Harvard 26 Columbia 6
Why Harvard Won
The Crimson played their best defensive game of the year, especially when the Lions got into Harvard territory. The offense played mistake-free football and eventually wore down Columbia's defense.
Why Columbia Lost
The Lions couldn't finish drive after drive, thanks to turnovers and inconsistency. The defense played as well as any team has against the Crimson all year, but finally wilted without the support it needed from the offense.
Key Turning Points
-After Harvard scored a FG thanks to a punt return that set them up at the Lion 12, Columbia responded with an impressive drive that spanned 53-yards and brought CU a 1st and 10 at the Crimson 20. But on that play QB Cole Freeman forced a pass into double coverage in the end zone that was intercepted. Harvard then responded with an 80-yard TD drive and a 10-0 lead.
-With the score still 10-0 Harvard and about 10 minutes left in the half, Freeman apparently completed a 44-yard bomb to WR Ethan Hebb to the Crimson 10 yard line. Replay video seemed to confirm Hebb made the grab, but the referees stuck with their incomplete pass ruling. Five plays later, Freeman threw his second interception of the game.
Columbia Positives
-Columbia's linebackers put on a show, especially Jack Smiechowski and Charlie Newton who had 14 and 10 tackles, respectively.
-WR Marcus Libman had five catches for 109 yards.
-Freshman QB Caleb Sanchez hit the field for the first time and looked impressive in CU's one scoring drive.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions almost never put pressure on Harvard QB Jaden Craig, which was a shame because every time he was forced to move in the pocket his passes were woefully off the mark.
-Harvard's defense hasn't had a very strong season, but they looked like the Crimson of old for most of this game. Columbia's mistakes helped make that happen.
Columbia MVP
While there were so many defenders who had standout games against Harvard, Jack Smiechowski stood out the most.
112 comments:
Agree that Smiekowski had a great game. Just tip your cap to Harvard - they were the better team. Enough with the comments about coaches “playing favorites”. Just absolutely ridiculous and I am sure Jake agrees
Defense has been a strong point all year and will continue to be under Stovall. However 3 man D line fails to put enough pressure on the QB with 3 down lineman . Like to mix it up more. 4-3, 5-2, and 3-4. Future looks bright with lots of underclass men gaining experience. Can we bring a blitz every play from different positions?
Agree. Coaches have one favorite: winning.
disagree
def disagree
-current senior
Typical
depends on the kid...
Smiekowski had a great game
the small glimpse of Sanchez gave us hope
Agreed! Sanchez should’ve been put in sooner to see what he can do. The offense was staggered all day. Hopefully Sanchez plays more minutes this week.
Sanchez glimpse look good. Let’s get him more reps and look to the future. Other QB is going to be a senior next year.
Coach’s letter pulled no punches. Very critical of starting QB’s mistakes, including the interception and missing a wide open Canty. Also critical of DB who missed a clear interception. And was obviously furious about the crummy home town call that took away Hebb’s great catch at the 4. Explained why only 3 down linemen—pass heavy set with 3. WRs and one TE. I think Freeman is the second coming of Caden Bell—great young man who plays his heart out but can only take us so far. If we had our original starting lineup from week one, we would have had enough talent to have won that game, but year in and year out we seem to be the most injury prone team in the IL.
Murphy’s color commentary was truly revolting—the worst homer ever.
he should have been pulled off air. They should have never even allowed him to be booked for that game.
where is this posted? I would like to give it a listen.
Goodwin should be back next year.
Already all over Poppe. Bad mouthing him from your basement.
Might be fewer dads and more players on this blog than people think. "If Coach had... ".
Sanchez misses a wide open 5 yd out, and threw 2 balls into double coverage. Kudos to Libman and Canty for elite wr play.
Sanchez still got them to the only TD. Case close.
Ive watched quite a bit of NJ ball. Freeman had big yds but had turnover issues in HS. It carried on at Northwestern. Decision making is the number 1 thing a qb must do well. Can't turn it over. Not sure why staff thought that would change. Excellent young man, I've seen him live. Just not seeing where we thought he was better than guys on roster like Simpkins and Goodwin.
Worse than Jack Ford the previous week? Ford seems to know all of Carm Cozza's pets. Then there is the map he threw up to show how far Baker Field is from our main campus. No mention of the sweet mile and a half journey from Yale's campus to the Bowl.
All of Carm Cozza’s pets—that was hilarious! Yeah, Ford definitely a fan of certain Ivies. Let’s just keep getting better — I’m sure that he’ll then be on team Columbia at some point.
I'd expect a game plan similar to Wagner. Ground and pound.
Let's lay off Bell, too. Kid stepped up in 2022.
Whoever the QB is, Let’s go Lions !!!
