Columbia 9 Dartmouth 7
Why Columbia Won
The Lion defense played its best game of the year, holding Dartmouth to 74 yards rushing, one for 17 on 3rd down conversions, and coming up with just enough on the final drive to keep the Big Green from taking the lead. The offense dominated time of possession by running the ball well and Columbia did not commit a turnover.
Why Dartmouth Lost
The Big Green offense never got much going, waiting for its final drive of the game to get into a groove that also quickly faded. And as the game wore on, the Dartmouth defense started to get worn down by the CU offensive line. Throw in a number of special teams failures, and the Big Green were rolling snake eyes almost all day.
Key Turning Points
-With Dartmouth leading 7-3 early in the 3rd quarter, a Big Green drive was extended by Columbia's second roughing the punter penalty of the game. But Dartmouth failed to get another 1st down on the the bonus series of downs and an eight-yard Ben Kepley punt gave the Lions the ball at their own 49. The ensuing CU drive included a 20-yard run by freshman QB Hunter Petlansky on 4th and one from the Big Green 31. Ultimately, the Lions settled for a FG and cut the Dartmouth lead to 7-6.
-Now trailing Columbia by 9-7 with 12:51 left in the 4th quarter, the Big Green began a drive at their own 32 and got down to the Columbia 33 before having to settle for a 50-yard FG attempt with a strong wind at their back. But David Smith's kick sailed wide right and the Lion lead held.
-Dartmouth's final desperate drive of the game began on its own one yard line and just 2:15 left in the 4th. An incredible 23-yard completion from QB Jack Heneghan to Hunter Hagdorn on 4th and 10 from the one got the Big Green going. The drive kept going until Dartmouth reached the CU 30 with 40 seconds to play. But three straight incomplete passes ensued, the third helped by good pass defense by Columbia LB Keith Brady. That forced the desperation 47-yard FG attempt that Smith simply could not get the distance one despite the strong wind in his favor.
Columbia Positives
-The Big Green did not have the best rushing attack in the Ivies coming into this game by far, but it was more than solid in its first five games. The Lion defense shut it down, especially primary RB Ryder Stone who finished with just 22 yards on 11 carries.
-Columbia's offensive line allowed just two sacks, and started to control the game as time went on with its run blocking. The Lions finished with a strong 154 yards rushing.
-Freshman PK Oren Milstein excellent again, missing only one FG attempt into the strong wind. He has now continued an amazing streak where the last 41 straight points scored by the Lions have been scored by freshmen.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions continue to fail to score TD's when they get into the red zone.
-While the defense played its best game of the year, it still had a few breakdowns in key situations and gave Dartmouth improbable chances to win.
Columbia MVP
The official John Toner Homecoming MVP Award went to Milstein, and there's nothing wrong with that. But this game was won by the defense and the defense was again led by senior LB Gianmarco Rea with his 11 tackles and half a tackle for a loss and a QB hurry. Rea continues to lead the Ivies in tackles and he is my choice for MVP for the second week in a row.
16 comments:
Good analysis Jake. On the long Dartmouth TD, I am pretty sure that there was offensive pass interference that the refs missed. Just before our DB stumbled the D receiver gave him a little shove which threw him off stride. I also think it was worth mentioning that Wainwright made a phenomenal effort by laying out in the end zone for a pass that was just a little too long for him to haul in.
I have to say...this was not a.boring low scoring game.....because you could feel the intensity of our defense with their solid tackling and hard hits. They wanted it more against a team that averaged 23 pts per game to date
Yeah, I thought Dartmouth got away with numerous penalties and the second roughing the kicker penalty was ridiculous.
Jake, you are right about the poor officiating. The Dartmouth punter actually took incidental contact and deserved an academy award for flopping on the second call against us.
What a pleasure to watch a tight, exciting game that went down to the last seconds, and that we won. For a change, the other guys didn't get it done.
This is the start of the turn-around. By that I mean the 2 years of training and recruiting by Bags finally transmitting into on-field performance. We'll still lose this year, but I foresee at least 2 more wins. Totally feasible.
P.S.
What the hell has happened to Skyler? Is he on a blacklist, or hurt?
I saw that flop, The Dartmouth kicker waited almost until the ball was placed down for the next play, then he realized "Hey this is Columbia, if I fall down even now they'll give them a penalty."
This officiating has made me so angry for decades. We supposedly have a real coach and AD now. AD Pilling should be in the Ivy or ECAC office (whichever hires the officials) on Monday morning demanding the scalps of these crooks every time it happens. Perhaps we'd see a sudden upsurge of honesty.
We learned we could close out a superior opponent with superior play, and they overcame some really crappy penalty calls to boot !
Boring ? I thought I would need a defibrillator on that last drive...
I thought Al out-coached Teevens by kicking short field goals when we stalled
in the Red Zone (as usual), whereas they tried one from 50 yds away with swirling winds- are you kidding ?
I stumbled across your blog and am glad I did. I graduated in 1970 and got tired of following the Lions. At one point, you didn't have to look at the sports pages to get the results, the latest loss in the record losing streak was announced on Saturday night national news. Regarding the Dartmouth game, a win is a win. It wouldn't have happened two or three years ago. I finally have confidence that the program is headed in
the right direction. Thanks, for your blog.
Steve Peterson CC70
How about some credit to Paul Ferraro the defensive coordinator and his crew? What an improvement over the Norries Wilson days ..... to say nothing of Mangurian... Coach Bagnoli is not only a Hall of Fame coach but he really knows how to put a staff together!
The bloody NY Times had nothing in the Sunday Sports section.....not even a blurb....aholes....
I thought Teevens was very gracious in his press conference "...they played lights out defense and deserved to win..."
The New York Times hates Republicans, Israel and Columbia (except for Students for Justice in Palestine and the Middle East and Arabic Studies Dept). So expect nothing good from our newspaper of record when it comes to Columbia sports in general and football in particular.
One suggestion to Spectator and whomever else asoots the game, how's about stationing yourselves on the OTHER side of the field for change? Otherwise you make it look as if truly nobody is in attendance. Which was not at all the case Saturday.
Further on Teevens, one of the classiest guys in the league. Compare him to the absence of class shown by Penn in throwing for a meaningless score against us with two minutes left instead of running out the clock. That is something that a Teevens or a Bagnoli just woud not do.
Landed back in HK....some of the euphoria has settled...and now I ask: How are we going to score more points? I don't think we can rightfully expect the lads to hold all four remaining opponents to one TD. We might win one more that way, but if we are hoping for a 4 win season, we're gonna have to score more than 20 pts.
Thoughts?
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