Princeton 24 Columbia 7
Why Princeton Won
The Tiger defense was extremely tough most of the game, and the offense was effective enough to make that stand up. Princeton's special teams were also strong all day.
Why Columbia Lost
An offense that took too long to get going, special teams that under-performed, and a flurry of justified and unjustified penalty calls negated a strong defensive performance.
Key Turning Points
-After Fara'ad McCombs picked off Princeton QB Cole Smith on the Tigers first possession, the Lions offense was set up on its own 44 to begin their first offensive series. But Columbia went three-and-out to squander the opportunity and set a tone for most of the day.
-With 1:20 left in the half and trailing 10-0, the Lions took over at their own 20 and began to move the ball for the first time in the game. They got as far as the Tiger 20 before QB Joe Green was sacked to apparently end the half. But a Princeton delay of game penalty gave Columbia a shot at a field goal to end the half... which went for naught when PK Alex Felkins' 45-yard attempt was blocked.
-Now trailing 10-7 with 5:41 left in the 3rd quarter, Columbia took over after a PU punt at the Lion 45. The Lions got as far as the Tiger 19 before another sack pinned them back at their 30, and Felkins missed another FG attempt to leave the Lions coming up empty.
-With the score still 10-7 with 11 minutes to go in the 4th, a dubious pass interference penalty was called on S Ben Mathiasmeier, and the CU defense finally broke. Four plays later, the Tigers scored a TD and it was 17-7.
Columbia Positives
-The Lions not only played a impressive defense game, but the pass coverage and pass rush was much improved against a much stronger team than Columbia had played so far this year. The starting corners, Will Allen and Bryan Bell-Anderson, had strong games, en route to holding Princeton to just 119 yards passing.
-QB Joe Green didn't have an MVP day, but he kept his cool and again never forced any dumb passes or threw an interception. His calm leadership kept Columbia from faltering much earlier in the day.
Columbia Negatives
-There were a number of unjustified penalties called later in the game, but in the 1st half the Lions were rightfully called for several motion penalties that helped to kill the offense's chances of getting anywhere. Columbia ended the day with 10 penalties; each one seemingly costlier than the one before it.
-Once again, wildcat QB Gabriel Hollingsworth was a no-show. We have heard no explanation for his absence.
Columbia MVP
I thought the CU DB who stepped up the most was junior Bryan Bell-Anderson. The Tigers offense picked on him all day and never really burned him. And for some reason, the Princeton band was able to use a loudspeaker to personally taunt him at different times in the game. None of it worked and he helped keep the Lions alive for most of the day.
13 comments:
Thought that the D was terrific, especially in the second half...Shut down that QB draw, mostly....Green's two sacks were key... Jake is right, the Princeton defense played well..... shut Ryan Young down and limited Miller too...Still don't like Fabish as Offensive Coordinator although admittedly he did throw deeper (at times) and had success.. Why not throw deeper more often? Yes Mark there is such a thing as the slant pass which should be in the play book... Notice that Princeton used it successfully on 3rd down numerous times... How about every first down in half 2, Miller carried as we hoped to spring him... Made me look like a genius in the stands when I called it!
we need to do more on fist down than run into the line again and again !
If folks in the stands can call it; the D coach will also call it!
It was great to see a much improved pass rush from the front four. Accomplished without blitzing too. Unfortunately, the speed and shiftiness of the P QB enabled him to avoid several sacks. Give him credit. I’m betting that the future QBs we face won’t be so fortunate.The Pass coverage was much improved too ( thanks in part to front four). All in all a solid defensive outing.
On the flip side, the offensive play calling was exactly that—offensive. In fact, the whole offensive plan we deployed was dreadful. The OC from what I could observe ran all his old favorite plays once again unsuccessfully. He added nothing new.. He once again failed to throw to the middle of the field or take a few shots downfield. All we saw was sideline after sideline pass mixed in with those horrible screen plays to the WRs for a yard or two. He did nothing to take the pressure off of Green who was frequently scrambling for his life on many passing plays. I just can’t understand if we need 7 yards for a first down why he chooses to throw it 3 or 4 yards. And once again the TEs didn’t see ball until the TD catch. And how can you not try to get the ball into the hands more of Roussous our best odffensive weapon. Finally, the P LBs we’re playing oretty close to line for much of game and the hook zone beyond them was ripe for picking, but that would’ve required our QB to throw to middle of field. Why I don’t know.