The next two games could be shootouts. Brown and Cornell scored combined 87 points, albeit in losing contests, while their opponents scored 123. D will have to be in shut down mode, but O must assuredly score much more points than we've seen last few games.
no basements only penthouses
you would be surprised, lots of players watch this page
In Poppe we trust! He has my full support and confidence. I think we finish strong, with wins against Brown and Cornell. I had predicted 6-4 before the season, so I’d be thrilled with 7-3 (5-2). Let’s focus on Brown and shutting down that offense.
It is bothersome that the qb is kicked to the curb in the letter. It wasn't long ago we were being told what an elite find the kid was. The staff is culpable, to some extent, with our misery at the qb position.
Nothing was good about our D on Saturday. Disagree about the LB’s mentioned in Jake’s call out. Saw missed tackles all over the place. Enough with the players commenting about their play.
Zero pressure on the QB. Big problem. Can’t get home with the 3-4.
Freeman showed he is not the guy to take us to next level. Next man up…Sanchez!
CUFB Alum
Freeman - two issues…bad decision making and “happy feet”
The Sanchize reminds me of Mahomes
Most of the glowing praise for Freeman came from people on this blog who had no clue what they were talking about. Also, as for the suggestion that "The staff is culpable, to some extent, with our misery at the qb position", don't forget that the staff did quite a job coaching up Goodwin. That kid was really good to start the season after not playing as a freshman. I expect him to be solid again next season.
I was thinking same thing.
I would play Sanchez this week and pound the ground. Receiver room is not looking good right now plus wind factors.
exactly. Sanchez showed up while Simpkins was #2 and didnt get in? Why was he skipped over? Either way we trust Poppe's judgement for the best QB to win this week
how so?
I heard that last season too
For the record Newton got 14 and Schmo got 10 tackles but regardless they both got Ivy League honorable mention, they are going to be a lethal combo now and ithru next year continuing the strong LB tradition
he is going out his way to disprove this with the Staggs kid. Sad story man.
what is the big secret?
Newton is a hell of a player also
losing an impact player trying to prove a point.
What is the true story w Stagg?
Sanchez played during garbage time. Let’s see how he plays with bullets flying against first teamers in upcoming games
So Sanchez will play over Simpkins?
He was caught posting anonymous comments here about coaches having favorites
Where is Simpkins? Sanchez must have a hell of an arm to come in over him
when you find out, let us all know. Coach told my son "temporary issue"
what does that even mean?
we lost Stag? why?
those kids are definitely not worried about entertaining a bunch of dads
both are nice QBs. Either would be a great change this week. I trust Coach Poppe to make the best decision for the team.
the young man's name is STAGG and he is still very much part of our team. Any other questions should go to him. Respect people's privacy and personal matters.
Grow up old man. The young man's name is STAGG and he is still very much still part of our team. Any other questions should go to him or Pop. People not on the team need to mind their business.
Question - how many Ivy teams have players on their roster who had offers from Alabama (Martin), Texas ( Mireur), Oklahoma (Crews), USC(Libman), SMU (Brown), Virginia Tech (Simpkins), TCU (Stagg), Stanford (Clarke), Northwestern (Freeman), Virginia (Menapace), Vanderbilt (Bullock), Boston College (Townsend), Wake Forest (Butz), Syracuse (Passalacqua), Rutgers (Miller),
is Canty a senior or 5th year? Mccray is only a freshman, imagine this kid in 1-2 years. Hope he stays healthy because what a stellar performance.
we have a Mahommes in the making aka Sanchez.
If true, then Lions may have most talent in the league
wow nice
Why is everyone so obsessed with finding out about Stagg? Just let it go.
Non- football note. What has happened to Fliss Henderson (CU WBB)? She started last year but hasn't been seen this year.
Also, our WBB team is now 3 and 0. It would be nice if the arena seats were filled. They're amazingly talented.
Harvard is the answer . Usually have more HS all Americans sitting the bench than most teams have in total.
Offers or PWO’s? There’s a difference. Pretty sure the NW kid was a PWO.
Yeah let's stop with the playing favorites nonsense. This isn't Pop Warner nonsense or daddy ball. Poppe is paid to win games and the guy is as competitive as they come. Whomever is on the field is who he and staff feels gives them the best chance at success. That said, it is time to rotate in qb3 in for some series to see what we have there. We need TD's not TO's ;)
True. And at least one of those is flat out puffery
That’s what spring ball is for. He will play whoever he thinks gets the w
Pretty sure I have seen her in the huddles and on the bench during telecasts. Likely injury, but haven't heard from announcers.
Those offers are all listed on their player bios. None of these are noted as PWO's
Because he
Agreed. People are upset because the coach is literally…coaching?
Princeton and Yale also do very well with recruiting — ditto for Penn. So I’d imagine that the answer to the question above would be four other Ivies, if not more.
