Around the League

Day-to-Day work and updates on the Ivy football season will continue on this blog. But to make sure the emergency situation Columbia football and Columbia athletics are under remains on the forefront, the following extremely common sense demands will be posted on top of every new post on this blog until changes are made:

We must:

 1)    Replace Dianne Murphy as Athletic Director right away

2)      Replace Pete Mangurian as Head Football Coach the moment the season ends

3)      Bring in an outside consulting/expert group to make the replacement hires and evaluate the positions and effectiveness of everyone in the athletic department.

4)      Do NOT allow anyone who has had a leadership position or position of influence in any past hiring process to participate or interfere in any way with the overhaul process.

Please call President Bollinger at 212-854-1754 as soon as possible and asked to be connected to his office. Please respectfully ask that Murphy and Mangurian be let go as soon as possible.

You can also email: officeofthepresident@columbia.edu

AROUND THE LEAGUE

It gets harder and harder to recap the varsity league news from what feels like a junior varsity perspective, but here goes:

-Princeton really earned its top dog status, coming back from a 16-0 early deficit to beat Penn 38-26 at Franklin Field. QB Quinn Epperly was brilliant again, with two TD passes and two TD runs. Penn hero Billy Ragone just didn't have it Saturday as he threw three INT's. The wheels are falling off the Penn train and one really has to start wondering about the team's chances for next season. 

-Yale had the upset of the week, beating Brown 24-17 thanks to a late 32 yard TD run by Deon Randall. The Eli defense was surprisingly strong. This is an improving program.

-Dartmouth slapped Cornell 34-6 in Hanover to keep Buddy Teevens' job safe for now. Sophomore RB Kyle Bramble was the surprise star with 110 yards rushing. He was in because RB Dominic Pierre got a bit banged up and the Big Green coaches wanted to keep him healthy. Cornell looked especially inept and so the question is: can the Big Red be bad enough to lose to our Lions in Ithaca this coming Saturday? I wish I could say "yes," but they still look better than Columbia, especially at home. 

IVY POWER RANKINGS

1. Princeton

2. Harvard

3. Dartmouth

4. Brown

5. Yale

6. Penn

7. Cornell

8. Columbia

Crimson Crushed

Day-to-Day work and updates on the Ivy football season will continue on this blog. But to make sure the emergency situation Columbia football and Columbia athletics are under remains on the forefront, the following extremely common sense demands will be posted on top of every new post on this blog until changes are made:

We must:

 1)    Replace Dianne Murphy as Athletic Director right away

2)      Replace Pete Mangurian as Head Football Coach the moment the season ends

3)      Bring in an outside consulting/expert group to make the replacement hires and evaluate the positions and effectiveness of everyone in the athletic department.

4)      Do NOT allow anyone who has had a leadership position or position of influence in any past hiring process to participate or interfere in any way with the overhaul process.

Today the Daily News asked whether CU shouldn't just cancel the football program


Harvard 34 Columbia 0


Why Harvard Won

The Crimson team bus showed up to the Baker Athletics Complex. All joking aside, that's how much of a mismatch this was. Harvard Head Coach Tim Murphy was able to start resting key starters as early as the 1st quarter, and the Crimson offense moved at will and the Lions offense posed no challenge.


Why Columbia Lost

Columbia couldn't protect it QB's, complete passes, or consistently stop opposing offenses. Pretty much the same story as the previous seven games of the season.

Key Turning Points

-On the coin toss, the Lions chose to defer AND take the wind in their face, a stunningly inept move that occurred even before the team took the field.

-On Harvard's second possession of the game and the score still 0-0, RB Paul Stanton busted out a 54 yard run to the CU 1. The Crimson scored on the very next play and the game was essentially over. 


Columbia Positives

-I like the way Cameron Molina is running the ball generally in the absence of Marcorus Garrett. Alan Watson shows flashes too. Naturally, they only ran the ball a combined 20 times. Their combined yards per rush outpaced the Lion QBs' yards per pass. 

-Sophomore DE Toba Akinleye had a strong game. If he can continue to develop, he could be a real weapon in the next two seasons.

Columbia Negatives

-It's past week eight and there is still no decent pass protection. Harvard got five sacks Saturday, and it should have been more. 

-It's past week eight and Columbia's offense has no semblance of ability to sustain a scoring drive in anything but garbage time. 

Conclusions

There has never been a Columbia team in school history that's been less competitive than this one. The lone possible exception is the war-ravaged 1943 squad that lost almost all its games by shutout. But since that team was coached by the great Lou Little, they had a fighting chance in a couple of contests. 

It's shocking that Coach Mangurian or anybody having anything to do with his hiring could keep their jobs after this season. 

