Princeton -1 at Harvard
Everything about this game emotionally favors Harvard, but the Tigers have been a better team on the field this year, period.
Yale +2 1/2 at Penn
The Elis smell a shot at the title. Penn may not be there yet. Elis to win this one.
Brown -1 vs. Cornell
Very evenly matched game, but this is now or never time for the Bears.
LIU -3 1/2 at Wagner
When do we get LIU on our schedule, asking for a friend who lives 7 minutes from LIU's stadium.
Butler -7 1/2 vs. Marist
Do the Red Foxes have any angry bloggers demanding change? Asking for a friend.
Colgate -14 vs. Georgetown
The Hoyas keep disappointing.
69 comments:
Wow the Tigers absolutely smoked Harvard. Did not expect such domination in the 2nd half.
The Princeton game doesn't look so bad now, in retrospect. The offense really needs to light it up from the get-go today.
Go Lions!!!
I had the same reaction to the Harvard Princeton game. Our defense only gave up one legitimate TD in that game. Our offense is what did us in.
Have no idea what to think going into this game. The P-H game last night tells me that we may be better that we thought. But last weeks game vs Penn makes me think otherwise. Dartmouth basically had Penn beaten a few weeks ago until they made a few questionable clock mgmt decisions that allowed Penn to send game into OT. But Dartmouth seems to have been hit with a lot of injuries since that game. Who knows. I could see Ryan Young having a big game today
Same reaction. Which team shows up today? It’s the offense that worries me.
Someone mentioned Green being done for the season in Jake’s last post. Is he hurt?
Horrendous punt!! How do some of these kickers get Recruited??
What an incredibly sloppy game on both sides!!!!
Artistic? Certainly not, by either team.
But one team has fourteen points on two trips into the Red Zone.
The other, has nine points on four trips.
So far, not the home team’s finest hour.
The next thirty minutes will define the long term future of the program.
Not a fan of Canty. Showboating after coming 10 yards short of a 1st down on that final drive before the half
Sorry folks! Al Bagnoli is not the future of Columbia Football.
The team has literally no fire at least he is trying to get some energy going
Good god!!! Someone stop the pain!!!
PATHETIC! A new low.
Well coached teams do not:
-punt for one yard
-have a bad snap at the opponent’s one
-come anywhere near punts they are not going to field
-get a punt blocked in their own end zone
-shank a game winning field goal of less than thirty yards
Well coached teams do not do all those things over the course of an entire season, never mind all in one game.
Of course, the defense was deflated and could not come up with a stop to force overtime. They set up the offense, and then poof!
The team has been flat all year. Today, was no different. Compare Al’s energy and emotion to a Dabo Sweeney, a Harbaugh, a Kniffen. Even Saban gets fired up.
Al Bagnoli is college football’s version of Tony LaRussa.
My heart goes out to the players who are on the verge of 3-7, and 0-7 in the league.
Do you think Buddy Teevens is a good coach? That was some god awful clock management when they were up 24-17 and then missed an easy FG that clanked off the goal post
Team lacks leadership on every level
Did the more talented team win?
For those who after the Penn game asked, “Would you rather have Ray Priore as the head coach?”, news flash, all Penn did today was best Yale.
The league is having a down year. Penn as we know is not that good. Neither is Yale with a one dimensional QB. Princeton is the only team that is very good this year. Rest all have holes
The most frustrating game in many, many years. I still can’t believe that we were in a position to win after mishandling a bouncing kick, having a punt blocked, shanking a punt for a net loss, missing a snap at the 5, and then missing a chip shot FG. In all of our Ivy games against good competition we have managed to shoot ourselves not just in the foot, but in the head. Al’s 8-2 and 7-3 teams played relatively mistake free football. I don’t know if the turnover in assistants is the issue. Certainly losing Ferraro was huge.
To anonymous I say Amen ....A terrible reflection on Al...
Did you just call probably the most talented QB in the league one dimensional?? That can guy beat you through the air and is incredible dynamic with his feet. I agree with you on the rest but that qb is far from one dimensional. Must have missed how he tour up the league last year.
Wasted time in the third quarter when way behind.. At least Al's Control the Clock Offense worked to perfection! How about the Hurry Up and Wait by the defense, completely at sea on the last Dartmouth drive!
The special teams were Columbia's strength until this year when they have been awful. What happened?
Yea I did. Go to the Yale football blog to see how their fans feel about Grooms. He is a turnover machine. And last year weren’t they like 4-3?
Recommendations:
1) Can the Wild Cat (Notice that we scored a TD and +2 after a TD)
2) Get an OC that can throw for more than 2yards (Notice the average yds per catch)
3) Watch tapes of Syracuse/Clemson (Notice the plays called and don't give me the apples/oranges comments)
4) Abandon the Hurry Up and Wait Offense AND Cease and desist with it's use on defense (In other words, get set BEFORE the play)
5) Get some film sessions with all special team players (STAY AWAY FROM BOUNCING BALLS)
6) Get more pressure on the QB
7) Get Austin Grier into the game if he is still on the team
WITHOUT THE DUMBCAT
Maybe Al should seek you out for advice?
