Columbia 23 Brown 17
Why Columbia Won
The Lion defense held the feared Bear offense in check, while the offense woke up in the 3rd quarter to score a flurry of points to take control of the game. Columbia used a number of big plays, and then some grind-it-out smaller plays, to control the clock and secure the win.
Why Brown Lost
The Bear offense was brilliant on several occasions, but never consistent enough to put the Lions away. The defense had been dominant for the first 35 minutes of the game, but then fell apart when it really counted.
Key Turning Points
-With Brown leading 14-0 and just under 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the Bears decided to try a squib kickoff after a penalty set the kick up at the Lion 45. The decision was foolhardy, as KR Mike Roussos put together the second unlikely but brilliant squib kickoff return of his career and set the Lions up at the Brown 38. Six plays later, Roussos dove and held on to a four-yard rollout TD pass from QB Joe Green, and the Lions were finally on the board in a 14-6 game.
-On Brown's next possession, the Bears got one 1st down but lost the ball when LB John Harris intercepted a tipped pass by E.J. Perry. Two plays later, the Lions faced a 3rd and 12 at their own 40, but on another roll out pass, Green found RB Ryan Young streaking down the west sideline for a brilliant 60-yard TD pass. A razzle-dazzle double flea flicker pass to Gabriel Hollingsworth in the end zone for the two-point conversion tied the game at 14 with 3:27 left in the 3rd.
-Once again, Brown's ensuing drive ended in a turnover as the Bears lost a fumble at the CU 49. A 27-yard rush by Young and then a holding penalty against Brown in the end zone set the Lions up with a 1st and goal at the 7. On 3rd and goal from the 7, Green found WR Bryson Canty for the TD score that would give Columbia the lead it would never give up.
Columbia Positives
-The Lions didn't stuff Perry and the formidable Brown offense, but they contained them with three sacks and held them to a 7 for 17 3rd down conversion rate (good for most teams, but not Brown), and 0 for 1 on 4th downs. The improvement in the pass defense was evident.
-Columbia's pass protection remained stellar as it has for the entire season, as Green was not sacked and rarely pressured.
-Almost all the mistakes made in the first 35 minutes of the game were reversed the rest of the way. The offense finally began to move, Roussos made up for some bad punt return and kickoff return decisions, etc.
Columbia Negatives
-The flat performance by the offense until the 3rd quarter against one of the worst defenses in recent Ivy history was disturbing.
-The Lions are still having trouble with their run blocking, as it seems like a defender breaks over the CU right side of the line on almost every other running play.
-After not missing an PAT all year, PK Alex Felkins missed two in this game.
Columbia MVP
You can make a strong case for giving it to Young, but it feels like QB Joe Green took control of the entire offense and turned the game around with his clutch passing and some crucial runs he made down the stretch. Green is the team leader now.
11 comments:
Close call on MVP between Young and Green. The story of the game is that we were sleep walking against a lesser team, at least on offense, until the KR by Roussos got us going. From that point forward, the fact that we are a better team showed. I think Green outplayed Perry, and with a winter in the dome and time to work with Canty and Libman, he will be our best QB since Witkowski or Domres.
Agree with Old Lion... Have been saying it all year that Green is the real deal! Been begging for vertical passes too like the strike to Young..TD pass to Canty begs for scrapping the Wildcat, a/k/a The Dumbcat.... Fabish finally used a trick play for the two point conversion! Ok from the Dumbcat set up, but see what Green can do in the deep red zone! Al, put the Dumbcat to bed!
They should know better than to squib kick to Roussos- gave us the spark we needed. Green showed once again that he can manage a game under adverse conditions (wind and rain). Excellent touch on some of his throws. Agree, Oldlion, that he has the potential to be truly special. Very excited with Canty who may be the deep threat we've craved all year.
Young (and Miller) will be missed . After a lackluster "first half" the defensive adjustments turned Perry into more of a running threat as he was regularly pressured. A winning season is assured but we've got to seal an winning Ivy season with a convincing Empire Bowl effort !
