Monday, October 18, 2021

Last Looks



Isaiah Malcome got away with a big penalty



A few final thoughts on the win over Penn at Homecoming 2021:


-The coaches and the players can't say it, but I can: The refs almost cost the Lions the game Saturday. The worst call by far was the pass interference on Brian Bell-Anderson that led to Penn's second and last score. He was absolutely clobbered by Penn's Isaiah Malcome on that play as Bell-Anderson was clearly going for the ball and the refs called the penalty on CU. They also really had a bad no-call on the 41-yard run by Dante Miller near the end of the game that ended in a clear horse collar tackle. It was so bad because it was clear even before the tackle started that the only way Miller could be caught on that play was with a horse collar play. For all the weak-kneed referring when it comes to calling targeting on so many minor hits, that very dangerous tackle went uncalled. Also, Penn clearly fumbled the ball away on a short pass in the 2nd half, and the refs upheld the bad incomplete pass call even after reviewing the play. 

-The #1 concern I've had since 2019 is the track record for Offensive Coordinator/Assistant Head Coach Mark Fabish and the way many of the players seem to respond to him. It would be unfair not to say that Fabish has indeed mixed up the play calling this year and to good effect. That was evident again on Saturday. He also deserves credit for giving Joe Green the starting job when personal loyalties apparently were all with Ty Lenhart for more than just the past year. But the overuse of the wildcat is stifling drives and taking away opportunities for Green when he's in a rhythm. If getting Gabriel Hollingsworth more experience is the argument for all his reps, it's not good enough right now. I much prefer saving the wildcat for situations when CU gets inside the 5 or so, or on 4th and short like we've done in the past. 

-Other than Fabish and the QB position, the two biggest concerns for the Lions coming into the year were the OL and the DL. Both have played much better than expected, even though there's still a lot of room for improvement. The difference maker on the DL has been Paul Akere, who would do well to take his extra year of eligibility next season and see how much more damage he can do in the Ivies. He had a very strong outing vs. Penn and the sack he made on Penn's John Quinnelly was the hardest hit I've seen on an opposing QB since Josh Martin '13 leveled Cornell's Jeff Mathews in the 2012 win over the Big Red.The O-line is getting good play from all the starters even though Zach Minch, the guy we thought was the best returning lineman, has been out. The run blocking hasn't been as consistent as the pass protection, but it's been generally pretty good. Against Penn, the outside run blocking was strong, but the blocking up the middle was challenged because of the massive size and skill of DL Prince Emili. 

-Green has a lot of tools and one can only wonder what he'd be able to do with a true and consistent WR threat. There were a couple of plays Saturday that he made happen on his own, especially the scramble and throw to his right for a 1st down on the Lions first series of the game. CU has good talent at WR, but no gamebreaker types like Josh Wainwright or Ronald Smith were in the recent past. Green does a good job improvising and rolling out when he needs to. and he's a better runner than advertised. I suspect he's throwing a little less than he should be because the coaches don't want to put too much pressure on the pass protection for him. But at some point, he needs to be able to throw it 30 times per game. 

-WR Wills Meyer's TD catch deserves some more attention. He was probably interfered with for one thing, (another no-call from the officials). But the second thing is that the defender on the play was Muhammed Diakite who had that big INT in 2018 to snuff out what looked like a winning CU drive at Franklin Field (after intended receiver Mozes Mooney fell down on the play). So that was a bit of sweet revenge. 

-Speaking of weapons, something is not right with WR Mike Roussos. He did have one good return Saturday and one nice reception where he extended his arms to haul in a pass going away from his body. But the Lions need him to stretch the field more. 

-Now that Miller's sweeps to the left are clearly a weapon no one's going to ignore, it's time to design some fakes to take advantage of all the attention he's going to get every time he heads in that direction. A fake handoff to him as he rolls left and then a short toss to Ryan Young just to the right should rack up nice yardage from time to time. 

-The defensive backs are really playing very well, but their height is a concern. Taller receivers can be targeted with a good chance for success even if they are well covered. Fara'ad McCombs was injured early in the game and emerged with a bandage on his left arm later in the game. As one of the few starting CU DB's with good height, the Lions will need him back soon. Meanwhile, Seth Parker is another tall DB who may need to step things up as the season goes on.

