Random Thought

Yale's offensive line looked great to me in that big win over Army, and the Eli offensive numbers speak for themselves through week 2. 

The Yale O-line starters average 291 lbs.

Columbia O-line starters average 273 lbs. and not one of our O-lineman is more than 288 lbs.

Again, the AVERAGE Yale O-lineman is three pounds heavier than our heaviest O-lineman. 

Yes, Tyler Varga is a great back. But when you have THREE RB's, (Varga, Khalil Keys, and Candler Rich), tearing up the turf you know the O-line has to be good. 

We're coming to a gunfight with slingshots. 

Week 6 Picks

It was a mixed week for me with a 6-2 record in straight up calls, but a paltry 3-5 against the spread.

So I now stand at 16-8 in straight up picks for the season and 12-11 ATS.

Now to this week

Yale -10 at Cornell

Yale may be ripe for a bit of a fall after that big emotional win over Army, but Cornell is just not quite ready to take full advantage. The Big Red may stay close, but in the end this feels like a 28-17 kind of win for the Elis. Take Yale and lay the points.

Penn +8 at Dartmouth

I like Dartmouth to win this game, but it will be close. Penn usually gets very up for this game and the Quakers need to show some signs of life. But injury issues are going to keep them out of the winner’s circle. This feels like a 28-24 win for the Big Green/

Harvard -18 ½ over Georgetown

A bit of stumble last week at Brown should motivate the Crimson to get back to grinding out big points. The defense has been consistently strong and should remain so.

Brown -9 ½ at Rhode Island

URI is bad. Just plain bad. Brown is getting better. I like the Bears to win and cover.

Fordham -12 ½ over Lafayette

The Rams seem fully recovered from their loss at Villanova and are back to full steam ahead. Lafayette is not ready to really challenge the Rams for four quarters.

Robert Morris +12 over Monmouth

I’m becoming more of a believer in Monmouth every day, but a 12 point spread on the road seems a little too much. I like the Hawks to win, but only by about 10 points.

James Madison -3 at Albany

This is one of the toughest games to call this week. Albany is a good team, but I just don’t see the Great Danes jumping high enough to beat JMU even at home. The three point spread is a killer, because that’s exactly how much I expect JMU to win by. I’ll suck it up and still lay the points. 

A Win-Win

BREAKING NEWS:

The CDC HAS JUST HIRED PETE MANGURIAN TO LEAD THE PROGRAM TO STAMP OUT THE EBOLA VIRUS. THE MOVE COMES AFTER HE SUCCESSFULLY TAUGHT THE COLUMBIA FOOTBALL TEAM NOT TO CATCH ANYTHING. 

Scouting Princeton

Kurt Holuba wants to make his mommy proud

OVERVIEW

After two games, I’m still having trouble deciding whether Princeton has fallen a bit from last year’s championship season.

The big question coming into this season was whether the Tiger defense would weaken without the super DT Caraun Reid, who graduated in May. So far, that’s still a big question as Princeton gave up 39 big points to San Diego and 17 to a Davidson team that not many people thought would get more than one score against PU. But a closer look yields some better news that I’ll get to in a moment.

The offense is not as crisp as many thought it would be. Yes, the Tigers are scoring lots of points but QB Quinn Epperly’s passing numbers are down from last year’s stratospheric levels. But again, a closer look quiets those fears just a bit.

And another reason to quiet the fears is the fact that under Head Coach Bob Surace, the Tigers have typically not played so well in weeks one and two. Since 2001, the Columbia game has been the launching pad for this team and it sure looks like that’s where we’re headed again this year.

OFFENSE

The biggest reason not to panic about Epperly’s passing numbers so far is because they were just too good last year to expect him to maintain that level. The second biggest reason for Tigertown not to freak out is because Epperly is still running the ball extremely well and it was his running that really shredded Davidson last Saturday.

RB DiAndre Atwater has been sort of kept under wraps so far this year, but when he has run he’s been very good. Atwater has 121 yards rushing on just 16 carries.

Epperly is spreading his passes around more so far this season than he did in 2013, but senior WR Connor Kelley is the #1 target in the absence of the graduated Roman Wilson. Look for sophomore TE Scott Carpenter to get more and more involved in the passing game as he matures.

