Top 10 Moments (part two)

As I continue to make the magical 2017 football season last as long as possible, let's continue with the countdown of the top 10 plays of the year:


7) McKeighan Ices it with an INT

No longtime Columbia fan was counting the Princeton game as a win ever after WR Ronald Smith's dramatic 63-yard TD catch and run with 1:12 to play. The Tiger offense was just too dangerous to ignore. Sure enough, Princeton got excellent field position after a penalty on the ensuing Lion kickoff and QB Chad Kanoff and Co. took over on their own 40. Three plays later, Princeton was at the Columbia 37 with 38 seconds to go. But that's when a strong pass rush from DL Alex Robin flustered Kanoff and forced a pass he hoped to hurl out of bounds. DB Ben McKeighan was ready for it and he stretched out to make an athletic pickoff. With 32 seconds left, that gave CU the opportunity to just kneel on the turf and earn one of its most dramatic wins in years.


6) Oren's Game Winner

A lot will be written over the next 10 months about how K Oren Milstein had a bit of a slump in his sophomore year. But that argument should include the fact that it really doesn't appear that he did anything to cost the Lions any games in 2017. We do know that he helped win more than one game, and his clutch game winning 29-yard FG over Wagner as time ran out was his biggest play of the year.


5) Blocked Punt Puts Bears into Hibernation

Columbia blocked so many kicks this season, it would be hard to believe the Lions did not set a team record. But no other blocked kick was as dramatic as DB Tyler Holmes blocking Brown punter Ryan Kopec's punt and Justin Woodley picking it up for a TD to give Columbia a 14-0 lead late in the 1st half of the season finale win over the Bears.