Week 2 Picks

 

Flying blind as we all do in week one, I went 6-3 straight up and 5-4 against the spread

Harvard -14 1/2 at Brown 

No, I was not all that impressed by Harvard in week one, and I was impressed by Brown's comeback against Bryant. But I've learned from all too much experience that the Crimson usually pound the Bears in this game.

Yale -4 1/2 at Cornell

I'm feeling similarly about this game as I do about Harvard-Brown. Elis should bounce back, but if they don't... look out!

Lafayette + 9 1/2 at Penn

Going for the split decision here, as I like Penn to win but Lafayette to cover.

Dartmouth -16 1/2 at Sacred Heart

This shouldn't be too much of a heavy lift for the Big Green. But I do wish the spread were about two points smaller. Oh well, I'll take it. 

Lehigh +24 at Princeton

The Tigers will just barely miss covering the spread in this one. 

Drake -10 vs. Marist

It's hard to pick Marist after what it's done so far this year. 

Lance Medow

SNY Games Added

Based on the SNY logos I know see on the Columbia Football Schedule webpage, it looks like that regional sports channel will be showing the week three home opener against Princeton and the Homecoming game against Dartmouth.

That's in addition to the national ESPNU broadcast of the week seven home contest Friday night October 28, and any other games that may sneak onto a TV schedule depending on how the season goes for the Lions.

No doubt the play-by-play man for the SNY games will be the indefatigable Lance Medow, who already does the audio broadcasts for Lion Football that you hear via the team website. He's also the host of the pre and postgame shows for NY Giants games on WFAN radio and hosts shows on Sirius XM Mad Dog Radio. 

Respect?

No longer the team mascot?

The betting lines for this weekend's game are out, and Columbia is a 12 1/2 point favorite at Georgetown, marking the first time in my memory that the Lions have been favored by double-digits two weeks in a row. 

The other notable lines are:

Yale is favored by 4 1/2 points at Cornell

Harvard is favored by -14 1/2 at Brown

Dartmouth is favored by 16 1/2 at Sacred Heart

Penn is favored by 9 1/2 vs. Lafayette 

Princeton is favored by 24 vs. Lehigh

Marist is a 10 point underdog at Drake

Book Selection

I think I'll be buying the latest from "Friday Night Lights" author Buzz Bissinger titled The Mosquito Bowl about an unusual football game played by our troops in the Pacific Theater in World War II. One of the players was a standout from Brown named John McLaughrey. 

In Memoriam: Greg Pollowitz '92

Noting the deaths of Columbia Football players is never easy, but it's always a little harder when it's also one of my college classmates.

Sadly, that list got longer this weekend with the passing of Greg Pollowitz '92 due to cancer. 

His former co-worker at The National Review published these memories about him today. 

We extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

First Week Thoughts

I think it's too early to post my Ivy Power Rankings before all the Ivy teams have played at least one league game, but here are some probably not-fully-cooked thoughts after week 1:

-I watched the Harvard-Merrimack game in its entirety and Harvard showed good killer instinct to get back into that game, but Merrimack's abysmal clock management sure helped. I was also not impressed by the Crimson's offensive line, and starting QB Charlie Dean was off the mark way too often with his passes. RB Aiden Borguet was contained almost all night until the Merrimack defense finally faltered in the 4th quarter. His stats were impressive, but I was still surprised to see him win the Ivy Offensive Player of the Week award. I was very impressed by Harvard's defensive line's ability to totally shut down the run. 

-Cornell's win over VMI was a nice victory and a possible sign that the Big Red has a workable two-QB attack going. But a much bigger test comes in five days against Yale at Schoelkopf. 

-Speaking of Yale, the Elis looked listless much of the time against a very, very good Holy Cross team. One thing to note: RB Josh Pitsenberger, a freshman who was not even listed on the Yale two-deep, was the biggest contributor on offense. He may be surprise weapon. 

-Brown came to life very late to pull off a big comeback win over Bryant. But like Cornell, the much bigger test comes vs. Harvard at Brown Stadium this Saturday. Based on the way both teams played in week one, this could be quite the battle. In other words, I would no longer be shocked if Harvard loses. But I'd still be surprised. 

-Dartmouth looked very efficient in its win over Valparaiso, especially after some serious injuries and other surprise emergency needs from the O-line to the kicking game. But like Columbia after it's easy takedown of Marist, it's a bit hard to judge just where the Big Green are after beating an opponent like Valpo.

-Penn started out looking terrible but finished strong making three Ivy teams that followed that pattern Saturday, (Harvard and Brown being the others). One great piece of good news I was not aware of for the Quakers is that WR Rory Starkey is still a serious weapon.

-Princeton's offense was fine and there's no way really to judge its defense right now after a slow start but stronger finish against Stetson.

More Columbia Thoughts

-PK Alex Felkins' 35-yard FG attempt miss late in the game clearly cost him the Ivy Specia Teams Player of the Week award. It was still tough to see him not mentioned for anything more than the "honor roll" when he broke a school record with an earlier 53-yard FG... which also made him the first Ivy League kicker to boot three 50-plus yard field goals in a career. 

-I certainly do not mean to take any credit away from RB Joey Giorgi and his amazing 103-yard performance in his first-ever varsity game. But my priority was to note how dominant the offensive line was, and no one can hold much of a candle to how much this O-line has been snubbed and ignored over the last seven months or so.

-Head Coach Al Bagnoli's Columbia record is now 30-31. My expert math research team tells me that if the Lions beat Georgetown this Saturday, he will be 31-31. That would make him the first CU head coach to have a career record (through at least 10 games) at or above .500 since Lou Little, who still retired with a losing record overall at CU. This is almost a century in the making.