Columbia 22 Dartmouth 17
Why Columbia Won
The Lion defense dominated the 1st half, and then rallied to stop the Big Green on two consecutive scoring chances at the end of the game to seal the win. Meanwhile, the Columbia offense got off to a hot start, roared to a 16-0 halftime lead, allowed no sacks for the entire game, and put up just enough points in the second half to win.
Why Dartmouth Lost
The Big Green did almost nothing offensively in the 1st half. And though they woke up in the 2nd they still finished 0 for 9 on 3rd downs. The Dartmouth defense played well overall, but failed to sack Columbia QB Anders Hill even once. And the Big Green offense just couldn’t score the winning TD despite getting several golden chances on their last two possessions of the game.
Key Turning Points
-After Dartmouth jumped out in the 2nd half by forcing a three-and-out and then scoring a quick TD to make it 16-7, Columbia and the Big Green traded punts before the Lions got the ball back at their 20 with 8:14 left in the 3rd quarter. Columbia then began a 10-play drive that included a 28-yard pass to RB Chris Schroer and a 14-yard completion to WR Josh Wainwright that included perhaps his best run after a catch this season. The drive ended with goal line specialist QB Josh Bean sweeping into into the end zone for a 22-7 lead with four minutes left in the 3rd. Columbia had to settle for that score after a successful 2-point conversion was called back by penalty and K Oren Milstein had his second PAT blocked in the game.
-After Dartmouth resumed its rally to bring the game to 22-10 midway through the 4th quarter, the Lions marched the ball right back down the field and had a 2nd down and 10 at the Big Green 14. That’s when Hill made his one big mistake of the game and forced a pass into heavy coverage that Dartmouth’s Ben Straton picked off for a touchback. It only took the Big Green seven plays and two minutes and 39 seconds to score a TD to make it 22-17 with almost 7 minutes left in the game.
-Columbia’s offense was stymied the rest of the game, but twice in those final minutes the defense stepped up to deny Dartmouth QB Jack Heneghan the winning score despite 1st and goal opportunities. The first was a 1st and goal at the 6 with just over three minutes to go that turned into a 4th and 27 pass into the end zone that both Lion LB Justin Woodley and safety Ryan Gilbert got their hands on for the breakup. That was dodged bullet number one.
-After a penalty dashed Columbia’s hopes of running out the clock on their next possession, Dartmouth got the ball back for one last possession at their own 31 with 58 seconds left and no timeouts. It took six plays and 41 seconds for the Big Green to get a 1st down and goal at the Lion 7. But on the ensuing play, a Dartmouth lineman missed his assignment and Columbia DL Mike Hinton sacked Heneghan for a 10 yard loss. Heneghan went down to the turf with about 13 seconds to go, but the first official had trouble controlling the ball and spotting it in time to give Heneghan one more play. Game over.
Columbia Positives
-The Lions were the better team, and that was clear for most of the day. That’s not an insignificant fact considering this was a brutal road trip against what was the only other undefeated Ivy team.
-The offensive line faced one of the better pass rushing defenses in the Ivies and gave up no sacks and few real threats to the pocket.
-Other than the near killer interception in the 4th quarter, the Lion passing game was still lethal despite the loss of Ronald Smith to injury.
-Columbia’s defense shut down the run and did a much better job pressuring the passer.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions did a lot to give Dartmouth chances to win the game. They turned the ball over twice inside the Big Green 20, flubbed two extra points, and committed some untimely penalties.
-Granted, Dartmouth is a very good team against the run. But the Lion running game struggled way too much for most of the day.
-The Big Green has been a great comeback team all season, but the way Heneghan marched his offense down the field in the 4th quarter so quickly was just too easy.
Columbia MVP
Josh Wainwright has had games with more yards and more TD’s, but he was the most consistent and crucial weapon for Columbia all day. Without Smith in the game to take the pressure off him, Wainwright still delivered every time.
3 comments:
The dream continues.
More demons exorcised.
What a gritty bunch these Lions - bend but don’t
break against a resilient, tenacious opponent .
Great analysis as always Jake.
I’d like to give kudos to the coaching staff that called two defensive time- outs during that last drive . Seemed to settle our nerves and we got into the right coverages based on their formations . Closing out games as we have several times this season will serve us well going forward. Who owns New York ?
In watching the ElevenSports replay of the moments after the big sack, which looked to me to be a blitz called by Coach Bagnoli, the video picks up showing the ball bouncing through the air back toward the Dartmouth QB, who was not yet acting like he realized time was running out. Why was the ball in motion? It looked to me like the ref was moving as fast as he could, but he was chasing a moving ball, which contributed to the ref being unsure as to where to spot the ball. If a Columbia player "accidentally" tripped over the ball, he deserves credit for a heads up bit of gamesmanship. But if the last player to touch the ball was wearing green, they are responsible for the slow spot. Or, was an official responsible for the wayward ball? Do you have access to a video that shows more than the one we saw on ElevenSports?
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