Robert, As you suggested last week, the Lions opened up their passing game in the second half and the Brown defensive backs were unable to handle running back Ryan Young and freshman wide receiver Bryden Canty. It also helped that Joe Green got the green light to run the ball more often which energized the offense. The weather delay may also have helped the Lions who have a pair of tremendous running backs in Ryan Young ("Thunder") and Dante Miller ("Lightning"). Among others, wide receiver Marcus Libman continues to impress on offense along with several individual players on defense, but particularly, Cam Dillon, Paul Akere, Mitch Moyer and JOrdan Colbert on defense. For many reasons, the Columbia football team should be very fired up for its final game of the season against Cornell.
Stan Waldbaum
I trust Al will have them well prepared for Cornell. A loss to the Big Red turns a very satisfying season into a mediocre one.
In our three years as part of the Columbia football family we have been most blessed to have met so many former players. Without exception each of these men have been welcoming, supportive and great teachers of the history of the program. We have met players from the great ‘61 team. We have met players that played with and were coached by Bill Campbell- which in turn has helped us convey to our son exactly what kind of legacy he is charged with continuing. It has been meaningful for our family. Appreciate each and every one of you.
Now to the Brown game.
First may we all agree that a win is a win is a win. Roar Lion Roar! And how many consecutive weeks have we all said “this is the biggest game of the season”? I’ll answer that, 6 straight weeks. Since the Princeton loss. Next up an undefeated non con, beat CCSU; homecoming win, beat Penn, statement win, beat Dartmouth - shutout - stunner; stay in contention for the title, nope - gave it away at Yale, rebound against Harvard to secure a winning season - nope; Brown at home to keep a 7 win season in sight - YES, Empire State Trophy up next. I didn’t live through 0-44 (or whatever the number was) but I’m pretty sure nobody but Aldo gets the administrative and financial support to get Columbia football to .500 over the last six seasons. I also find it instructive to remember Aldo’s comments after the Georgetown win this year when he emphasized “trophy” games and their importance in building “culture” … i.e. a winning culture. I just thought we beat a lesser team. But now I can’t help but think coach was thinking 8 games ahead to Cornell. Another trophy. Another step in building a winning culture. Now it is time to secure that trophy.
All that said, our Columbia 2021 offense has as many playmakers as any Columbia offense in recent history. Yet it has been throttled all season by ultra conservative play calling and/or a complete lack of imagination by the offensive staff. Yes turnovers have been limited (and that is hugely important) but in doing so we have risked becoming something even more harmful than a losing program - we have risked becoming… BORING. Boring doesn’t energize fans, students, alumni, community, or donor support. Boring only begets boring. Let the players make plays. Now, I wouldn’t trade our 6 (🎯 7) wins for Brown’s 2 wins this season, but Brown has proved willing to play an exciting brand of football, that win or lose, makes a statement to their players, students, alumni and other stakeholders that Brown football is something to be seen. Hell, they finally got their mud track replaced with a real field!!! In 9 games Brown has run 500 offensive plays. In contrast, Columbia has run 277 offensive plays and leads the Ivy in number of punts. I’m just about to climb down off my soapbox but first one last blast: Just please stop loading the “game notes” with “bouquets” about an offense that has averaged 315 ypg during the Bagnoli era. 315 yards per game is NOT bouquet worthy. And so at some point soon I trust that will be addressed. I understand that on the cusp of a 7 win season my concerns seem (even to me) a bit like rearranging the deck chairs. But we have athletes on this squad. We have talent. They deserved to be unleashed. Roar Lion Roar.
Also, as I have exactly 268 LESS wins on my C.V. as coach Bagnoli … Gibraltar size grain of salt must me taken with any of my commentary!!’
The play calling is extremely conservative. The question is whether the OC has no confidence in the receiver group or simply has a mandate to never turn it over and tolerate a lot of punts, leaving the game to the defense (and Roussos). As the pass blocking is better than the run blocking, and the QB is accurate, it feels like we could take more shots downfield. But it is also true that the receivers have dropped quite a few balls and made fewer difficult catches than some of our opponents.
As always, some very interesting and astute points made in the comments (and of course in the blog posts from Jake that prompted said comments). I tuned in for most of the second half of the Brown game, and I, like many of you, was very pleased to see some trickery (viz., the Hollingsworth catch for the two-point conversion) and a few shots taken downfield.
