Harvard Stadium
The Lions are bruised and battered, and they have a brutal road game at Harvard ahead of them this week.
But it's week 8 and this team is tied for 1st place in the Ivies, and all it needs to do is win out to guarantee at least a tie for its first Ivy title in 63 years.
This is a great place to be right now, and whether it ends this weekend or in two weeks, etc... it's still a great testament to these young men.
Harvard is a good team, but not as good as some of the Harvard teams we've seen in the past. They have a very lethal wide receiver and their best passing QB in a long time, but is there any secondary in the Ivies you'd rather have to take up that challenge?
Harvard has a decent home field advantage, but it will NOT be Family Weekend on campus this weekend like it usually is when Columbia takes the Crimson on at Harvard Stadium, (which always boosts the crowd).
I do wish we had a healthy Chase Goodwin at QB, but Cole Freeman is a fighter and all you can do is fight right now.
Columbia's only been in this place twice before in my lifetime, (I'm 53). In 1996, the Lions controlled their own destiny going into Dartmouth in week 8... and they lost 40-0. In 2017, they controlled their own destiny in week 8 going into a home contest against Harvard, and lost a sloppy game by a TD.
So here we are again. This Harvard team is a much tougher opponent than the 2017 Crimson, but certainly nowhere near as good as the 1996 Big Green. We can't ask for much more than that.
This has been a tough 13 months for these players, on and off this campus. I think their achievement has been impressive. I hope they are enjoying this and of course it would be amazing if they win.
But this is a great place for them to be already.
25 comments:
Nice place to be indeed!! As an aside, big shoutout to the women's BB team on an impressive opening nite win.
Nice to see our first year DB named as rookie of the week.
These moments are few and far between for the Lion pigskin faithful. And yet...the team has bested H in their own house before. The CU Alumni Assoc puts on a nice tailgate, the fans are usually many. Weather looks great. See you in Allston!
Go Lions!
Tough that with 12 tackles and an all-round defensive stuffing of a potent Yale offense Roussous did not get Ivy Defensive Player of the Week. He was just everywhere on Friday night.
I love H’s stadium, at least until I remember I have to sit my butt on cold concrete for 3 hours. Remember to bring seat cushions! RLR
If 3 man dline can control inside runs i think defense can shut down Diprima outside runs and their great soph TE
Lots of young Lions on this team. Many want to play for Poppe. Who wouldn't? What a remarkable first year, filled with optimism, joy, and wins! Been a Lion fan since 1997 ! Best is yet to come as we leave mediocrity at bay!
For history buffs: in 1971, Columbia went to Ithaca for an October 30 contest. Cornell was undefeated with Ed Marinaro as their running back. At that point, Columbia had one loss, 22-20 to Harvard in Cambridge. Columbia lost at Cornell 24-21. The next week they beat the undefeated defending champ, Dartmouth, at Baker, 31-29. Cornell stubbed their toe at Dartmouth, the week after Columbia beat Dartmouth. The season ended with both Dartmouth and Cornell 6-1. Columbia finished 5-2. That was the last meaningful stretch until the 1996 season Jake just referenced. Go Lions!
The Lions need to avoid turnovers and make plays on offense to get the W. If these two things happen along with the defense doing what it has been doing all season, we should be ok!
Good to see that Columbia has learned some lessons since the Dartmouth game. No predictions of 30-point victories here. No pronouncing that Columbia matches up favorably in every position against the Crimson. That's progress. Columbia can win, but they should be talking about Hickory High, Rocky Balboa, and Daniel LaRusso as strategies to win on Saturday.
GG that you? Interesting you think fans being “appropriately optimistic” is an any way meaningful
FWIW D is the most complete team in the IL this year
In 2017 we had a very strong team and went into the Harvard game at 6-0; we outplayed Harvard (they had something like 4 turnovers in the first half) and had the better team—but they outlasted us and pulled out the W. That made us 6-1, but we laid an egg the following week at Yale and al of a sudden were 6-2; we finished strong at 8-2 (although barely squeaked by Brown in a game that went down to the last play).
Don't lose sight of the fact that this is year ONE of the Poppe Era. Currently playing with House Money! Roar Lions !
Who is out besides our QB? Who is out for H? Any principal players?
I heard a DT and a Receiver
Hey man, got your games mixed up. CU went into the Harvard game 6-1 after losing to Yale but still controlled their own destiny as Yale had lost to Dartmouth earlier that season. As you mentioned though, that Harvard lost was very unfortunate given the amount of turnovers the defense created and CU ultimately fell to 6-2 and finished 8-2 that year.
Out for the season is Justin Townsend. Last week we lost Chapman at C; the week before we lost our starting LT; in week 1 we lost a starting DL in addition to Townsend who we lost at Princeton. So we are down half a dozen starters.
Next man up!
easy to say...difficult to execute
What a pompous, self-absorbed comment. A few anonymous posters, some of whom may not have been Lion fans, make predictions and suddenly all of Columbia is getting admonished. Lion fans don’t need your self-important bloviations by way of “advice.”
Guess what. The other teams have also lost starters to injuries.
Also, previous seasons are poor prognosticators in FCS college football considering the yearly changes in players, the portal transfers, graduations, ineligibilities, incoming recruits, lack of depth beyond the first two, and the shape of the ball.
You mean the shape of the prolate spheroid?
Very, very clever!
Think we beat Harvard by a point. I’ll say 21-20.
Who is backing up Cole Freeman?
Simpkins?
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