Monday, November 28, 2022

Monday Bullet Points

Reminder that tomorrow afternoon we learn whether senior LB Scott Valentas has been named a finalist for the defensive Bushnell Cup Player of the Year award. If he's named a finalist and then becomes the winner, he will be only the second Lion to win a Bushnell Cup and the first since John Witkowski 39 years ago.

Princeton RB Ryan Butler has entered the transfer portal after a promising freshman season. (Against the Lions in October, he was a decent 10 carried for 41 yards rushing with a TD). Of course, Butler could still end up back at Old Nassau next fall depending on what kind of interest he gets in the portal. 

Head Coach Al Bagnoli's W-L record at Columbia is now 35-35, which means if the Lions extend their current six-game winning streak vs. non-conference opponents he'd get over .500 for the first time in his CU tenure. 

-The question is: who will that first opponent be in 2023? Some online sites have the Lions starting at Lafayette on 9/16/23, but with a road game also scheduled for Wagner four weeks later that would mean Columbia has just one home OOC game in the game against Georgetown. With only three home games against Ivy opponents slated for next year, I find it hard to believe the Lions will have only four home games in 2023. So... I'd expect one of the following outcomes: 1) A change of venue for the Lafayette game from Easton, PA to NYC, 2) changing the Wagner game to another opponent or 3) a switch in the Ivy schedule to make up for the 2020 canceled season and Columbia gets a home game against one of the schools currently slated for a road contest, (Princeton, Dartmouth, Yale, or Cornell). 

-I'll write more about this later, but Columbia's three-game winning streak to end the season, the first such Lions feat in 51 years, was (as we know) led by QB Caden Bell. His stats during those three games were: 

ATTEMPTS: 80

COMPLETIONS: 45

PCT: .562

YARDS: 637 

YARDS PER ATTEMPT: 7.9

TD: 6

INT: 4





2 comments:

Roar Lion said...

Bell is a great story - if Joe stays healthy Bell might've never played a meaningful snap in four years. But he prepared and was ready when his chance came. I hope he returns next year.

Re: the schedule. I would love it if we dropped Marist and Wagner forever and played Patriot teams, Sacred Heart or Albany. Marist and Wagner were two of the worst teams in FCS this year and there is no evidence beating them without having to play well did anything for us when the league season started.

Anonymous said...

Jake,
It would be nice to have an update on the seasons of Columbia football players that transferred via the portal. I know Cam Dillon has had a great year for Duke and is one of their leading defensive players.