I haven't watched the first half yet. At the time, I was silently cursing all the leaves I had to rake, but if everyone else's feedback is anything to go by, I was better served taking care of yard duty. I don't really know how bad it was, but I will say that what I saw in the second half was awesome. I kid you not when I say that I turned on the game just as Roussos caught that TD pass from Green. After that, it seemed like the D came up with one big play after another, and how about all those Brown turnovers we forced!!!
The play of Cam Dillon and Paul Akere stood out to me, and I was very happy for the defensive unit as a whole, as it seems they regained some of their mojo. I'm very much hoping they start (and finish) strong against Cornell. When the D plays together and with confidence, they're really a force to be reckoned with.
As for the offense, I agree with everyone who's noted that our playcalling has been ultraconservative this season. It's true that our receivers have dropped some catchable balls, but I'd rather see us take chances downfield than pin our hopes on slow-developing runs that other teams are ready for and routinely blow up. It was great to see some trick plays and a general opening-up of the playbook against Brown, and I hope and pray this carries over to the Cornell game. We need to throw some bombs (or even just throw) on first down much more often than we have this season. Here are a few more things I'd like to see:
a) multi-back sets
b) options, including the triple-option flex
c) flea flickers
d) reverses
e) passes out of the wildcat provided they're not jump passes
f) drives using the hurry-up offense
Obviously we can't unveil all of these on Saturday, but there's plenty for us to be thinking about and working on for next season. As to why the playcalling has been so conservative, I think it may have something to do with an excessive fear of interceptions. Some coaches are always worried about interceptions and pick-sixes, and as a result, they tend to think of the run as the default, with the pass as the second resort, one to be employed only when the ground game isn't effective or won't be without some variety or additional support, so to speak. I don't know if an overblown fear of interceptions is to blame, but if it is, it's obviously doing more harm than good. Perhaps even more crucially, the interception narrative ignores some important facts.
First of all, our quarterback protects the ball very well. He simply doesn't throw many interceptions, and the relevant numbers bear this out (including TD/interception rate, interception/attempts rate, number of interceptions, QBR, and so on). Second, even when the ground game is firing on all cylinders, the sheer number of carries our running backs are responsible for means that there is always a chance (sad to say) of injury, burnout, or the like. I know we alternate backs, but it's still a concern. Third, and this is probably the fact that is most often overlooked, more passes -- especially deep -- mean more pressure on the defense to play well and make good decisions. Deep balls, particularly to the sidelines, can be quite productive, though not just when receivers make catches: when the defense gets burned or has to make a split-second decision, flags for pass interference, defensive holding, etc., often result. If you're asking your QB to throw to the sidelines rather than over the middle, then you can greatly reduce the risk of interceptions (which isn't a huge risk to begin with, given our quarterback). Plays that allow us to beat our opponents in one of two ways -- via completions or penalties -- can't be bad, especially when, at least in general terms, the only downside will be the risk of incompletions. Princeton has used this strategy to excellent effect over the years, especially against us, and this year was no exception. And while it's true that we don't seem to get many calls, we won't get any of these PI calls if we're not taking shots downfield with any kind of regularity.
I think we're next to last in the Ivies in passing yards per game, but it doesn't have to be that way. We have a stellar quarterback, and for what it's worth, he also gets my vote for MVP, for both the Brown game and the whole season. Let's finish on a high note with a convincing win in Ithaca. I'd be happy with 7-3, but when it comes to the direction of the program, how we play on Saturday will arguably be more telling than the final score.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Under Bagnoli's tenure this will be the third winning season of the last three or four, with a chance for 7 & 3. That is astounding - repeat astounding - given the history of Columbia football. Prior to Bagnoli, Wilson was 5&5 in 2006, Teller was 8&2 in 1996 and 5-4-1 in 94, and Navarro was 6&3 in 71 - mixed in with losing 44 games in a row and Pete Mangurian. In fifty years seven tied or winning seasons and Bagnoli has three of them in the last four years or so. Bagnoli isn't building a multi-facted, pro offense. He is trying to build a culture of winning for the first time ever. Once the coaches and the players learn how to win consistently in the CU environment - still really up in the air and dicey if Bagnoli were to leave - then they can experiment to their heart's content. Just win even if every win is ugly 1920's football. The players should be most proud of creating a winning atmosphere, if indeed that is what happens. That's a forever creation at Columbia.
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