Looks like I jumped on the Princeton bandwagon just in time
as the Tigers certainly appear to be the best team in the Ivies right now after
their 51-48 triple OT win over Harvard at Harvard. They surely have the best
and most effective offense, and that should make offensive coordinator James
Perry a prime target for the next Ivy head coaching job. But the way he’s
going, Perry may want to aim much higher.
Getting back to the game, count me among the people who thought
Princeton outplayed the Crimson better than the final score indicated. But
Harvard is still a dangerous team and this coming Saturday’s game against
Dartmouth sure be a good one.
After the wipe out over the Lions, what can we know about
the Big Green that we didn’t know going in? It’s tempting to heap new praise on
the Dartmouth secondary, but every secondary has looked good against Columbia
this year. I’d say, it’s just a matter of knowing that the Big Green is still a
very strong contender and Harvard should not be favored by more than one score
going into this game.
Brown and Cornell also played a barnburner that also looked
closer that in really was. The Bears were ahead 35-14 before Cornell got serious
about a comeback and the Big Red made it interesting in a 35-28 loss.
The “Red Cross Bowl” at Franklin Field went to the hobbled
Quakers over the even more hobbled Elis, 28-17. It’s actually quite impressive
that Yale scored that many points without RB Tyler Varga and starting QB Henry
Furman. But they lost to a Penn team without Billy Ragone.
So the big question is: can you still take a 3-0 in the Ivies
Penn team at face value? The Quakers didn’t look all that impressive in the win
over Columbia, but they didn’t last year either and they won the whole thing. It’s looking a lot like this is just a part of the usual Penn cycle of heating up when it counts.
The Penn-Brown game in Rhode Island this coming weekend is
just as crucial, and in some ways more crucial, to the Ivy race as the
Dartmouth-Harvard game. The game at Brown Stadium will be broadcast on FOX
College Sports.
If Brown wins, Princeton's path to the title gets a lot easier as it heads into Franklin Field the following week. If Penn wins, the Princeton-Penn game will become an arguable Ivy Championship Game in week eight.
Ivy Power Rankings
1)
Princeton
2)
Penn
3)
Harvard
4)
Dartmouth
5)
Brown
6)
Yale
7)
Cornell
8)
Columbia
To add insult to the injury, the league won't even acknowledge Delany as honorable roll for players of the week.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ivyleaguesports.com/sports/fball/2013-14/releases/Football_Weekly_Release_-_Week_7
He wont make All-Ivy either. Just watch.
ReplyDeleteDartmouth will win a share of its league-leading 18th Ivy football title in 2013. To be decided when Princeton visits Hanover the last game of the season.
ReplyDeleteI just hope Yale, can compete against Columbia.
ReplyDeleteIf I were James Perry, I would think about sticking around Princeton for at least one more year, simply because Quinn Epperley will still be there. Perry is smart enough to realize that Epperley is almost a perfect fit for his offense. Quarterbacks like him don't come along too often and Perry probably knows that. Put up another year of crazy videogame numbers and Perry can start aiming much, much higher than the Ivy League.
ReplyDeletePut Delaney in at QB!
ReplyDeleteReviewed a couple games. Players are not making most basic football moves. iE. Receiver not coming back to in trouble QB. D linemen do not put up their hands when QB is passing. No wrapping up on tackles. QB rolls left and throws on the run. All this is poor coaching. Also, QBs must tell receivers to look back sooner, as blocking often breaks down early.
ReplyDeleteColumbia has a history of good punters/kickers...Walsh brothers...unfortunately, when your team is known for its punter you generally have a problem.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Bill Campbell think?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading numerous comments, the general consensus is that the present coach need to move on. All these people can't be wrong on their views of the Columbia football program. The biggest challenge is for the administration to admit they made a mistake and to move forward with a change.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading numerous comments, the general consensus is that the present coach need to move on. All these people can't be wrong on their views of the Columbia football program. The biggest challenge is for the administration to admit they made a mistake and to move forward with a change.
ReplyDeleteWhat's really sad is that as Jake and others discuss the Ivy dynamics this season, Columbia seems to not even be a part of the league, Its only function is to provide a guaranteed win for the other seven teams, Alas and woe is me. There is nothing else to say.
ReplyDeleteColumbia isnt a part of it as Columbia has taken themselves out of it. as a former player, there wasnt a week where i looked at film and thought Columbia couldnt win. i am thinking these kids look at the film with this coach and think just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteit is very depressing.
The team is done. The 430 wake up days to go work out when the kids have a full schedule of classes then film and practice. This doesnt work nore does the Coaches inability to relate to the players or anybody for that matter.
ReplyDeleteFall on your sword Coach. If you put the players into a position to succeed we would see a competitive team, but you have your head so far up your ass you believe your own shit.
It's not his own dung that he believes in, rather, it's his "SYSTEM"! And as jake so eloquently stated! there is no "W" in SYSTEM!!!
ReplyDeleteHere are the facts of life. If the team salvages something and shows improvement PM will be back. If we continue to get blown out he will not. So it is still an open question.
ReplyDeleteOldLion, if it were only true. Your answer is too subjective and leaves the door wide open. What does "blown out" mean? A loss is a loss. Our only hope is against Cornell. Does 1 win get Pete back? If so, soooooo very sad. Pete has lost the team, the parents and the alums. Time to move on!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat about "Now in her Ninth full year ...Murphy? Is a letter writing campaign demanding that she be fired for demonstrable incompetence of any value? And who is the audience? Bollinger? The trustees? Campbell?
