Top Games of the Decade #9

The scene after the refs finally made the call
 

Lions go to Double OT to avoid the 0-10 

November 19, 2011

Columbia 35 Brown 28 (2 OT)

By the time the final weekend of the 2011 season had rolled around, most Lions fans were entirely disgusted with the program. The 0-9 team had underachieved all season and suffered losses in stunningly new and painful ways, the worst of which was a total coaching breakdown in the Homecoming loss to Penn five weeks earlier. 

Luckily, the Columbia players still felt some motivation. It was obvious that avoiding a winless season was the prime factor, but the team that had been completely recruited by 6th year Head Coach Norries Wilson must have had an inkling that his job was seriously in jeopardy. (Indeed, he would be fired the next day). Most of the players always like Wilson very much, if not some of his assistant coaches. This is a common scenario in CU history. 

But this didn't translate into the Lions coming out of the gate strong. In a 1st half marked by sloppy play and turnovers from both teams, Brown went into the locker room ahead 21-7 and an 0-10 debacle of a year seemed to be cast in stone. 

The fumbles and missed opportunities continued through the 3rd quarter and it was still 21-7 when what everyone thought would be the final frame began. 

But the Lions finally took advantage of strip sack by Ryan Murphy on the first possession of the 4th quarter and scored on a Sean Brackett run for a TD on a 43-yard drive to make it 21-14. Then a Brown three-and-out marked by another Murphy sack led to a punt and a Lion possession on the Bear 40. That led to another CU TD care of a Brackett run and the game was tied. 

Both teams had a chance to win it in regulation, but a 41-yard Brown FG attempt was short and a 41-yard FG attempt by Columbia's Luke Eddy was blocked. 

In the first OT, Brown scored quickly but that was when Brackett really took over. He ran for a 1st down on a 4th and 1 at the 16, and then threw the game-tying TD pass to Hamiliton Garner on the next play. 

On the next possession to start the second OT, Brackett just did it all himself. All three CU plays were Brackett runs, the final one being a 16-yard dash for a TD.

But the real drama came on Brown's ensuing position. It took the Bears just two plays to get their initial first down of the second OT at the Lion 15. But three plays later, they faced a 4th and 4 at the 11. A third OT seemed inevitable after Brown completed a pass on that play to set up a 1st and goal at the 3. But the CU defense stiffened. An incomplete pass was followed by two runs that netted just two yards and the Bears had to go for it on 4th and 1. 

Then things got really weird. 

Brown's Mark Katchmer took a handoff, scampered to his right and was tackled... but where would the ball be spotted? 

The refs held off on a decision for what seemed like a half hour. 

But finally they ruled Katchmer down short of the goal line and the game was over. 

For the seniors playing in their final game, the win was a big relief coming in the most dramatic fashion. But the resolve on both sides of the ball that the Lions showed in the OT periods were also a reminder of how much more the team could have done that year. After all, Brown came into that game at 7-2 and 4-2 in the Ivies. The Bears were hardly a soft touch opponent. 

In any event, Coach Wilson was able to end his tenure at CU on a brief happy note and the seniors were spared the indignity that the Columbia senior classes of 2014 and 2015 would have to endure just two and three years later.