I had been calling for a vertical passing game all season, because about half the time the DB will get caught with pass interference. We got a few calls against the Dartmouth DBs that way. And finally Painton was targeted—once, but it led to a 14 yard TD.
But “Al is a Hall of Fame coach. He cannot be criticized or second guessed.
Saint Al who has won exactly 15 Ivy League games in seven years.
How about all of Al’s defenders naming a more inept performance by a team in the last five decades than what we saw today?
(Sorry, I started paying attention to Columbia Football only in 1970.)
I can see people feeling they have to show loyalty to Al, but that does not make him infallible, or Fabish, the next Bill Walsh.
Somebody should
Blooms didn’t start half of the season & came in and killed everyone he played. I think his only lost was to Harvard which went down to the wire and Dartmouth that went down to the wire. That Yale team was extremely good and are still in the running this year.
Time out—when Al took over we were in receivership; he has made us generally competitive. Was today a huge disappointment? Of course, but Dartmouth was not chopped liver (and probably should have beaten Penn). Is Al burned out? You can ask the same question about Tim Murphy, who was shellacked by Princeton, and Buddy Teevens, who was lucky to escape with a win today. All three are at the tail end of long and celebrated careers, so let’s cut him some slack and see what he does for the rest of the season and whether he can pull a few rabbits out of his hat before he calls it a career.
PS, what is Green’s status?
He is out for the season. Getting surgery on shoulder.
Whether they left on their own volition, or it was politely suggested they leave, Carm Cozza and Joe Restic retired at a younger age than Al. Both were venerated legends at their respective schools, Either they decided, or it was decided for them, someone realized they outlasted their welcome.
To me, today was an embarrassment, far more serious than a “huge disappointment.”
We started the season with a proven, veteran quarterback, a Fifth Year running back, and a host of receivers.
We have just lost three league games, two of which we were never ever in. Two of those losses were to teams we beat last year.
We have come up with unimaginable ways to lose.
When you are overmatched and you lose, it is disheartening. When you have talent and self destruct, it is embarrassing.
No one can deny Al inherited a malignant program and revived it. But today was just ineptitude personified.
Even if he “pulls a rabbit.out of a hat”, and beats a Harvard or a Yale, this entire season has to be seen as a disaster.
The task is to not let it impact recruiting and carry over to future seasons.
That is precisely what happened after 1972’s debacle.
Baby Gronk! Baby Gronk!
Our offense was still much predictable today and we wasted a great run of 50+ yards by Ryan Young and a couple of superb plays by Bryson Canty. Furthermore, Caden Bell did well enough considering this was his first start as Columbia's quarterback. Despite the disappointing loss today to Dartmouth, the Lions certainly seem capable of winning their next four games, if they fix their special team issues and send Bryson Canty and their other wide receivers downfield more often.
Thank you for sharing your perspective as a parent of a player. We need more of this!
Grooms is an average QB. Great runner and great athlete. Average QB. Has 9 INT this year and avg 150 yds passing per game. Ask any Yale fan
It is absolutely incomprehensible that we are this bad. Once again, we had more talent than the opposing team and we lost because of poor coaching. Special teams is a joke! Poor execution means poor coaching. Apparently it was "Opposite Day" when everyone on the sidelines (and in the stands) was screaming for our punt returner to stay away from the ball. Stay away from the all after it bounced three times and and he was surrounded by Dartmouth players. No, I think I'll try and grab it, fumble and let Dartmouth score. Kids make mistakes, but that is poor coaching. Speaking of Special Teams, we had a NEGATIVE punt and we were blocked in the End Zone. That's just embarrassing! Sorry, these young coaches are on a learning curve at the expense of these kids. Also, Caden Ball can run, but he can't pass. Hopefully he will feel more comfortable in the upcoming weeks. He didn't look well prepared. Again, inexperienced QB coach. I don't see us beating Yale or Cornell; maybe Brown. Yeah, we FINALLY used our TE and guess what, he scored! Who would have thought. Bravo to Fabish for NOT abandoning the Wildcat and saying "F-U" to everyone on this blog! The problem is that he screwed up AGAIN! This is incomprehensible as in he needs playbook therapy and coaching intervention! Unfortunately and I'm sorry, but all this falls on Al! Let D'Orazio call the plays; PLEASE!!!
Really poor form to trash Grooms…
Ummm….CU is NOT clemson or sarycuse. Lets stay in reality. This is the Ivy League.
And the NC qbs are gone who were wildcat qbs…the ones u seem to have hated for 2 years
What is it with u and the wildcat..the only qbs who could run that are the NC qbs and they are gone.
D’ orazio is one of the best coaches on the team. Very underutilized
Dude, Grooms didn’t even make All Ivy honorable mention last year. And he won’t this year either. Stenstrom, Sayin and Wang be 1st, 2nd team and hon mention at QB
There are so many idiotic comments in one post to get through here
CU fans not in a position to bad mouth other qbs
Does anyone know, (“know”, as opposed to “surmise” or “guess”), if the players actually like the Head Coach?