-Justin Woodley should be back for the Dartmouth game after missing this last contest. I wonder if CU's sack totals suffered because of his absence in particular on Saturday. 

-I agree with the fans who complain about our illegible scoreboard. Also the video board doesn't actually show video anymore, just graphics. It is time for an upgrade. 

-Dartmouth looks very good and has now reached the point under Head Coach Buddy Teevens that they seem to be able to reload much like Penn and Harvard did from the late 90s until recently. After struggling badly in his first five years during his second stint as the Big Green's head coach, (2005-2009), Teevens spent the next five years (2010-2014) developing into an outside chance contender to a team that has been a true championship caliber team every year since (except 2016). 

8 comments:

oldlion said...

Jake, Libman is an excellent receiver. And there were several plays in which our receivers beat the coverage and Green ,who is getting better and better, just overthrew them by a few feet. What our passing game needs is more TE looks; Painton should be unstoppable if he learns how to bring in the ball with his hands and not his body. As far as the officials, they have been killing us in both Ivy games—both Penn and Princeton. I don’t know if the IL permits coaches to send videos of bad calls to the league office but I counted three in the Penn game. AS far as tall corners, they are few and far between at this level. But the ball skills our DBs have shown in playing the ball and in breaking up passes and tackling at the moment of arrival of the pass has been very good.

Anonymous said...

The DB play is better than previous however, when we talk about size in the secondary. Listed at 6-1 205 on the roster, which he's bigger than that now. Colbert is a monster on the back-end when in the game.

Some of the licks he laid this weekend and over the season have caused offensive players to look around.

PKNIGHT said...

Lots of Jake's comments are spot on but none more so than Fabish's use of the Wildcat, 30 yards out! I have already documented his lack of creativity but must concede that he must be reading the spot on comments of many posters. He has thrown the ball downfield a lot more lately but not nearly enough...Have faith in Green... Complete faith... If he errs it is part of the growing process.. Jake said that soon we will need 30+ attempts in a game and he is right on... Will Green be ready? Akere's QB hit rattled MY bones! Just an example of Ferraro's philosophy of being relentless!... Still no slant pass in the playbook... Might be ideal to enhance Roussos who seems to me to be drawing special coverage...Love the smaller , quick line backer a la Murphy in 2019...

oldlion said...

We went to the slant with Painton; perfect pass but he dropped it; have to work on that; who wants to tackle a 6’6” 260 pound TE?

Tod Howard Hawks (I am not the "Unknown" who was credited with my remarks of late) said...

Ernest Robertson: As WR, he has made several fantastic catches and runs during the first half of this season; yet, it seems to me, he's still underused.

Coach Fabish: I agree with virtually all the comments made about his play-calling. Bagnoli needs to pull him aside for a candid conversation.

The JV team: Did you read the extensive article about this group in Spectator a few days ago? The players--there are so many of them--are Columbia Football's future, and they look to have the potential to be as good as their HS bios indicate.

TOD HOWARD HAWKS

Peter Stevens said...

I’d like to see more of Young running ball—7 carries for 10 yards is a waste of his talent. Fabish has to find plays that showcase his strength- quick hitters between the tackles. The current plays aren’t working.

More on play calling— On our first series where had 3 first downs. We ran up the middle as usual on first down each time for a total of O yards. I’m struggling to find a reason.

O line did good job protecting Green. Surprised Penn didn’t blitz more. Need to spice up the plays for Hollingsworth. The plays are too predictable.

Our defense was superb even though they played it pretty straight the whole game. Well we’ll need to do is to step up the pass pressure going forward, I.e. blitz more as we face better QBs.

oldlion said...

Young is an inside between the tackles runner who need a crease to be effective. Once he gets to the second level he is at his best. Miller is more patient an can wait for the blocking scheme before he makes his cuts. I thought that the play calling was actually excellent.

Anonymous said...

I believe they Penn DE's were pinching inside early on and their LB's were flowing hard to the A and B gaps to try to stop that inside run game. I think that is why those sweeps were so successful as the game wore on.