Columbia Lions (6-3) at Cornell Big Red (2-7)
Kickoff: 1:00 PM
Game Time Weather Forecast: 42 degrees and cloudy
The Line: Columbia is favored by 8 1/2 points
TV/Radio: The game is available on ESPN+
Leading Story Lines
1) Columbia is trying to clinch a 7-3 season record that would well exceed most predictions for this season. This would be just the fifth winning season for the Lions over the last 50 years. Columbia is also looking to clinch a 4-3 record in Ivy play, which would be just the third winning conference record in that 50-year span.
2) On the other end of the spectrum, Cornell's performance may be the deciding factor for the future of Head Coach David Archer. There are growing rumblings among football alumni that he should be let go, and a win over the Lions may earn him a stay of execution.
3) Season finales at Cornell can sometimes involve a very quick descent into weather hell. It's often fun to watch from a cozy living room chair, (but I'll be at the game in person).
3 Columbia Players to Watch
-RB Dante Miller comes into the game with a slight league lead in total rushing yards. For some reason, the Ivies count the rushing title winner as the player with the most average yards per game, but Miller is a close second in that measure. So, it seems like Miller would be a good player to watch to see if he tries to win the Ivy rushing title outright.
-WR Bryson Canty has had a bit of a coming out party the last two weeks. The freshman deep threat could figure prominently in the final game of the season, which is often used to showcase future talent for Ivy teams not playing for the title.
-LB Cameron Dillon may be the player most responsible for containing running Cornell Jameson Wang. If you stop him, you usually stop the Big Red offense.
3 Cornell Players to Watch
-QB Jameson Wang (see above)
-On the other hand, passing QB Ryan Kenney -- who sometimes pulls a gem of a game out of his hat -- may be unleashed all day in hopes of testing the Lion secondary.
-LB Jake Stebbins is the best defender on what's generally been a good Cornell defense.
17 comments:
As I said under the earlier thread...
Hat is off to all the seniors. Thank you for your grit and determination.
Let's go, Lions!
Archer called us inconsistent in the Cornell daily sun and added that he knows how to attack our inconsistency
Brown won on the last play vs. Cornell which showed a good passing game.
It's been a fun year... Reading all the insightful posts... enjoying the winning!..... Columbia football heading in the right direction.. That is something Bagnoli has brought to the table!Hats off to him! Now if we could only get a more open OC! Go Lions!
Good luck to our talented and resilient guys and especially to the senior class!
To call our first half play "inconsistent" is the understatement of the season (so far ).
Awful half for us. Stupid penalties, dropped a TD pass, our TE cannot catch the football, a personal foul on a touchback. Lucky to be 13-13 but embarrassing lack of basic execution by the O.
Fabish is horrible!!! Why are we throwing we are up 20-13 and started running the ball well!!! Stop snapping the ball with 32 seconds on the play clock!!!!
Hard to fathom this is only the third winning record in Ivy League play, in half a century.
All while Dartmouth revels in a 20th title.
One can only feel badly for the players who gave so much of themselves year in and year out.
They are owed nothing less than the players from any of the consistently winning Ivy programs.
Certainly Coach Bagnoli is a step in the right direction. I just do not know if the same can be said of certain of his staff.
The goal of any team should be to “win the games you are supposed to win, and be competitive in all the others”.
We all know, that but for Yale and Harvard, that goal was met. That is progress.
There is a reason a car’s windshield is so much larger than its rear view mirror. You move forward, not by looking behind you.
We have every reason to expect more from this team next season.
Hopefully, it is not 1972, “deja vu all over again”.
That was an ugly win but will take it. Cornell is not a good team
Cornell outgained the Lions 431-257
Congratulations to our Lions for the win over Cornell, the shutout victory over Dartmouth, and all our other wins in a very good and very exciting 7-3 season. Overall, we certain had a great season and should have/could have won or shared the Ivy League Title with just a few more breaks. Now, it's up to the coaching staff to do the necessary to make certain that we do the necessary to win the Ivy League title outright next year. I suppose the key question for each of the Ivies including Columbia is how many graduating seniors will have another year of eligibility due to Covid, and what actions can be taken to retain them.
Stan Waldbaum
Only bad game was Harvard. Yale game was influenced by several awful calls, as was Princeton. Congrats to all. And stop the whining.
Thanks to Jake for all the hard work this year as The Table Setter! I am sure that you all agree.....I already mentioned the wonderful posts by all the Lions fans...
Yes indeed; thank you Jake.
Great year and thank you Jake for the excellent coverage of the Lions.
Some of you are not so excited with the Lions's season this fall. But let us put it in historical perspective.
I suffered through the 44-game losing streak of the 1980s, Columbia losing virtually every game 47-7, 40-3, and so on. Columbia broke Northwestern's infamous losing streak and then had to wait for tiny, destitute Prairie View A&M to lose 60+ consecutive games to break our ignominious streak. While no longer the team with the longest losing streak in the annals of college football, out 44-game losing remains a stain on Columbia football.
Then comes Bagnoli. Finally, finally, a Head Coach who can both coach AND recruit. Three of the last four seasons Columbia has had a winning season. Measure that against the past number of decades of futility, ineptitude. No, Columbia football has not yet won the Ivy Football Championship since 1961, but look how far we have come in only years contrasted to the decades of darkness and humiliation.
Therefore, celebrate our amazing turn-around and gaze at out bright future.
TOD HOWARD HAWKS
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