ReplyDeleteThe difference is recruiting! See Harvard's now:
ReplyDeletehttp://rivals.yahoo.com/stanford/football/recruiting/commitments/2014/harvard-131;_ylt=Ai.P2nc1s1o.t4AlcBQOLVTXtpB4
And yale's so far:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/stanford/football/recruiting/commitments/2014/yale-134
And all we have thus far is some "Umpa Lumpa" Hobbit from CO who looks like Oglethorpe.
Daily Downers!!!
ReplyDeleteRegarding Delaney and the All Ivy League selection, that is based entirely on statistics. If he wins the punting title he will be first team. If he's second, second team.
ReplyDeletesay all you want on this blog...but please do not bash these boys.. new recruit or old. I'm guessing most of you on here are alums including past players. Be respectful of them please. they are still out there every week no matter what you guys are saying. And the ones that have been recruited may be looking at this blog. Don't take your frustrations out on these boy personally.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree. My admiration for these young men knows no limits.
ReplyDeleteI asked on the other thread, can one of you anonymous posters confirm that the team, every class not just the upperclassmen who he apparently has bypassed, has quit on this coach?
ReplyDeleteAnd can you tell us if your son is playing or not playing so that we can determine how objective you are?
Thanks
PS: There are only 30 or so of us on this blog, is that right? So we really don't know what the rest of the CU family thinks (although with these blowout scores we can probably guess), do we?
My son IS playing and he has not given up on Pete or his position coach. He still gives his all and never thinks going into a game that they can't win.i admire him for that.
ReplyDeletePS he is an upperclassman
ReplyDeleteSon loves football. Not discouraged.
ReplyDeleteOnly 4 games to go. He and other brave kids will put the bad stuff behind them and work hard to get out of the hole other people have put them in.
GP
My son is not giving up. He is still in there everyday and believes in his coach and the team. There have been numerous unfortunate things that have happened this year and the team is trying to overcome them . The few of you that have been so negative have done nothing but bring DOWN the program. We don't need you or your lack of support,so take your history of losing at Columbia and go somewhere else. The team that is here now is changing history that you made! It is not showing now but will in the very near future.
ReplyDeleteGo Loins! Keep moving forward. You will get there.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the above posts. We know what Coach Mis trying to accomplish here. He may not be all warm and fuzzy around the edges but he does know what he is doing. Our son respects him. He said he is the toughest coach but the best coach he has ever had. I hope he is here for many years to come!
ReplyDeleteHere's some lessons from someone who went through this in the 1980s.
ReplyDeletehttp://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-26/sports/sp-5651_1_college-football-team
Another perspective.
ReplyDeletehttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066587/1/index.htm
To those who have suffered more, I salute you.
The is a great piece, as good as any sports article I've seen. I read it when it first appeared and it really holds up now.
ReplyDeleteI was referring to the article in LA times
ReplyDeleteMy latest fear is that there is too much NFL past experience on the coaching staff. Many of these kids are not taught the basic football moves in HS.
ReplyDeleteAs per the last comment, the DBs seem not to know when to turn to look for the ball and spend too much effort face guarding. The tackling fundamentals sometimes are lacking as well: no wrapping up, arm tackling. On run blocking, here is where I have to wonder about the wisdom of having a lean OL since the basic laws of physics seem to suggest otherwise.
ReplyDeleteWe do support the players, but lashing out, suchs as, "take your losing ways..." is not the answer since my team was never taken out behind the woodshed like this.
ReplyDeleteWe all support the players, but the whole thing is just wrong. Pete has yet to blame himself for the issues ON the football field, but rather just passed it off to blame others. Take a look at the Spec today. I wish Pete would tell us about allc the other things he non-descriptly refers to in his latest bursh off of responsibility.
Also, entire team goes for the first fake and leaves the whole opposite side empty. A coaching problem again.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is the author of the LA Times article.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.oxbridgeprograms.com/the-cambridge-tradition/the-director.php
Looks like he's done well. Had no idea that he coached at Harvard-Westlake. They send many players to the Ivy every year.
hey, we need that widebody from CO. don't get him to decommit!
ReplyDeleteThanks to the parents for your comments about your sons' perspective on the team and coach.
ReplyDeleteI had never read that Gonzo article. He was a teammate of mine and I ran scout team with him. What a great story and all of it is true. There is not a classier person on earth than Greg.
I still don't know what to make of PM, but most of us wanted Garrett to stay because we could sense he was building something special in spite of that very rough season. The Harvard game, in particular, was brutal because we really thought we were making history that day, just like Garrett promised us we would, and then we collapsed just as historically. And that was the first game of the year!
I will tell all of you parents and players that I believe the players from the 80's, that terrible era of losing, share a remarkable bond and closeness that exists to this day. I always figured the emotional experience for us was so intense that it made us stick with each other as in "nobody can appreciate what this experience was like unless they lived it with us". Your friends on this team will be your friends the rest of your life, no matter where you live. The internet has really given us all the gift to keep in touch with each other.
I also will say that I wish that PM would be a little more proactive and receptive to former players. He does not seem to understand that anyone who played for CU since the early 60's has spent their adult lifetime being disappointed by CU almost every weekend in the fall watching our Lions lose or when we pick up the paper to check the scores on Sunday. He does not seem to realize how starving and desperate we are to see one Ivy Championship and he should be embracing and including us rather than treating us like another nuisance. Norries' time was up but one thing he did better than any CU coach in my lifetime was make us feel like a family, he included us and for the first time he made us feel like Columbia appreciated us, too. Coach M does not seem to get that.
Finally, the coaches are symptomatic of the problem but the problem goes much higher and it can't just be a coincidence that have been losing for 60+ years. The Admin is the root of all our problems and until they care it will continue. I wonder if I will be alive for our next Ivy Champion, I doubt it.
Sorry for the rambling but headed out the door and the Gonzo article touched a nerve...