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.
61 comments:
I think we were looking past Georgetown.And losing Godwin and Townsend didn’t help.
“Georgia Tech is adding an offensive weapon to its roster for the 2025 season.
Malachi Hosley intends to transfer to Tech, 247Sports reported Tuesday. Hosley is a 5-foot-10, 205-pound sophomore who spent the previous two seasons at Pennsylvania.”
As far as Hosley, I understand that he had over 1,000 yards, etc but we bottled him up pretty well. I would submit that our Joey Georgi was a better and more polished back who was more effective for us than Hosley was for Penn. And I thought that the Dartmouth back was the best RB that we faced all year. I would take either over Hosley.
Q&A with JAKE!...
https://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/lionheart-q-a-with-jake-novak-columbia-football-s-biggest-fan
Hey Engles defenders, I owe you a big apology. I said we’d lose by 20 to Rutgers, but I was completely wrong: we lost by 27. I remain very confident in my prediction that we finish 3-11 or 4-10 in conference play. I see four losses against Princeton and Yale, two more against Brown, and splits against Harvard, Penn, and Dartmouth. I’m torn as to whether we can win at home against Cornell. We will get shelled in Ithaca (again). And after we finish near the bottom of the league (again), I hope and pray the Engles fanboys see reason and Pilling fires Lucky Jim.
You hope Columbia loses. Like you did.
Harvard Football Wide Receiver Cooper Barkate to Transfer to Duke…..will have two years eligibility at Duke.
We will go 7-7 or 6-8, and it will be a logjam for the 4th playoff slot; and maybe even the 3rd slot. Should be a fun, competitive league season with multiple hard fought, close games. See you in Providence and “Go, Lions!”
Fire Engles.
The only thing I hope for is that we get a new coach pronto, and that he’s a proven winner. Meanwhile, your erroneous ad hominem attacks will continue, I’m sure.
You don't hope the guys play well and have success?
Right, this guy talking about how you “hope Columbia loses” is hilarious. Trying to make it sound like you’re the problem, and this just after the team loses by 27. Pretty sure you’re not the reason the team is
23-75 in conference under Engles. But these people are just desperate to deflect attention from the real issue, which is that this guy can’t coach. I personally think we’ll go 5-9 or 6-8 in conference, but like you, I don’t see us finishing top four.
I’ve given up on Engles.
I’d like nothing more than for the guys to win lots of games, finish first in the Ivies, and prove me wrong about the season. But with Engles at the helm, I know that i have a better chance of seeing the Giants win the Super Bowl this year. In other words, complete fantasy.
If we don’t make the ILT this year, we probably never will (under Engles). So I’d say give him another year if we make it and don’t if we don’t.
We looked so-so against Rutgers. Noland is a good player, and so is DLR. But against better teams DLR needs to do more to create shots.Rutgers has a very talented 6’6” first year swing man who we couldn’t defend. Our first year front court player (Ritter) has potential. The only way we are going to beat better teams is by slowing the game down and working for open three point shots. Our PG, Brown, forces the game instead of letting it come to him and is prone to far too many turnovers. As far as Engles, I think his problem is that he is unable to recruit real impact type players.
He’s also a terrible game coach. He doesn’t know when to call timeouts, he has trouble in close games, and we almost never end either half with a last-second bucket or other momentum-grabber.
This is Footbawl blog!!!!
While yes it is a blog for the football team, I see no big deal discussing other sports related topics to Columbia. It sure as hell beats any discussion on politics.
Oregon v Ohio State should be good.
Enjoy reading comments about other Columbia sports, although the BS re: Engles and MBB has gotten more than tiresome. Would like to hear thoughts about any new football commits. Don’t need partisan cheerleading. Also, any news about Townsend plans, rehab and Goodwin’s rehab would be of interest.
Oregon biffed it something fierce.
Horrific news regarding Tiger Bech. What has not been reported is that his ex Princeton teammate, running back, Ryan Quigley was there with him. He is hospitalized with multiple fractures, including both legs, but should recover. Sometimes there is more to sports than the scores.
Has anyone heard if the 2 recent transfers to Georgia Tech and Duke are getting NIL money?
Agree comments about Engles are tiring. Right now the team is 11 and 2 and has certainly shown improvement over the last couple of years. Even if the competition is not tough, any supporter of the program and the team should be happy we are winning and hoping we continue to win during the Ivy league season. If the team does poorly in the ivy league, then we can discuss the future of Engles but not at this point. It seems there are people on the platform who want the team to lose to prove a point. Engles was horrible the first five years but the trend has been moving in the right direction the last two years and i am hoping for seven or eight wins in the league if not more.
I think we likely finish in top 2 in IL regular season.
You do know that we went 4-10 in conference last year, right? Losing six in a row at the end of the season doesn’t strike me as “moving in the right direction,” but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story.
You’re delusional. Bottom two much more likely.
If Engles doesn’t have a top four finish this year, he should be fired. Frankly, not sure how/why he’s still our coach.
There is no way this team wins 8 games in conference. But here’s the thing about even going 7-7 (if that happens): it’ll be our high water mark. Because next year we lose DLR. I can’t believe I’m hearing that we should retain a coach if he’s able to go 7-7 for the first time in year eight. This is a joke, right?
How can you say that? I think we can go undefeated in Ivy play.
