will win, but by less than a TD.


Fordham -2 1/2 at Georgetown

Did you ever think you'd see a day when Fordham was only favored by 2 1/2 over the Hoyas? I'm betting the Rams come to life Saturday.


Drake +3 at Marist

I forgot to pick the Marist-Valparaiso game last week. Marist forgot to show up and lost 49-15. I think they're about to lose again.

Ivy Power Rankings

1) Dartmouth

The Big Green keep the top spot because they still have played the tougher overall schedule.


2) Columbia

The Lions overcame a lot of personal demons by beating Penn last week, setting up the biggest game the program has faced since the de facto Ivy championship game at Cornell in 1971.


3) Princeton

Columbia should be very grateful they don't have to play the Tigers again. Even without John Lovett, this still looks like the best offense in a league with some good offensive teams.


4) Yale

Beating Holy Cross in week 5 is not the same as beating them in week 2. It's hard to tell how good the Elis are now after defeating a Crusader team that quit on Head Coach Tom Gilmore, leading to his firing on Monday.


5) Harvard

It still seems to early to count the Crimson out. But Harvard is simply not getting great play from its quarterbacks.


6) Penn

The Quakers still have some potent weapons. But they too are plagued by inconsistency at QB.


7) Cornell

The Big Red sure made their win over Harvard look like a fluke by losing to a mediocre Bucknell team at home.


8) Brown

This is the worst the Bears have looked as a program since 1992.

A Message from Marcellus

Those shoulder pads deserve their own zip code


Dear Fellow Lions,

WE ARE 5-0!!! The last time we accomplished such a feat, I was a 21-year old, a lean 250 pounds, team captain in '96, feeling an all-time high of pride in Columbia and my teammates. This week, that feeling is back. This 2017 team has made national headlines, and I couldn't be prouder of everyone who has contributed. 

I'm feeling the wave of energy all the way on the west coast, and I don't want it to go away! Let's help push this team to 6-0 like we were in '96. We can all do our part this week to keep building on what we've started. That's right, I'm talking about Columbia Giving Day. 

Coach Bagnoli has brought exciting leadership to Columbia, and any conversation you have with him would make you want to get back on the field. Since we can't, let's do what we can. Let's give the players, coaches, and everyone else involved the standing ovation they deserve for their 5-0 start, by making a gift today for Giving Day. 

CU Football is where it should be this week: on top of the Ivy League!
BEAT DARTMOUTH!

Roar, Lion, Roar!
Marcellus Wiley '97CC

How to Beat Us

If you were a Dartmouth coach, what would you be focusing on from Columbia's first five games in hopes of ending the Lion winning streak this Saturday in Hanover?

Trying to be completely honest about where CU's strengths and weaknesses truly are, I'd do the following five things, (and yes, this is a bit of reverse psychology and I hope the Columbia coaches are planning countermeasures to each):


 1) Start out going 100 mph

Columbia has officially played two road games already, but that's not the whole story. For the Princeton game, the team did not make any overnight travel. And the Marist game was an overnight trip, but Marist is only an hour or so from campus. The Lions still had to play on foreign turf and deal with opposing fans, (although the crowd at Princeton was especially thin and the Marist crowd was taken out of the equation fast), but getting to sleep and stay in your own room is a big way to cut down on road weariness.

Not this time. Not only is this a real road trip, but it's the longest by far for the team this year and the longest ever for all the sophomores and freshmen who have never ventured further than Harvard for a road game.

If I were the Dartmouth coaches, I'd test to see if the Lions are fully awake as soon as possible. Onside kick to start the game? Possible. Total blitz package on Columbia's first offensive possession? Absolutely. Deep pass or trick play on offense on the Big Green's first drive? Yes.


2) Test the other corner

Marist and then Penn just missed on at least four deep balls to receivers that were open against Columbia DB's not named Cameron Roane. While Ben McKeighan and the other corners have played well, they're at least sometimes beatable if the opposing QB can deliver the ball accurately.


3) Use the TE to test CU's tacklers

It doesn't look like Dartmouth uses big senior 255-pound TE Stephen Johnston as a very frequent passing target, but he does have three receptions this year and one for a TD. The Lions do a very good job of covering opponents' top receivers, but they've also shown some problems wrapping up bigger receivers along the sidelines.


4) Penalties are better than home runs

In most Ivy games, when a receiver gets open deep, there is still less than a 50% chance that the eventual bomb of a pass will be completed. But Columbia is getting really good at achieving an insanely high percentage of completions on passes that travel 30+ yards in the air. To avoid the big TD play and to disrupt the Lion rhythm, Dartmouth shouldn't be shy about taking a few 15-yard pass interference penalties when and if their DB's get burned.


