The Key Moments in that Championship Season (part 4)

 

Moment #4: The First Letdown

Even some of the more cynical Lion fans expecting some kind of a letdown after the impressive 31-20 week one win over Lafayette were not expecting that letdown to come in week two at Georgetown. After all, the Hoyas were looking weak after their loss at home to Brown the week before, and Columbia seemed more likely to have a problem with Princeton the following game. 

Any thoughts of a bad step in week 2 seemed even more rare after the Lions jumped out to a 14-0 lead midway through the 2nd quarter. 

But as good as a backup that QB Cole Freeman was at times playing in place of the injured starter Chase Goodwin, the Georgetown game would prove to be one where his minuses outweighed his plusses. 

Freeman's three interceptions that day, paired with the defense's uncharacteristic performance where it gave up three TD drives of 70+ yards, proved to be Columbia's undoing in a 20-17 loss. 

Perhaps the biggest moment in the game for the long run of the season came when Head Coach Jon Poppe and his staff elected to go for a field goal on a 4th and 2 at the Georgetown 5. At the moment of that decision, the Lions led 14-13. The field goal by Hugo Merry was good, but the Hoyas drove 73 yards for a TD after the ensuing kickoff to win the game. As a result, Poppe was much more aggressive for the rest of the season and went for TD's in most of the similar situations that arose later.   

But the entire week two loss clearly served as a learning exercise for the Lions who rarely made any of the same mistakes again. While it remained the most disappointing loss of the year for CU, it proved its worth in learning experiences alone. 

BREAKING: Ivies to Finally Join FCS Playoffs

ESPN College Football reporter Peter Thamel is reporting that the Ivy League has finally agreed to send its football champion to the FCS playoffs.

This is a LONG time coming, and some of the best news I've heard in sports in decades. 

More details are yet to come, but Thamel reports that the Ivies WILL get an automatic bid to the playoffs. 

Peace in the Middle East is next. (really). 

Poppe Wins Coach of the Year, McDonald Passed over

By now you've heard the news that Head Coach Jon Poppe and his staff were named "Coaching Staff of the Year" at the Bushnell Cup ceremonies at the Rainbow Room Monday.

This is of course a well-deserved honor for a number of reasons. I thought the resiliency this staff instilled in the players was their best achievement. Now they will have to distinguish themselves as builders via their own recruits and staying power. 

I was sorry that DB Hayden McDonald did not take the Bushnell home for Defensive Player of the Year. But considering the way the Lions played team defense all season, it was perhaps an uphill battle for any one player to get that much recognition. I would not be surprised to see McDonald in the NFL in the coming years, however. 

Some tighter scheduling for me has made it a little harder for me to update my key moments in the 2024 season series lately, but I WILL resume that work soon. I'm also hoping to get some real interviews going again thanks to some improved access to this new regime. 

For now, I'd like to thank the fans and readers of the blog who have been picking up the slack for me on documenting the players who have committed to the program as the incoming 2025 freshman class. I'll be doing my usual due diligence on each of them and posting that here over the coming weeks and months as well. 

The Key Moments in That Championship Season (Part Three)

Cole Freeman

Moment #3: Next Man Up

Injuries are a big part of football at any level, but they were really a key aspect of Columbia's 2024 campaign. The team's ability to bounce back and adjust to those injuries may really be the number one reason why the Lions snagged a share of the Ivy title. 

The team's injury-coping skills began in week one vs. Lafayette when starting QB Chase Goodwin went down with what turned out to be a deep knee bruise with the Lions ahead by only 17-12 and about seven minutes left in the 3rd quarter. 

The next three and a half minutes would turn out to be perhaps the best test of what Columbia was made of in 2024. 

Backup QB Cole Freeman wasn't able to get a 1st down on two pass plays immediately after Goodwin left the game. The Lions ended up punting the ball to the Leopards and they took over at their own 23. 

First, it was the defense's turn to step things up.

Three straight running plays by Lafayette netted just eight yards, thanks to two solo tackles by 5th year senior DL and co-captain Patrick Passalacqua and one solo stop by sophomore LB Charlie Newton. Passalacqua's second tackle on the series held Leopards RB Nhajee Adams to just one yard on a 3rd and 2 from the Lafayette 31.  

Then it was the offense's turn. 

A short punt set the Lions up at their own 40, and on the first play of the possession, RB Malcolm Terry burst through a huge hole on the left side of the CU line for a 53 yard scamper to the Leopard seven. On the next play, Freeman placed the ball perfectly to a pretty well-covered WR Ethan Hebb for a TD that turned what looked like a disastrous turn in momentum into a sign of Columbia's strength, depth, and resilience that remained constant throughout the season. 

Adding to that sentiment was yet another TD drive for the Lions on their next possession, that came on a 38-yard TD pass from Freeman to WR Bryson Canty to put the game away. 

Columbia's unusual penchant for finding ways to lose games came to an end during the Al Bagnoli era, but it took until 2024 for the Lions to really replace that with a gut-check style of finding ways to win games without tricks or miracles. When Columbia got behind or in trouble in 2024, the Lions simply relied on their strengths to recover. In this case the strong defense combined with an offensive line that made things happen, did the job, 

McDonald a Bushnell Finalist, Canty Snubbed

 

Senior S Hayden McDonald was named a finalist for the Bushnell Cup/Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year award, as many of us expected. 

But senior WR Bryson Canty was not named a finalist for the Offensive Bushnell, which I believe was a snub. Canty made a material difference in a number of Columbia wins and played on a championship team while the other two finalists, Cornell QB Jameson Wang and Penn RB Malachi Hosley did not play for teams that even posted winning conference records. 

We'll find out if McDonald becomes Columbia's first Bushnell winner in 41 years on December 16th.  

 

And the Nominees are...

 

Tomorrow we will learn the names of the three (up from two in the recent past) nominees each for the offensive and defensive Ivy Football players of the year award or Bushnell Cup. 

I don't think it's a stretch to say senior WR Bryson Canty and senior S Hayden McDonald should be offensive and defensive finalists, respectively.

But when it comes to Columbia and Bushnell Cups, you never know. Two years ago, I thought LB Scott Valentas '23 was a very likely finalist for Defensive POY, but he was snubbed. 

Columbia only has TWO Bushnell Cup winners in its history, QB John Witkowski in 1983 and RB Doug Jackson in 1975. SInce then, not even one Lion has been named as a finalist for the award. 

Canty was a part of so many dynamic plays for the Lions this year, it would be hard to list them all. Working against him is the fact that he missed some playing time to injury early in the year, and the fact that QB changes and high winds in some games definitely deflated some of his stats. 

McDonald was dominant at safety versus the pass, but also the run. He made key plays in every game, punctuated by an impressive interception in the end zone at a crucial moment in the win over Cornell. 

The toughest competition for Canty will be Harvard WR Cooper Barkate, who sparked a very good year for the Crimson offense. 

McDonald's toughest competition for the award will be Dartmouth's DL Josiah Green. 

Cornell QB Jameson Wang has a shot to be a finalist on the offensive side, while LB Mitchell Gonser from Harvard could be a defensive finalist as well. 

But it's all very hard to predict.