Cornell 35 Columbia 9
Why Cornell Won
The Big Red Offense churned out 463 total yards, jumped out to a 21-0 lead, and the defense rarely faltered. QB Richie Kenny was an efficient 17 of 26 for 244 and no INTs, while senior RB Harold Coles ended his Cornell career with 122 yards rushing and two TDs.
Why Columbia Lost
The Lions defense opened the game unable to stop Cornell while the offense didn't register its first 1st down until its fourth possession. The Lions also committed a handful of unsportsmanlike conduct personal fouls on both sides of the ball.
Key Turning Points
-After Columbia went three-and-out on its opening possession, Cornell scored a TD on its second play from scrimmage with a 58-yard TD run by Coles.
-After the Lions closed the gap to 21-9 at the half, they began the 2nd half with an unsuccessful onsides kick that gave Cornell the ball at its own 49. The Columbia defense forced a three-and-out, but ran into the punter to give the Big Red the ball at the Columbia 40. Five plays later it was 28-9 and the brief competitive phase of the game was over.
Columbia Positives
-Columbia executed a nice fake punt in the 2nd quarter when Drew Schmid ran the ball up the middle for a 27 yard gain. Six plays later the Lions scored their one and only TD of the game.
-WR Josh Wainwright registered his second straight 100-yard receiving game, gaining 109 yards on 9 receptions.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions defense was unable to stop Cornell at any time in the game and registered just one sack.
-The offense was unable to move consistently.
-The personal foul penalties, including another unnecessary taunting call on Wainwright rubbed salt in the Lion wounds.
Columbia MVP
-Josh Wainwright was as close to an effective weapon Columbia could put out there, despite his taunting penalty that killed a chance for the Lions to get into the game earlier in the contest.
12 comments:
A very disappointing regression to the program. Our season effectively ended with the Harvard game. Spotting an opponent three touchdowns two weeks in a row is inexplicable. From the stands at the Brown game and on the ESPN broadcast of the Cornell game I would point to a total failure of the OL and the front 7 on defense. We have been killed in the trenches the last two weeks. I know people will point to our incredible string of injuries, but even that is not a satisfactory response. We are too small up front on defense and do not compensate with quickness (how many time did Coles tack on five yards after initial contact?). And on offense we could neither move people out of the way for the run game nor hold up on pass protection. I think that Al has to take a cold, hard look at our recruiting (which has gone downhill since Jon Poppe left) and our coaching of the OL and frankly the entire defense.
Thanks for all your work this season, Jake. So insightful as always. If only play on the field were equal to what you bring us in the blog.
Cornell got better each and every week of the season.
Columbia, not so.
The coaching comes into question.
I'll be interested to read your analysis of how a season that held such promise deteriorated so badly such that we not only got crushed by the two best teams in the league but arguably the two worst. I'm all the more puzzled by having attended the opening game, where the team, led by the defense, did an excellent job of neutralizing a perfectly good team with several games already under its belt on its home field. It seemed the season turned all wrong in the next game, a listless effort against and undistinguished Georgetown team. I'd like to think that the team that showed up at Homecoming and against Harvard was the real team, and not just the fortunate recipient of sub-par performances by the opposition. What particularly worried me watching us get hammered by Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell and Brown was how shocking it was to see an Al Bagnoli team that was so clearly unprepared to come and compete. It was always a hallmark of his Penn teams, even those that had losing records, that they were very tough to beat, even when they were overmatched or having a bad day, there was always a lot of fight in that dog. This year's Columbia team unfortunately looked all too familiar to longtime Lions fans--ready to pack it in early when the going got tough.
Chris Allegaert CC'78
What is going on? No news... or hardly any? No comments being published? Robert Pelletreau
Thanks for a great season of reporting and analysis Jake. Beginning to feel withdrawal setting in as we contemplate the next few months without
live gridiron action....
Will Bagnoli stay on? Has he lost the magic? Is it just that the rest of the league has become more competitive?
I have so many questions
our Lions were las in the league in running the ball and score less than half as many TD"s as the number one squad.
Any new commits?
I've seen a couple of new names via Coach Fabish but none listed here.
Jake,
Have you quit for good?
Your last post was 11/24/19.
todhawks@gmail.com
1/2/20
Did Stephen Brooks decommit from Columbia then commit to Georgetown?
It looks that way if you Google Stephen Brooks.
Anyone know what happened to the blog? Has Jake retired?
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