Friday, October 11, 2024

Island Hopping



Columbia Lions (2-1) at Wagner Seahawks (3-3)

October 12, 2024 

Kickoff Time: 12 Noon

Hameline Field

Staten Island, New York

Game Time Weather Forecast: 70 degrees and sunny

The Line: Columbia is a 14 1/2 point favorite

TV/Radio: The game will be on NEC Front Row 

Columbia Game Notes

Wagner Game Notes


Leading Story Lines


-Columbia gets its second chance this season to build on the positive vibes of a big win at home with a win on the road against a non-conference opponent. If the Lions meet the challenge this time, the buzz around the team will be pretty strong going into the Ivy-only stretch of the schedule.

-Both teams are led by outstanding new QBs. Columbia sophomore Chase Goodwin goes up against Wagner grad transfer Jake Cady who comes to Staten Island from D-II Assumption. 

-This game was originally scheduled to be played last year, but relatively late in the process the Lions rescheduled it for 2024. That move reportedly angered the Wagner athletic department, but will that somehow transfer to more aggressive play on the field? It's probably a matter of opinion. 


3 Lions to Watch

-RB Joey Giorgi #25 is just five yards off a 1,000-rushing yards season pacewith 295 yards over the first three games. Until last week's game against Stonehill, Wagner had been struggling defending against the run, so expect Giorgi to test to see if that was an exception to the rule.

-DE Ayden Baker #14 get his first start in place of the injured Justin Townsend, who has been lost for the season with an ACL injury. It's a crushing loss, but Baker is an up-and-coming player who may be tested early and often by a Wagner QB who can run and throw. 

-LB Anthony Roussos #16 will be tasked with taking the lead in stopping Wagner's decent running attack. 


3 Seahawks to Watch 

-RB Ricky Spruill #36 has 422 yards on the season with three TDs on a 6.0 yards per carry average. Spruill will also likely want to improve on his eight-carry, 15-yard performance vs. the Lions at Wien Stadium in 2022. 

-LB Justin Reilly #45 is an experienced grad student who is regularly featured in the NEC weekly honors awards. Reilly will need to lead a strong counterattack to Columbia's varied running game. 

-WR Jaylen Bonelli #3 has a couple of 100-yard plus games early in the season, but has been quieter lately. Look for him to try to break out again this week. 



14 comments:

alawicius said...

Chase Goodwin just rated #1 nationally at QB in FCS. How 'boutvrhat?!

alawicius said...

Make that "How 'bout that!"

Anonymous said...

We went to sleep after going up 24-0; final score 24-6. We looked great for 18 minutes and not so great, at least on offense, for 42. Our pass defense was so so; our run game on offense was spotty; and our passing game after the first quarter was not good, out put it charitably. I thought that after the first quarter we would win by 50 with all reserves playing the second half. So I think it is fair to say that we simply have to play a lot better going forward.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I thought this was going to be a rout and we had a pretty uneven game. Good to have this game against Wagner instead of ivy competition. They have a week to hopefully pull it together and hopefully make a run for the title this year.

DOC said...

I thought the offensive game plan was a bit conservative - perhaps by design ? We looked like we didn't want to show too many of our cards for the rest of the League. Have to tighten up pass pro and pass rush (especially with Townsend out for the season). Next week will be a severe test- next man up !

Anonymous said...

Goodwin seemed to miss on a few deep balls. He was sharper by far against Princeton.. Our pass defense was very soft. Even though McFadden had 2 picks I thought that he was giving his man too much cushion. And since Townsend is out for the season somebody needs to step up and put much pressure on the passer. I will give us the benefit of the doubt that we took this game for granted, but we will have to play much better against Penn to get the W.

Anonymous said...

I agree, DOC. It looked like we didn’t want to show too much to the rest of the league. Also, we seemed to become more flat as the game wore on (after a great first quarter). That’s something I’ve not seen very often. All that said, we still won by 18 in the road and gave up only six points. I think we’re gonna play great against Penn.

Anonymous said...

Two pics for Mc Fadden. Deflections. Yet I can't wait for him to graduate. Above comment spot on in re the cushion... Has slow reactions and hence gets picked on every week... Maybe over reliance on the run in half 2? Mix it ,but above comments about not showing too much are spot on.

Anonymous said...

We didn't really come to play full tilt at Gtown and again today against Wagner. Good to get wins but you gotta bring it every play. Hopefully team plays closer to full capability from now on.

Anonymous said...

I cant wait for your iphone to die

Anonymous said...

lol

Anonymous said...

Re: the IPhone comment, glad to see we still have some Fabulists on this board! Still want to defend his (non-existent) offense? So glad we got Poppe. Already 1000x better, and I’m thinking we’ll see quite the passing attack next Saturday from our offense.

Anonymous said...

More great coach and player evaluation from 4th string db who was part of 6 whole Columbia victories in his 4 year college career

Anonymous said...

You’ve absolutely cracked the case! That’s it! But seriously, whatever you need to tell yourself to sleep at night. Meanwhile, the Poppe train rolls on, and we about to go 4-1!