Friday, May 26, 2023

The View from (stil) Very Far Away

We're still 113 days from kickoff, and we're also still waiting for the official news release detailing who is in our incoming 2023 freshman football class. 

But it's hard to keep under wraps a thought I've been having about this upcoming season:

The competition will be TOUGH.

As I look at the seven other Ivy teams, I'm hard pressed to find one that doesn't seem like it will be better this fall than it was in 2022... or at least as good. 

Brown is returning some talented QB's and has another year of Head Coach James Perry's overall magic in the system. 

Cornell will have a 3-year starter at QB in Jameson Wong, who improved last year and should be even better.

Dartmouth faces the challenge of not having Buddy Teevens at the helm via terrible circumstances, but that could also be a source of great inspiration. Meanwhile, the Big Green had a tough year last year with roster issues that will be improved this year and this program hasn't had two bad years in a row in forever. 

Harvard had a down year by their standards last season, but still returns an amazing defensive line and all these great recruits the program always gets. Will they go yet ANOTHER year without an All Ivy caliber QB? The odds are getting thinner for that to continue. 

Penn has a good and improving QB and some of its defensive stars returning. 

Princeton has a returning starting QB for the first time in years and always just reloads year after year.

Yale returns its Player of the Year QB and 2022 Ivy Rookie of the Year RB. 

The out of conference schedule will be tougher too. 

Lafayette is a stronger opponent than Columbia's recent OOC fare, and that game will be at Lafayette. 

Georgetown almost always is a tough game for the Lions, last year notwithstanding. 

Finally, I'm hearing reports that Marist will be much improved as well. 

I think Columbia can be a better team too, but that huge challenge of rebuilding the offensive line will be the baseline for the entire season. So much depends on that. 

Stay tuned... 



 

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I expect us to have the best WR combination in the league, and if our QBs can stay up their feet we will have an excellent offense. Georgi is one of the best RBs in the league. Both Bell and Green are excellent. As far as the defense, we have a potential DPOY in Powell and lots of depth. Plus we have the best coach in the league.If Painton is going to be as good at LT as I suspect (he is obviously making the switch to see if he can make the pros) then we will be very, very good.

Jake said...

Powell? He looked pretty good as a frosh last year and I think he will get better… but did you mean Townsend for Defensive POY?

Anonymous said...

How about Malachy Mercer for ROY? Mercer was a terrific linebacker for Bergen Catholic and is likely to be an impact player for Columbia. We also have a second outstanding freshman player from Bergen Catholic, the wide receiver, Christian Carti.

Anonymous said...

Townsend for DPOY

Anonymous said...

AGREE THAT MERCER IS AN IMPACT GUY. CARTI MAY HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR SINCE WE ARE LOADED AT WR.