5) Run Heneghan late

Expect Columbia to not expect Dartmouth to run QB Jack Heneghan in key situations. I think he could make some big gains, but it would be foolish to tip that hand too early in the game. From the late 3rd quarter on, the Big Green coaches should put in a running package for him with designed QB draws.

Last Looks

One of the adjustments Columbia fans are going to have to make as long as the Lions continue to play this well is putting an end to focusing on any individual win and looking at the bigger picture.

So, let's take a few more victory lap observations about Columbia's fantastic Homecoming win over Penn before focusing entirely on the showdown with Dartmouth in Hanover this Saturday:


Hill Country

Remember this guy?


Again, since day one of 2017 we've known that this season rides mostly on QB Anders Hill's shoulders. So far, he is delivering in a big way:

-Hill is now 8-5 as a starter and owns a six game winning streak at QB. Since the 1996 team that started 6-0 featured two different starters because of injuries, (Bobby Thomason and Paris Childress), this is either the longest winning streak for a CU starting QB since Gene Rossides '49 won six straight beginning with the 1947 historic win over Army, or the longest winning streak for a starting Columbia QB since Cliff Montgomery '34 racked up six straight wins. The sixth win was Montgomery's final game as a Lion... the 1934 Rose Bowl. The reason we don't know is that reliable starting lineups for each game during those team winning streaks so long ago are not available.

-Hill has now delivered three wins at QB where the Lions were either behind or tied with under two minutes left in regulation.

-My favorite QB stat is 3rd down passing, and Hill on 3rd down vs. Penn was 8-for-10 for 70 yards, five 1st downs, two TDs, (including the 24 yard game winner), one INT, and three sacks.

For the season on 3rd down passing, Hill is 28-for-36 for 323 yards, 19 1st downs, five TDs, two INTs, six sacks and an 8.9 yards per attempt average.

-Overall this season, Hill has 1,365 yards passing, an incredible 8.4 yards per pass attempt, 13 TD passes and five INTs.

Columbia is indeed a resilient team this year, stepping up in the face of tight games and/or late deficits three times this season already. But when you have a long passing game that succeeds with the regularity the Lions are enjoying, you're going to be able to come back and win games against some steep odds. We've known Hill is a good long ball passer since we first saw his highlight reel tapes, and this resiliency thing begins and ends with him.

The Coach

-Head Coach Al Bagnoli is now 10-15 at the helm of the Lion program. He's reached 10 wins eight games faster than Norries Wilson and 29 games faster than Ray Tellier.

-Bagnoli has now defeated every team in the Ivy League at least once.

-Bagnoli is now just one win away from becoming the fastest to achieve a winning record in a season for a Columbia football head coach since Lou Little did it in his first year at CU in 1930.

The Fans/Game Experience

-The official attendance for the game was just over 13,000, but the key factor was how the crowd stuck it out during Columbia's weak start and how LOUD it got down the stretch. Early morning drizzles and some uncomfortably humid weather may have been the only things keeping it from getting much closer to 15,000 in a 17,000 seat stadium.

-The next home game is on 11/4 vs. Harvard, which could be a shoo-in for a sellout if Columbia and the Crimson are still very much in the Ivy title race by then.

Wainwright's Time

-WR Josh Wainwright now has 1,053 total yards receiving through one and a half seasons as a Lion. As impressive as that is, he still needs 488 more yards this year to match Austin Knowlin 10's, 1,541 yards through his first two seasons on the team.

-Wainwright's 538 yards receiving this season puts him just 462 yards shy of the Columbia single season record of an even 1,000 held by Don Lewis '84 who set that mark in 1982.

Comeback History

-The last time Columbia came back from two or more scores down in the 4th quarter to win was the 2011 season finale against Brown when the Lions came back from 21-7 down to force OT and win it 35-28.

Linebacker Emergence

-Michael Murphy's big game Saturday got a lot of deserved attention, but freshman Justin Woodley is making more of an impact week after week even as just a 3rd down specialist at the LB position. Sean White was officially listed as a starter Saturday, but I'm pretty sure he was out for the entire game and mostly replaced by Parker Tobia. But after all three of Columbia's 2016 LB's graduated, this area of the team was an understandable question mark. Now it looks like a strength filled with underclassmen.

Secondary Concerns

-5th year senior CB Denzell Hill was reinjured against Penn and we'll have to see if he's back next week or beyond.

