Crucial Finale

Yeah, this weekend's game is in NYC, but this program from the game at Cornell in 1965 is just too cool not to share


A big part of me doesn't want to write this post.

There's something about having to remind or inform fans about why a particular game or moment is potentially so important that feels like it's jinxing the process.

But the fact that Columbia needs to win Saturday to clinch a winning record Saturday is just too important to leave alone.

Let's start by putting this in perspective for program history.

The Lions have enjoyed just four winning seasons over the past 47 years. That's not a typo. It's just four: 1971, 1994, 1996, and 2017. By math alone, clinching a fifth winning season this coming weekend is almost a once-in-decade occurrence. You don't have to be a longtime Columbia fan to appreciate the enormity of that.

But a win on Saturday against Cornell would also clinch CU's first two consecutive winning seasons since 1961-62... 56 years ago.

Now let's look at what going 6-4 will mean for this group of players and coaches in particular.

Remember, we're talking about a team that's be so decimated by injury it's been forced to start four different QB's, play six different QB's, lost its 1st Team All Ivy wide receiver, lost it's 2nd best WR for a few games, is down to its fourth string running back, lost its top linebacker, lost its top cornerback, and played a significant amount of time without several other starters.

This is a team that even when healthy, was playing with a first time starter at QB, and without its top CB and DL lost to graduation.

This is a team that has already come from behind in three games to win.

Beating Cornell would not only achieve that historic winning season, but it would be a victory over a team that's generally played well most of the season. The Big Red can boast wins over Harvard and Brown, with very competitive losses to Dartmouth and Yale.

This game already got some extra meaning added to it when the league changed the schedule for this season to make the Columbia-Cornell in state Ivy contest the season finale from now on. The fact is, the Columbia-Cornell game over the past 30 years or so has been the most likely contest in the Ivies to be decided by one score or less. Granted, neither team has been very good over that period, (Cornell does have two shared Ivy titles since 1988), but the games have been exciting and have achieved rivalry status.

Cornell always does a pretty good job of turning out big numbers of their fans on visitor side thanks to a marching band parade they do in Midtown Manhattan the evening after the game ends. So, the game usually has more of a throwback feel to way things used to on Ivy football Saturdays.

On the Columbia side, this is a chance to honor a bunch of seniors who truly bridged the journey from a Lion team that lost 24 in a row to one that is on the verge of back-to-back winning seasons.

This is a big one in Lion Land.