The offensive line didn’t have its leader, senior LT Spenser Huston, in the game last week but he’s expected to start Saturday. Center Joe Tull has also been out so far this year, but could start Saturday. Considering how much Epperly runs, this line has to be judged differently than others but it seems to be doing its job well enough this season.

DEFENSE

The D is working in some new names right now, but the stats and points allowed don’t tell the whole story.

First off, LB Mike Zeuli is taking the leadership role he was handed and doing the job. Zeuli already has three sacks, and leads the team in tackles.

Junior DB Anthony Gaffney, possibly the best athlete in Ivy football and the other expected team leader, is also doing his job with nine total tackles, a tackle for a loss, and two pass breakups.

The new names emerging to fill the void include sophomore LB Rohan Hylton, who was named Ivy Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after an 11-tackle performance vs. Davidson.

And then there’s freshman DE Kurt Holuba. Holuba was named one of the top incoming freshmen in FCS football over the summer and he’s been a starter since week one.

So far, this defense has allowed more points than expected. But it’s been great against the rush; allowing just 2.0 yards per carry on 87 carries.

The pass defense has been weaker than expected; allowing 7.6 yards per attempt, 5 TD passes and so far no INT’s.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Junior Kicker Nolan Bieck is having a very solid season so far. He’s 3-3 on FG’s, including a 40-yarder last week.

Sophomore Punter Tyler Roth is very solid.

Showing their depth, Princeton took Gaffney off of kick return duty and gave the job to junior RB Dre Nelson. All he’s done is average over 31 yards per return and he had a game-opening 89-yard KO return for a TD last week. Even if you strip out that 89 yard return, Nelson is still averaging a very good 23+ yards per return.

Punt returning junior Max Lescano can be dangerous.

Princeton’s kickoff coverage teams have been excellent, but the Tigers did allow one big punt return in the two returnable punts they’ve had so far.

Conclusions

There’s a reason why Princeton is a 28 ½ point favorite, and it’s not just because Columbia hasn’t looked decent in over a year.

The Tigers are better than they’ve looked so far in 2014, and I suspect they’re dying to prove it this weekend.  

Yes We Can Fix It

The "here we go again" mentality from those who say Columbia can never do anything right and it doesn't matter whether we fire Pete Mangurian are all wrong.

Here are three big reasons why:


1) The Columbia administration has NEVER hired the fans' choice.

Did anyone here clamor for Ray Tellier, Bob Shoop, Norries Wilson or Pete Mangurian? Of course not.

It's an outrage that the administration and its blind supporters continue to ignore our specific demands, and then act like they gave us what we wanted. Yes, we wanted Wilson out, but NO ONE asked for Mangurian. I feel guilty for being as nice as I was at the time of his hiring and calling him a "good hire," but I was trying to be somewhat welcoming. Nevertheless, I certainly never lobbied for him or anyone like him for the job. Neither did anyone else.

The only time where the administration and the fans were somewhat in sync was when Shoop was fired and Chuck Priore was offered the job as our first choice to replace him in 2005. Most fans and alums in the know that I spoke too really wanted Priore too. But Priore turned us down.


2) The administration is always secretive, defensive and dismissive of the real fans

This is not just about coaching search committees. This is about an athletic department that never gets it right because it never works with the real alums and students who give a damn about winning. The same coterie of drinking buddies has made or rubber stamped the key decisions for CU sports for 40+ years. Enough is enough.


3) The most woeful sports franchises and programs CAN change

Northwestern, the Red Sox, the Arizona Cardinals. All three were perpetual losers. All three, we were told, had unbeatable structural problems that could not be solved with a few good hires here and there.

Turned out all it took at Northwestern was a new A.D, All it took in Boston was a new GM. And all it took for the football Cardinals was the owner's sons to take over. Suddenly, those impossible, unfixable problems were solved and fixed.

Here's what needs to happen now:

-Give the real fans/concerned alumni a seat on both search committees.

-Keep the search process as public and open as reasonably possible. We have to have accountability this time.

-Do not allow anyone who had a major hand in the Mangurian or Dianne Murphy hires to participate. Give someone else, a new generation, a chance.