And yet, this column today by Flip Bondy of the Daily News says that both Mangurian and Athletic Director Dianne Murphy are safe in their jobs. 

That's just not acceptable to anyone who cares about this program, the men who play for it, and the name of the University. 

Phone calls to President Lee Bollinger's office need to be made immediately. 

Please call 212-854-1754 as soon as possible and asked to be connected to his office. Please respectfully ask that Murphy and Mangurian be let go as soon as possible.


A Note on the "Offended" Critics

Picture this scenario: a football team loses all of its games by an average of 34 points. 

Despite a year to improve and get bigger/better, the offensive line play gets worse and the players get smaller. 

Several of the team's best players basically disappear from the field and the lineup.

A fan blogger and several other devoted alumni call for the coach and AD to be fired.

... and one or two people get insanely angry at... wait for it... the blogger!

Makes complete sense.

Except it doesn't.

Anyone seeing this team's performance on the field and feigns shock and anger at calls for a house cleaning is one or all of the following:

1) Insane

2) A sycophant employee of the coach or the athletic department.

3) The coach and/or A.D. him/herself.

One should note that those who attack me and now people like Rich Forzani here or on VOY never even come close to identifying themselves. That's because they have two choices: a. risk being caught in a lie or b. risk everyone finding out they are one or more of the three things I listed above.

My email is public to anyone who wants and always has been: roarlions2012@gmail.com

You'd think those angry people who desperately wanted me to stop calling for firings, etc. would email me something angry or threatening or both.

But no such email has ever come to me. Again, that's because sending such an email would risk exposing the sender and also risk proving that there are really only one or two people who disagree with the obvious course of action I and many others are calling for.

The truth is, the angry attacks on me and this blog only prove how strong a voice it has. I take the attacks as a tacit "thank you" to me for providing info about the team and a platform to debate. 

Frankly, I'll know we're really in trouble the day we call for firings and big changes and nobody cares or notices. 

Crimson Challenge

Harvard Crimson at Columbia Lions

Location: Robert K. Kraft Field at Wien Stadium

Kickoff Time: 1230pm

Game time Weather: 48 degrees, cloudy

TV/Radio: Listen and watch Jerry Recco and Sal Licata on the Ivy Digital Network. 

The Spread: Harvard by 36 1/2 points. 

Lead Stories

-Columbia is a huge underdog as it's running out of time to get a win in 2013. Last year, a better Lion team fell to a better Crimson team by the historic score  of 69-0. The status of Columbia stars Marcorus Garrett and Paul Delaney is still in question after they were suspended last week for the game at Yale. 

-Harvard comes in with its chances to win an Ivy title still alive. But they need Princeton to lose at least once and run the table themselves to have a serious shot. In other words, this is still an important game for HU. 

-Scrutiny of CU Head Coach Pete Mangurian and the entire program continues to grow. Another massive loss will be hard to defend. 

Columbia Keys to the Game 

-The Lions need to test the weaker-than-usual Harvard pass defense as early as possible. If starter Kelly Hilinski has a slow start passing, Mangurian needs to have him on a short leash and bring in backup Trevor McDonagh sooner than he did last week in New Haven. 

-Finding a way to neutralize DE Zach Hodges will be crucial. This is a guy who could get five sacks today if CU's offensive line doesn't firm up. 

-If Garrett is playing, he needs to play like a man obsessed with redeeming himself. Harvard's run D has been strong, but he needs to beat it. 

Week 11 Picks

Day-to-Day work and updates on the Ivy football season will continue on this blog. But to make sure the emergency situation Columbia football and Columbia athletics are under remains on the forefront, the following extremely common sense demands will be posted on top of every new post on this blog until changes are made:

We must:

 1)    Replace Dianne Murphy as Athletic Director right away

2)      Replace Pete Mangurian as Head Football Coach the moment the season ends

3)      Bring in an outside consulting/expert group to make the replacement hires and evaluate the positions and effectiveness of everyone in the athletic department.

4)      Do NOT allow anyone who has had a leadership position or position of influence in any past hiring process to participate or interfere in any way with the overhaul process.

Also: please look for Rich Forzani ’66 in the upper parking lot overlooking the baseball field on Saturday to get your buttons calling for a true house cleaning in the Columbia Athletic Department.

                                                            

I had a decent week last week, going 5-0 straight up and 3-2 against the spread.

The highlights were my decisions to pick Brown to win and cover and Dartmouth to cover but not win.

On the season I am now 41-10 straight up and 32-18-1 against the spread.

Now to this week with six more games to pick:


Penn +12 1/2 vs. Princeton

The Tigers are going to win this game, but Quaker pride and the home cooking will make this game closer than it would be anywhere else.


Brown -4 at Yale 

The Elis will be taken down a peg big time from last week's huge win. Brown is feeling stronger again and I like John Spooney's chances against the Eli run defense.


