Spying on the Weak

Schoelkopf Selfie

I visited Ithaca this weekend with my family and managed to do a few jogs up and down the steps of Schoelkopf Field.

During my little jog, I got a look at one of the informal Big Red practices going on.

NOTE TO THE IVY/NCAA POLICE: I had NO idea a Cornell informal practice would be going on when I jogged over to Schoelkopf and this was not a spying trip. However, the gates were open and nobody said a word to me as I took pictures, etc. PLUS, I think it should be obvious by now that I in no way work for or with the CU football program. 

A couple of notes on what I saw:

1)      Instead of “Omaha,” the defensive player calling out the signals yells, “Roar, roar, roar!” I took offense to that!

2)      Longtime Ivy fans are pretty familiar with the maddening practice many teams follow of throwing many sideways passes every game. Well, now I see why. For about an hour at Schoelkopf, ALL I SAW WAS SIDEWAYS PASSING DRILLS!. Seriously, it was pathetic, and I am now convinced that Cornell doesn’t even have a QB who can decently throw the ball downfield.

3)      Most of the players were too small, and NO I was not watching a Sprint Football practice. The guys were in shape, but the skill players were puny.

4)      I have said the Cornell game is Columbia’s best chance to win one this year, and now I’m even more convinced.

5)      The Cornell campus is huge and big and getting overbuilt… but it’s STILL a breeze for all the players to get to Schoelkopf and practice. And yet… it looked like a lot of them drove to the field and parked their cars on the track behind the end zone.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know a lot of Cornell students live off campus... but not that far. AND I guarantee you that every Columbia player would LOVE to have the opportunity to walk to practice of any kind. So, I think the walk up the hill from the locker rooms back onto the field at Wien Stadium may be too much for Cornell at halftime. We should look into making the hills steeper or something.

Now, I've visited Cornell 6-7 times now and I think I can honestly say there is NO Ivy school more UNLIKE Columbia. It's a totally different world, with the small exception of the shrinking Arts Quad, which is shrinking because all the construction around it makes it look tiny. Even Dartmouth is more like Columbia than Cornell.

This revelation puts the Pete Mangurian hire into perspective. Yes, I was happy that Columbia had made that very rare move to hire a new coach who had coached in the Ivies before.  But having coached at Cornell is almost useless by Columbia standards. It's not at all like coaching here, and Mangurian's learning curve has been just as steep as someone who never heard of the AI or the Subway.

*Just another few thoughts on the sideways passing thing.

I really, hate hate hate that play. It’s okay to use it once in a while to catch the defense off guard and use like a screen. But the chances of the ball being slightly off and intercepted for a pick six are too high and it seems really wimpy not to throw the ball down the field much more often. Also if the ball doesn’t go forward and it’s dropped, it’s technically a fumbled lateral and a free ball on the ground.

It’s just weak. And Columbia, for decades it seems, has used the play a lot. Vinny Marino loved that play and it was scary every time. I can’t think of any time where it really worked either.  So I encourage Cornell to continue practicing this dicey play all summer and use it a lot this fall. Good luck with that. 

Yes, Coach Archer I AM tweaking you. The fact is, the Ivies have enough of a wimpy reputation, (undeserved mostly), as it is. We don't need teams going the "full wuss" and sideways passing... even if it was just for practice... anymore! It makes the whole league look bad. And remember, this is a Columbia fan saying this, so you KNOW it looks really bad.

Ed Marinaro isn't even dead yet, but he must be rolling over in his grave. When he played for Cornell, he took personal exception to the "Ivies are pansies" talk and loved playing a hard nosed game. He was a tough son of a bitch if there ever was one. Now, he gets to see his team throwing the ball around like a bunch of toddlers in day care. Yikes. 

How about we man up and go for power running or get really wacky and be like the WAC Conference in the 1990's and just pass all the time, but DOWN THE FIELD? 

Let's have fun and stop being so afraid.