-For the second straight week, Columbia's opposing QB's consistently overthrew open receivers who had beaten the Lion coverage. Whether those overthrows are just the result of poor QB skills, WR timing disrupted by the CU DB's, or just plain luck is probably only clear to the Columbia coaches studying the tape. But look for Dartmouth and the rest of the Lion opponents to see if they can't connect where Marist and Penn failed.

Resurrection on the Hudson

Columbia 34 Pennsylvania 31 (OT)


Why Columbia Won

The Lions shook off an extremely poor start and they finally got their potent passing game going while their defense began creating turnovers. WR Josh Wainwright had his finest game of the season, hauling in 10 catches for 193 yards and two TD's including the game winner in overtime. QB Anders Hill was able to shake off an early hard luck interception and five sacks to get hot just in time. And the defense forced four turnovers in the course of just 18 minutes of game clock time from the middle of the 3rd quarter to the middle of the 4th.

Why Penn Lost

The Quaker offense and defense flamed out simultaneously, and at just the worst time. And while the offense finally came back to life late in the game, the defense never recovered its ability to cover the Columbia long passing attack.

Key Turning Points

-With just over 11 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, Penn followed a pick-six of backup QB Ryan Suitt, (who was in for just that one play after Hill lost his helmet the play before), with a pop up on-side kick recovery at the CU 27. But after getting one 1st down to the Lion 15, safety Landon Baty forced a Justin Watson fumble that LB Michael Murphy recovered at the Columbia 15. From that point on, the Lion bleeding stopped.

-Still trailing 21-7 with 14:40 left in the 4th quarter, LB Justin Woodley picked off a Penn pass and the Lions took over at the Penn 39. On the next play, CU executed a double flea-flicker play that eventually ended in a Hill pass to Wainwright that netted 20 yards. All of a sudden, the Lion offense had come back to life. Six plays later, the score was 21-14 after goal line QB Josh Bean took it in on 4th and goal for his second TD of the game.

-Penn went three-and-out on their ensuing possession and Columbia took over at the Lion 41. On the only play of the drive, Hill found Wainwright with more than a step on the coverage and streaking down the west side of the field for a 59 yard TD pass and a tie game.

-On Penn's ensuing possession, Woodley grabbed his second interception of the game and set the Lions up with the ball at the Quaker 19. Six plays later, TE Rory Schlageter somehow kept Hill's seven yard TD pass from hitting the turf, and Columbia had its first lead of the game at 28-21 and 4:11 left in regulation.

-Penn's offense woke up after that, scoring on a 80-yard drive to tie the game and then netted a 41-yard FG in OT to retake the lead at 31-28. But after two lackluster running plays that gained a total of just one yard, Hill found Wainwright open just inside the middle of the end zone for the winning 24-yard score and 218th Street turned into Electric Avenue.

Columbia Positives

-Resilience isn't a stat in the box score, but the Lions have about as much of it as a team can have. Columbia absorbed a flurry of Penn's punches and never gave up.

-Wainwright's heroics mostly came with his fellow sensational sophomore WR Ronald Smith on the sidelines after he took a pop early in the game from a couple of Penn defenders. But he continued to get open even when it became evident he was going to be the lone deep threat.

-Despite the terrible start, the Lions out-gained Penn in total yards, had more 1st downs, won the time of possession battle, and held the Quakers to a 35% 3rd down conversion rate.

-Columbia committed only three penalties on the day.

Columbia Negatives

-The Lion pass protection was totally inconsistent, breaking down for long stretches of the game. Meanwhile, the Lion pass rush was mostly non-existent.

-The Columbia running attack is also still too spotty to give Hill the relief from the pass rush that he needs.

Columbia MVP

WR Josh Wainwright's career day wasn't just about getting open. He made key adjustments on at least two major catches in the game, including the game-winner. He stepped it up even when the Quakers must have known he was the most likely option late in the game.

While Wainwright was the clear MVP, LB Michael Murphy had a monster game with 12 tackles and 4.5 tackles for a loss for a huge total of 24 yards lost. His read and tackle of Watson on a Penn screen pass in OT went for a seven yard loss and effectively blew up the Quaker chances for a TD in the extra frame.

Woodley was also a force, playing on mostly 3rd downs only. In addition to his two interceptions, he had a key tackle for no gain and a QB hurry.

What's Next

The 5-0 Lions head to Dartmouth to take on the 5-0 Big Green next week. Not only are both teams undefeated, but Dartmouth is also an uncannily resilient team with dramatic comeback wins four weeks in a row.

