Week 1* Picks

 

Just a few games to choose from for this first weekend of games involving Columbia’s opponents from the Patriot League.

I’ll give my picks and remind everyone of my record from last year in this podcast.

Lafayette on Display

 

Columbia’s week one opponent Lafayette will hit the field for its season opener at mid-major Bowling Green tonight.

I’ll talk about that, the games on Saturday for Columbia’s other two out of conference opponents, and some other news in this podcast.

Reference items:

Lafayette game notes

EditSign

Lehigh game notes

The Wrong Kind of Attention

 

Former Yale star DL Clay Patterson made all the wrong kind of news Saturday, in what may now be the biggest embarrassment ever for a former Ivy football player or coach… but Columbia has a strong connection to a pretty bad incident as well.

In this podcast I’ll talk about that, and a key new prediction for the Ivy season from longtime Ivy and FCS beat writer/editor Craig Haley.

The Beautiful Past

 

The last decade of much more successful Columbia Football have added a lot of new fans to the program who are completely in the dark about what Columbia and Ivy League football used to look and feel like.

Given Columbia’s mostly very, very difficult history between 1947 and 2017, this ignorance can often be seen as merciful. But I thought it would be nice to should some of the newcomers some more unique, fun, and even beautiful glimpses of the Lions’ more distant past that I’m lucky enough to own in my collection.

That's the point of this new Roar Lions 2025 Podcast that is open and free to everyone here.

(Incidentally, my much more voluminous writings about so much of Columbia’s past can be found on my original Lion football blog that run from 2005-2012 here.

But in this podcast, I’ll be talking about some of the pieces below and the history behind them and the team during those times)

Back on the Field

 

The 2025 Columbia Football team is back on the field at this hour for the first formal practice of training camp.

This podcast is a brief preview of what we’ll be looking for over the next few weeks as we count down to the season opener at Lafayette on September 19th.

I’ve got a few updates and other notes on this podcast as we await the beginning of training camp this coming week.

Here are some written notes to use for reference as you listen:

-106 players on the roster

Forgot to mention Nik Winzer enough in the OL discussion

“Air Texas”

QB from Houston

2 WR from Dallas area (Evans and Crow)

WR from SE of San Antonio (Kelly)

WR Gardoni from Missouri City (Houston area)

Let’s call the OL the “Eastern Seaboard”

Noah Jordan from Maryland

Mark Chapman from CT

James Lill from CT

Ryan Carr from Philly suburbs

Ewan Clarke from Alexandria, VA

Winzer from Matewan, NJ

Sclafani Family

When I recorded this podcast last month about the outstanding incoming class of 2030 freshmen, (arriving on campus in 2026), I was not sure if one of those stellar commits, Mike Sclafani, was the son or another relative of a Lion player by the same name who graduated in 1994.

NEW Jon Poppe Inteview Now Available!

Head Coach Jon Poppe was as forthcoming as ever in this 22 minute interview he did with me just this week (taped on Wednesday 8/13).

Check out his thoughts about this coming season, the veteran and incoming players, and the new landscape of Ivy Football in the era of NIL, the transfer portal, and much, much more!

If you’re joining us on the Roar Lions 2025 section of my Substack, please consider subscribing for free or even getting a premium paid subscription for under $7 a month.

Enjoy!

NEW Poppe Interview Available Friday!

 

I'll be posting my gband new (taped on Wednesday 8/13) interview with Head Coach Jon Poppe on my Substack tomorrow in time for the weekend. 

The interview will be FREE to all, but please feel free to either become a free or paid subscriber! 

I think everyone is going to like what Coach Poppe has to say in his usual candid way. In short, I've never heard an Ivy football coach be as forthcoming as Poppe is every time. 

Media Day Wrapup & More

 

Sam Musungu

The Ivy League Football Media Day has just wrapped up and it was just about the same as the many previous years, with one big exception: this time some actual breaking news came out.

Cornell’s Head Coach Dan Swanstrom announced that All-Everything WR Sam Musungu is recovering from torn ACL surgery and will be out for this season.

I’ll talk about that, more from Media Day, and some big news about a few former Lions in the NFL and the Big 10 on this free podcast.

Media Day Questions

 

Bruce Wood from Big Green Alert often write about how sad it is that Ivy League Media Day is no longer an in-person affair. 

But it’s now been a really long time since that was the reality and there is at least an opportunity now to publicly share what questions I would ask if I could ask them in person, or even online at Monday’s Media Day.

I go though my top queries for each coach and Ivy Director Robin Harris in this podcast.

This podcast is free to all. Anyone can choose to become a paid subscriber to get access to some exclusive content, but please consider at least becoming a free subscriber when the podcast link above gives you that option.

A Look Back: Jon Poppe Interview (LINK FIXED!)

 

About a month after the 2024 championship season, I had a great one-hour interview with Head Coach Jon Poppe.

I wanted to share that full interview now for free to everyone as we prepare for the next interview with Coach Poppe on Ivy League Media Day this coming Monday.

Obviously, this interview is slightly dated now because we’ve been through spring practice and finalized the incoming freshmen class. BUT, it’s worth getting these thoughts on 2024 codified in our minds as we get ready for the 2025 kickoff in just 6 weeks.

Enjoy!