These are fair points. And it’s great that we’ve racked up 11 wins against mostly high school level competition. But what you seem to be missing is that Engles drags this team down. We can hope for whatever we want, but the fact of the matter is that we won’t do well in the conference this year. I hope I’m wrong, but I doubt it. Anyway, let’s touch base once the season is over. If Engles has a winning record in conference, I’ll be quiet.
BTW, this is a Columbia sports (and politics) blog, not exclusively football.
Go Trump !! 😂
Um, read the title page
The Guardian Angels are back!
Curtis, are you here?
No it's not
It’s the old Red Angel Dragnet
Any updates on Townsend returning.
How anyone can defend Engles is beyond me. I have said, multiple times on this board, that NO OTHER school would tolerate a record that he has produced at CU, nor at NJIT. Great guy but clearly the worst coach in the Ivy. As president Porn Star would say, " Maybe the worst coach in the country, maybe the universe!" Even he can't fix it by lunch time! People are talking!
Hello, friends and Happy New Year! We are friends, right? :-) Since most of you missed this, I re-post here in this more recent exchange to elicit responses: I don’t have a real strong opinion regarding the Ivy League's participation in FCS football playoffs . I doubt that this new development will have any measurable impact on recruiting. We have also heard Coach Poppe and others emphasize the considerable work required for only 10 games in a season. So the potential for an additional game or two even after Thanksgiving would certainly have some appeal given all the work. Additional positive exposure for the champion as well as for the league. Note that this year’s post season included, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Lehigh, Villanova, Richmond, and your Blue Devils of Central Connecticut State University. Not everyone was from Transylvania AM&N. If the Ivy champion were fortunate enough to advance beyond the first couple rounds, so what if they face off against UC Davis, Incarnate Word or, more likely, one of the perennial powers from the Dakotas or Montana.
Note on basketball --- someone posted that Engles cannot recruit "impact" players. I'm not here to defend or dismiss our performance over the past 7+ years. Very disappointing and demoralizing. After all, we are in the Big Apple and it doesn't take 50 guys to establish a competitive team and program. I do feel we are making good progress, albeit slow. Each of the Ivy teams plays one or two Little Sisters of the Poor --- just this weekend Harvard hosting Bowdoin and Princeton hosting Kean. Yeah, Brown traveled to SMU and Kansas. Good for them --- waste of money, travel time and resources. I suppose good for national exposure, and I guess for the guys to get experience vs. big time competition - and have their heads handed to them. But......when we consider high impact players, those who come to mind include Poulakidas (Yale), several players from Princeton (Lee, Pierce), Kino Lilly (Brown), and yes, Geronimo Rubio De La Rosa. So we do have high impact players. The battle for 4th place, and possibly 3rd, will be a log jam. The Lions will finish 7-7. See you in Providence!
Amen!
Big win by the girls at Penn on Saturday!
Our three best players are DLR, Noland and IMHO Ritter. Brown is a terrific athlete but as a PG he has limitations —he seems out of control with the ball and is not a spot up shooter. Bedri and Thompson are serviceable but not in any way dominant front court players. I like Robledo and Cooper. Not sure about the first year swing men or PGs.
I think yours is an extremely fair assessment. Not negative, not ugly, just pretty much spot on. And Brown does have his great slashing, driving moments. I almost considered Noland as high impact, but maybe not. Just highly reliable. I'm not sure what happened to Cooper. I think he hasn't played for most of the season but seen him on the bench. So your assessment of our team, and this year's relatively balanced (weaker?) league, suggests to me that 7-7 is within reach. But maybe our stretch goal. It's achievable, especially if the "serviceable" guys perform.
4-10
We keep giving Jim bottom feeders from D III and this might be his best year AND only one NEAR .500. The poster who says 4-10 , Ivy, is ALWAYS right on about Uncle Jim.WORST Ivy coach , maybe in the country, maybe in the universe and even President Empty Head can't spin it!
Q&A with JAKE!...
https://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/lionheart-q-a-with-jake-novak-columbia-football-s-biggest-fan
4-10
If we lose to Cornell at home on Saturday, it’s going to be a long IL season.
Let's be fair to Coach Engles. His new Chief Program Strategist has had less than a month to devise a winning strategy for the Columbia progrsam. That is really unfair to Engles who has been Columbia''s Head Coach for nearly a decade and is still having trouble figuring things our. Another problem facing Engles is that he only has five assistant coaches whereas every other men's basketball team in the Ivy League has just three coaches. Engles is forced to spend a huge amount of time trying to relate to that many coaches. Even our women's basketball coach only has to relate to three assistant coaches. Under the circumstances I believe that Engles is doing a great job as Columbia's Head coach and will be given a five year contract extension in the near future.
All this talk about hoops and I see Canty to Kansas. Did I miss this here?
Good analysis
The unofficial fan blog of Columbia University football. (My previous CU Lions blog ran from 2005-2011 at http://roarlions.blogspot.com/)
Canty?
Canty committed to Kansas a few days ago. He's one of three wide receivers in the transfer portal headed to Kansas. I guess the expectation we had that Canty would be a high NFl draft pick was wrong. This could be a developing situation.
Too bad he doesn't sit out the spring, get an internship and return.
Canty already played four seasons for Columbia. He could still be eligible for a fifth year? I thought the transfer portal was only for those impacted by covid?
Annex Canada ... then maybe Columbia can have a hockey team!
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