The running game which Fabish told Spec was our bread and butter was abysmal. The team rushed for a total of 8 yards on 27 carries. He continued to try the middle - largely unsuccessful. He tried to run Young to outside ( When you run your 230lber East-west and not north- south you’re going to go nowhere- which we did).. Too few attempts to get the speedy Miller to the outside too. Too many slow developing runs which the quick P defense pounced on early. He failed to try to jump start the running game by inserting Lenhart as a running option when all else was failing.
This team is close to winning but they’ll need outstanding coaching to do so. The good news is there is still plenty of time left in season.
There were so many flags thrown against Columbia in the first quarter, I thought it was the 4th of July!
But when Columbia finally scored, holding Princeton's vaunted offense to only 10 points at the time, I really sensed Columbia would win. But I was wrong.
But every future Ivy foe should take notice; if none do, it will be their football undoing. Columbia--especially Columbia--is terribly young. My prediction is that, from game-to-game, Columbia will improve exponentially.
TOD HOWARD HAWKS
I agree with Peter’s take on what needs to be fixed and what we can look forward to if those changes are made. This is a tough, talented team, well worth watching…
A question about what is beyond the team’s control – namely, the refereeing. I understand that home cooking is no excuse and part of the game. But what are the thoughts about how much of yesterday’s result reflects questionable calls, sideline reactions to those questionable calls, and the additional penalties imposed for those reactions?
Leonlion
Great effort by our Lions, and they had Princeton on its heels in the fourth quarter only to allow the Tigers to slip away and get the
"W." I do agree with all the comments posted on the Board, particularly the need to diversify the play book given the strength of Joe Green's arm and the power in Ryan Young and Dante Miller's legs. In my opinion, this year's Columbia Football team is capable of defeating its next seven opponents and going 9-1 for the season.
Stan Waldbaum
I thought the officiating was horrific and may well have affected the outcome. Two call stand out; the phantom pass interference call in the 4th quarter and the illegal block on the first Roussos KO run back. And Surace clearly intimidated the refs by completely losing it when a pass interference near the Princeton sideline was not called on one occasion. Having said that, the offensive playbook needs some changes—more slant passes, more button hooks to our huge TE, Painton, no slow developing sweeps behind the line of scrimmage, and more shots to Libman in particular down the field.
Comments are spot on!
I think the play calling on offense wasn't great, but not as bad as some may think. The Princeton defense was very, very good and while better play calling would have beaten them in theory they could have adapted after a play or two. The biggest issue is Green needs a more explosive weapon to use, like Anders Hill had with Wainwright and Smith.
However good, bad coaches' strategies are, executions are the names of the games.
Tweet that JV won their game 56-0. Anybody know who we played, details? Score obviously sounds good.
I was at the Princeton game on Saturday. For what it's worth, I agree with most of the comments, especially those about the (very poor) officiating and the playcalling that left a lot to be desired. To be sure, we were guilty of some costly motion penalties early on (as Jake mentioned), but nearly all the other calls seemed to be questionable at best. I also noticed a maddening inconsistency in how the game was officiated. Take the PI call against Mathiasmeyer, for instance. The refs seemed to have overlooked much clearer contact that may have prevented Roussos from making a touchdown catch a few drives previous. Officials need to be consistent in how they penalize contact, but these refs were anything but. There were multiple questionable PI calls against us; add to that the debacle at the end of the first half and the phantom block-in-the-back call during the Roussos return, and it's still only the tip of the iceberg. There was a LOT of holding by the Princeton OL, especially in the first half, but none of that was called.
The irony, of course, was that despite the zebras and the overly conservative playcalling, we were right there, and the game was ours for the taking. On a neutral site, I think the game would have been even, and I think we would have won by a touchdown if the game had been in New York. I was really impressed with our defense, and I thought the fourth-down stops in short yardage situations said a lot about where our team is headed. In terms of the offense, I would have employed more trickery. If we're going to run on every first down, for example, we should try some reverses or run out of some pass formations. And as someone else mentioned, we needed more passes downfield in order to open up the run.
To be fair, Princeton did a good job scouting us. I love what Ryan Young can do for us, but I would like to have seen more of Miller, since our up-the-gut runs were too slow to develop and were clearly playing into Princeton's hands. In general, our plays on the offensive side need to be faster (maybe run some up-tempo/hurry-up offense now and again?), and we need to concentrate on moving the ball vertically rather than horizontally. The goal on every first down should be to pick up 4-5 yards. Also, the only pass on a series should not be in an obvious "pass-only" situation (e.g., 3rd and 8, 3rd and 15, and so on).
I think this team has a huge upside. I'm predicting 7-3, but I'd love to be (pleasantly) surprised.
Fully agree; I was also there.
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