Dartmouth -13 1/2 vs. Cornell

The Big Green have nothing to be ashamed of after almost pulling off a big win at Harvard last week. I don't think the team will be down enough to slip against a Big Red team that just has no defense.


Holy Cross +3 1/2 at Lehigh

It's all coming together too late for the Crusaders, but Tom Gilmore and company can beat the Mountain Hawks this weekend and I think they will.


Wagner +14 vs. Monmouth

Monmouth will win this one, but it will be closer than two TD's.


Fordham over Bucknell (no line yet)

There's no line on this game yet, but I think the Rams will beat a suddenly resurgent Bison team in the Bronx. I figure Fordham wins it by about 10 points.

SCOUTING HARVARD

Day-to-Day work and updates on the Ivy football season will continue on this blog. But to make sure the emergency situation Columbia football and Columbia athletics are under remains on the forefront, the following extremely common sense demands will be posted on top of every new post on this blog until changes are made:

We must:

 1)    Replace Dianne Murphy as Athletic Director right away

2)      Replace Pete Mangurian as Head Football Coach the moment the season ends

3)      Bring in an outside consulting/expert group to make the replacement hires and evaluate the positions and effectiveness of everyone in the athletic department.

4)      Do NOT allow anyone who has had a leadership position or position of influence in any past hiring process to participate or interfere in any way with the overhaul process.

Also: please look for Rich Forzani ’66 in the upper parking lot overlooking the baseball field on Saturday to get your buttons calling for a true house cleaning in the Columbia Athletic Department.

                                                            

SCOUTING HARVARD

Overview

It says a lot that with a 6-1 record and the lone loss coming in triple OT, everyone seems to agree this is a “down year” for the Harvard program.

The run of close wins and a drop off in the defensive stats make that argument a little stronger, but if Crimson fans are disappointed right now it sure shows you how rich the rich truly are in Ivy League football.

Actually, the only things you need to know about Harvard is that the offense is as good as ever but the defense is showing holes. That about explains everything Harvard for 2013.

OFFENSE

QB Connor Hempel surprised me when he beat out Michael Pruneau for the starting job, but he’s done everything necessary to keep the job and then some. He’s got a 63% completion rate, has 11 TD passes to just four INT’s, and a stunningly good eight yards per attempt average.

He’s also doing a great job of spreading the wealth. The best WR is Ricky Zorn, with 36 catches for 568 yards and three scores. But four other receivers have at least 15 catches, and senior TE Tyler Ott actually has the most TD grabs with four. Seitu Smith and Andrew Fischer are very dangerous, Smith being the real deep threat.

Going into the season I thought Zach Boden would be the main man at RB for the Crimson. I was wrong. The budding star at the position is sophomore Paul Stanton, who torched Dartmouth for almost 150 yards last week. On the season, he has 680 yards so far and a 5.8 yards per carry average. Oh, and he’s scored 10 TD’s.

The offensive line is obviously strong on a team averaging 38 points per game, but the sacks totals are disturbing. Harvard is allowing more than three per game and that’s very unusual.

DEFENSE

To be fair, a lot of the stats for Harvard this year are skewed by the fact that the Crimson have played in two triple OT games so far.

But the bottom line is that the defense is telling a mixed story.

Up front, Harvard looks very good against the run. And up front, everything is led by superstar DE Zach Hodges. He has five and a half sacks, a pick, three fumbles forced and three recovered, and he’s just a general menace. I don’t know what the heck the Harvard coaches are doing to keep him calm going into this game Saturday, but I would bet he’s the most eager man in America for opening kickoff at 12:30pm.

The other starters up front haven’t been as impressive, but with Hodges playing like this, (he’s only a junior), it doesn’t matter. Strip away the extra OT numbers, and the Crimson are allowing well under 100 yards rushing per game. Much of that is thanks to the LB’s Joshua Boyd and sophomore Eric Medes.

The secondary has its stars, like Norman Hayes and Brian Owusu, but some of the stats haven’t been great. Even without the OT numbers, the Crimson are giving up a lot of yardage through the air, almost seven yards per pass. And the 16 TD passes allowed are also a surprise. One good note: Harvard already has 11 interceptions.

SPECIAL TEAMS

This is such a deep program that the injury to K David Mothander hasn’t really dented the team. Junior Andrew Flesher has come in and has been perfect on PAT’s and a decent five for eight on FG’s, with no chip shot misses. He calmly kicked the game winner over the Big Green last week.

Punter David Bicknell has an impressive 41.8 yard per punt average with 13 of his 31 kicks inside the 20.

Andrew Fisher is a strong kickoff returner with a good 23 yard per return average and a long of 44 yards. Scott Miller handles the punt returns well.