The Millstone

Homecoming 2017

Pennsylvania Quakers (2-2) vs. Columbia Lions (4-0)

October 14, 2017

Kickoff Time: 1:30

Robert K. Kraft Field at Wien Stadium, Baker Athletics Complex

Game Time Weather Forecast: 69 degrees, 35% chance of rain

The Line: Penn is favored by 2 points

TV/Radio: The game will be televised nationally on the Eleven Sports Network, online on the Ivy League Digital network, and free audio is available on the Columbia website and on WKCR FM, (probably WKCR's online stream channel only).

Leading Storylines


1) The tables have turned as it is now Columbia that is riding high with an undefeated record and Penn that is struggling to get its season on track. This game will be a key test for both teams to prove or disprove they belong right where they are in the standings.

2) Getting to the X's and O's, Penn comes in with one of the weakest pass defenses in the Ivies and Columbia has probably the best passing offense. The Quakers will have to make some big changes to address this game.

3) Penn has defeated Columbia 20 straight times, mostly by more than two scores. It's the longest current Ivy vs. Ivy streak and a singular millstone for the Lion program. The fact that the man who coached the Quakers to 18 of those 20 straight wins, Al Bagnoli, now paces the Columbia sidelines makes this game even more potentially meaningful.

Week 5 Picks

I bounced back with a decent 4-2 last week against the spread and 3-3 straight up to put my records at 17-10 in both columns and holding on just barely to a respectable .600-plus .629 winning percentage


Brown +16 vs. Princeton

The Bears look like the dregs of the Ivies right now, but Brown gets hyped for big games like this and I think they'll keep it close for the most part. Princeton should win by between 10 and 14 points.


Harvard -17 vs. Lafayette

The Leopards are starting to do lots of things right while Harvard is stumbling. But somehow, the Crimson look poised to explode at home.


Yale -6 1/2 vs. Holy Cross

Now it feels like the Holy Cross season is falling apart.


Dartmouth -9 at Sacred Heart

The Big Green may take their feet of the gas a bit here, but they'll still win by 10 or 11.


Cornell +1 1/2 vs. Bucknell

The Big Red will eke out another win.


Georgetown +14 1/2 at Lehigh

Lehigh will win, but the Hoyas will make it a game,


Central Connecticut -1 1/2 at Wagner

I don't get the small spread in this game. Seems like a real gift.

Ivy Power Rankings

1) Dartmouth

The Big Green keep beating good teams and doing it by the skin of their teeth. Sometimes, lots of close wins is the sign of a very good team. Sometimes, it's a sign of a lucky team that will soon see its luck run out. Right now, Dartmouth looks like the former.

2) Columbia

The Lions are basically playing like a team that's a year or two ahead of schedule right now. The only knock is they've really only beaten one solid opponent.

3) Yale

The Elis are still a very good team. The question is whether they can bounce back from their first setback of the year. A lot of teams in their place right now suddenly start to fall apart.

4) Princeton

The Tigers bounced back nicely from the loss to Columbia and the offense is still a serious machine. Their chances to repeat as champs are far from over.

5) Harvard

The stunning inconsistency of the Crimson offense continues. This is very much on the coaches too as they simply aren't drawing up the right plays to suit their QB's.

6) Penn

The Quakers offense is still potent, but the defense has fallen apart. This is starting to look like a rebuilding year after two straight titles.

7) Cornell

Beating Harvard was a great achievement, but there's no real evidence that the Big Red will be able to make a big move with their existing weapons. Let's see how they do after they play another Ivy opponent.

8) Brown

Losing to Stetson is bad enough, but to lose with such a poor offensive showing is just plain odd for this Bears program.

History Means Nothing...

... or almost nothing to a group of college student/athletes who are all about 20 years old or so.

For them, the fact that Columbia hasn't beaten Penn in 21 years doesn't come with many personal memories of all those losses.

For them, the fact that Columbia coincidentally hasn't had a winning season or seriously contended for an Ivy title since it last beat Penn isn't really something they can grasp.

And that's how it should be.

The great thing about college football is that if any given program truly commits itself to getting better coaching and recruiting results, it can turn things around in a hurry. Columbia had never shown a consistent commitment to that until President Lee Bollinger hired Athletic Director Peter Pilling in late 2014 and he quickly lured Head Coach Al Bagnoli out of retirement to helm the Lions. That commitment hasn't faded since, and it's actually been increased with the building of the Columbia off season bubble indoor practice facility.

For the vast majority of the Lion football players, this committed Columbia is the only Columbia they've known.