Good analysis Spuyten. Concerned about our offenses ability to put up points in a shootout esp vs Brown next week.
Enough of this nonsense about HYP recruiting—Dartmouth finds diamonds in the rough and coaches them up. Not everybody wants to go to HYP; our big draw is that we are in NYC—maybe that doens’t count for much in NJ, but it’s a big deal elsewhere in the country. One final note about the color commentators, especially Ford and now Murphy. They are flat out awful; while Ford plays favorites he probably needed to be put on suicide watch after we beat his beloved Yale; but Murphy is just flat out insufferable. When Hebb’s catch was nullified—an atrocious home town call—Murphy was there to tell us to believe him rather than our lying eyes.
Disagree. There is no way that HYP have any players that had offers from Alabama, Texas, USC, Oklahoma. Name me one of their players that had offers from any of these schools.
Columbia got a vote in the AP MBB poll!
I had to look this up because it was hard to believe! Hopefully we will have a great season along with WBB! Love to visit Levien when it is rocking!
Our men's basketball coach, Jim Engles, was selected by Jim Vitale as the "National Coach of the Week" for the upset win over Villanova. Great day for Engles and his supporters who have claimed repeatedly that any criticism of his losing record at Columbia was unwarranted. Can we now expect Columbia to go undefeated this year and win the Ivy League Title.
Back to FB. To paraphrase coach Bill B: on to Providence!
Agree - as a longtime Lions supporter, I have admired how Dartmouth staff always seems to coach their players up and seem better than others at identifying talent that fits their system.
I am sick of Engles. Good guy, BAD coach. Must have videos on someone because you tell me what other school would put up with his record! Even when you build in D III schools SUBSTANTIALLY to the schedule. Bumpka! Nada! Oh how we miss Kyle Smith
Same D3s as most Ivies. A lot of schools have 2.
Serious question: are we more injury prone than other programs? This year has been significantly adversely affected by all of the injuries. While much credit is due to the next man up mentality, which has given us a good season up to now, I cannot fathom how we have managed to lose so many players to in-game injuries, including several all Ivy caliber players (Townsend, Chapman), a very talented QB, 2 starting LBs, 2 starting OL including our LT, and I assume a few others. Any thoughts here?
I feel like this has come up before as well.
No of course not
Let’s just focus on beating Brown.
Yes, I think Engles will win an IL regular season title this year.
Flies is injured. She is in street clothes at the game.
*Fliss
No we are not. Every program has similar issues. That is where depth comes in. Next man up. And this time of year almost every starter is fighting some type of nagging injury on every team
Give Poppe a chance over the next 5 years. I see titles in his future
Agree with “No we are Not”. Think it just seems that way because we lost many highly regarded “difference-makers”: Townsend, Chapman and Goodwin to name a few.
No titles for Engles this year or any other.
Columbia's Men Basketball Team just defeated 278th ranked Lehigh 76-75 at Levien after almost blowing a 13 point lead with just 2:24 remaining on the clock. Columbia's talented guard Avery Brown sank a foul shot with one second left in the game.
Team is winning in spite of Engles.
They almost coughed up a big lead at the end of the first game as well. Good thing they hung on.
That's not what happened against Loyola. They trailed most of the game, caught up and took the lead at the end. Kids played well and didn't give up.
I was referring to the last 30 seconds or so of the Loyola game, when we were up like 4-5, missed multiple free throws, didn’t foul (up three on the last Loyola possession inside of 10 seconds) and then allowed two the opponent to attempt not one but two game-tying three point shots. If one of those goes in, the game goes to OT and we probably lose. But faulting our guys for a great comeback after trailing for most of the game, but a horrifically coached sequence over the last 30 seconds by Engles that we were fortunate to overcome.
*Not faulting our guys for a great comeback
If the game is close, Engles always finds a way to screw up! Fordham game a few years back. Up 5, under a minute! Way to go Jim!
Agree! How many games under .500 at Columbia? In Ivy play? EVEN WORSE
Re Engles: so what do all of you really think of him?
Somewhere out there beyond the Milky Way, there must be a MBB blog desperately begging to to be educated by your insightful opinions about Coach Engles. Please do not keep them waiting too long.
And by the way, this is a football blog and only a football blog!!!!!!!
Word
Women's Soccer (aka Football) lost to Brown in the 1st round of IL tourney last week in case you missed it.
We don't need soccer reporting here. This info is readily available elsewhere.
Lol
Looks like the boys on the team are taking NIL opportunities by the horn rather than the athletic department (which a lot of schools have). In case anyone is interested … https://nilclub.com/columbia/football
FYI - Several Columbia teams are on the same platform.
Agree. This is football blog. I could care less about WBB
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