That said, they certainly have memories of last season's tough battle with the eventual Ivy co-champion Quakers at Franklin Field that ended in a deceptively uneven 35-10 score. 

They have seen a Penn team that their coach built with his recruiting efforts win a share of the last two Ivy titles.

And they see that their 4-0 record has yet to convince many naysayers, (who are clearly relying more on Columbia's history than current on-the-field evidence), that they're for real.

For the fans, everything is different.

I could catalog dozens of interesting Columbia-Penn facts to explain just how much longtime Columbia fans want a win in this game.

But I'll stick with this top five in descending order of importance:


1) Penn had been a bottom feeder for most of the Ivy League's official history from 1956-82, when the administration got serious about winning in football. 1982 was a turning point for not just Penn, but the entire Ivy League. The Quakers became perennial winners, and Columbia got worse as Penn extended its dominance in recruiting in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania areas where the Lions relied on finding incoming talent. 25 years later, Columbia is in the midst of trying to make a major change of its own.

2) The Quakers have often played the role of bringing the Lions crashing back down to earth on the rare occasions when Columbia looked like it might have a strong team. The three most recent instances were in 2010 when the Lions came into Franklin Field and lost 27-13, 2009 when the Quakers came into Wien Stadium and beat the Lions by the same 27-13 score, and 2003 when Penn ruined Columbia's 250th anniversary Homecoming game with a 31-7 win. In each case, the Lions were 1-0 in the Ivies and hoping to make a statement. In each case, the Quakers went on to win the Ivy title.

3)  Two recent games were glaring examples of how superior coaching made the difference. In the 2011 Homecoming game at Columbia, the Lions under Norries Wilson famously botched a 1st and goal opportunity to seal the game with multiple delay of game penalties in a row and lost 27-20. The second was a year later when under Pete Mangurian, the Lions squandered a 20-10 4th quarter lead and lost 24-20. In both cases, Bagnoli was clearly the superior coach.

4) The last time Penn was looking weak coming into a game against Columbia was 2014 when the Quakers were 0-4. They proceeded to whip the Lions in Philly by a 31-7 score. Penn finished that season 2-8, the Lions went 0-10.

5) Many of the stalwarts of this current Lion team were either not yet fully prepped to play or out of action when these two teams met in Philadelphia last year. WR Josh Wainwright was out, WR Ronald Smith only saw very limited duty, and QB Anders Hill was not very effective in his third career start.

#CramKraft

Time to fill this place up


It's been a long time since I made a pitch for people to go out and buy tickets for Columbia Football.

But the effort this team and coaching staff has put forth this year is extraordinary in many ways. The 4-0 record is the headline of course, but the relaxed confidence and close-knit culture of the team is in many ways even nicer to see.

Meanwhile, the athletic department under A.D. Peter Pilling is running on all cylinders in year three of Pilling's tenure. Not only is football undefeated, but the men's and women's soccer teams are both undefeated and in first place in the Ivy League. That kind of success at this stage for the three most important fall sports teams is unheard of in Columbia history.

One of the sad things about Columbia's football struggles in recent decades is the fact that the university genuinely works hard to make Homecoming games really enjoyable for the entire family.  Last year ended a 14-year Homecoming losing streak when the Lions edged Dartmouth 9-7. But the game was played in the rain and attendance was muted. So far, the forecast is calling for just a cloudy day Saturday, which shouldn't keep anyone away from the game.

In the hopes of pushing the CU faithful from all over the world to come out to this game, I'm pushing the #CramKraft hashtag on Twitter. That's as in, cram Kraft Field at Wien Stadium with fans and maybe get the sellout this program deserves after its amazing transformation in just three years from a team that could not even come close to beating the rest of the league's backups.

Final Thoughts after Marist

-Head Coach Al Bagnoli now has nine wins after 24 games at CU. That's seven games faster than Norries Wilson and 29 games faster than Ray Tellier recorded their ninth wins with this program.

-QB Anders Hill is now 7-5 as a starter.

-On 3rd downs so far this season, Hill's passing stats are 20-for-26 for 253 yards, 14 1st downs, 3 TD passes, 1 INT, 3 sacks, and 9.7 yards per attempt.

-Columbia is converting 54% of its 3rd downs and holding opponents to a 28% conversion rate.

-Columbia is averaging more than 30 points per game and holding opponents to under 18 points a game.

-Despite featuring a potent passing attack, Columbia is winning the time of possession battle by an average of more than 10 minutes per game.

-Columbia is outscoring its opponents in the first half by a combined score of 87-14.