If indeed they do, we really should not be offering any opinions, suggestions and criticisms.
We are not the ones giving of our time, and health to play.
It should make no difference to us what a Fabish does, or does not do, to our liking.
Provided, of course, the players feel this group of coaches gives them a chance to win, week in and week out.
There has never been a successful team, where the coach has lost the locker room.
Jake, do we have any idea what the quarterback situation is at this time now that apparently Joe Green is out for the season? Obviously, Caden Bell is the starting quarterback, but who are his back-up(s)? Whatever happened to Austin Grier, the jv quarterback last year who seemed to have good potential. What about Jenner and the two freshmen, Simpkins and Macauley? If I had to pick the quarterback on the Columbia roster with the most potential it would be Simpkins. It seems to me that we need to get him on the field as soon as possible.
AUSTIN GRIER TIME but Al will fight it because who am I to tell him who his QB is!....Earth to Pilling , come in Pilling... CHANGE TIME
Young and Giorgi are good running backs but do we really not have anyone on the roster that can turn those big runs into touchdowns? I thought we had a thunder and lightning with those two but neither has break away speed. We score on one of those long runs to start the game, we have a whole different ball game on our hands.
Some of these comments are comical. Running back is one position we don’t have to worry about. RBs had over 200 yards rushing DB’s Dartmouth
I, too, would like to see a “CHANGE”. I think whatever magic the Coach once had has evaporated.
BUT, it really does not matter what I think. What do the players think? That is what counts.
Will they continue to play hard for him and his staff? Will talent still want to come to Morningside Heights and be part of his program?
The flip side, “we do not want to wait until it is too late” has merit too.
Players know how to make their discontent known. We really should leave it up to them.
It is not our place to dictate to a fine group, (any group of Ivy League athletes, in any sport, from any school, are a “fine group”) whom their coach should, or should not be.
Having said that, if the team makes it known they want a change, it is incumbent upon us to back them, however, little they may know, or appreciate the lean years pre Coach Bagnoli.
I still am incapable of understanding the genesis of yesterday’s debacles, the amalgamation of ineptitude.
Maybe you could rally the other parents of players like yourself and encourage the boys to make their voices known to Al and the staff?
Regarding breakaway speed:Young has good speed for a 230 pound back; Georgi has decent speed; neither is a Dante Miller. And generally DBs are at least as fast as RBs, usually faster, because they need to keep up with WRs. The Dartmouth DBs also had a pursuit angle as I recall.
Come on people, it is utter nonsense to discuss a possible change in leadership of the Columbia Football Program when our Head Coach is an outstanding football coach with a long record of success. Fortunately, this is not a Mangurian situation where something obviously had to be done to change what was happening on and off the field. In my opinion, no one is more qualified than Coach Bagnoli to lead this team to an Ivy League Championship in the very near future.
I don’t see anyone trashing him. Guy just stated he is average and complimented his running and athletic abilities. He is better than CU QBs
Just for the record, I am not a parent of an active player.
My son, actually captained another sport, at another Ivy League school.
(He preferred a country atmosphere, to the streets of Manhattan.)
My last College reunion began with an “F” and is was not for “Forty”.
If you research the “Cardiac Kids”, it was a name Paul Zimmerman, a Columbia alumnus, who was a sportswriter for the New York Post, coined for the 1971 team. Through the first seven games, (the season was only nine games then), we either won or lost, by no more than three points. We had exciting come from behind victories in the closing minutes against Yale and Dartmouth.
We finished the year 5-0 at the then “largest wooden stadium in America”,
Now, decades later, no one can take away those fond memories, (sadly, some dear teammates have passed away, Jesse Parks, William Irish and others I likely do not know about), which is why my heart is breaking for those Lions who had to endure yesterday’s embarrassment.
So depending on when you played, based on records and being that at some point you were on the 1971 team, you could have amassed at most 13 wins in 4 years. Don’t you think it’s a little ridiculous that you have this much contempt for a coach that has far surpassed those horrible win totals. When you played, the team was awful, and that continued for almost every year since. Columbia had FIVE winning seasons since 1952 before Bagnoli signed on. He’s had 2 and will have 3 after this year. You want to talk about ineptitude, this program is the epitome of ineptitude before Al. They should be building him a statue, not discussing making a change.
I also thought you stated “let’s let the season play out”. And have a moratorium on bashing Bagnoli and Fabish.
Sorry but has to be said - How good is Bagnoli? He has transformed a Columbia football fanbase into a group that could be mistaken for a group of Michigan boosters during a 4-loss season
He and his staff actually had the long, long suffering supporters of Columbia football believing this could be the year. We all believed it. And that my friends is indeed a significant accomplishment
It will not happen this year. That hurts a lot. It should and you can all be rightly angry about the way the season is turning out. But turnarounds are fragile things. The entire extended Columbia football community has invested too much money and energy to risk the program backsliding to where it was
Just trying to provide some perspective through which we can all process what we are feeling right now
Well said!
So someone asked if the players liked Al. The answer is, of course they do. Certainly there are instances where players don't like or agree with some of the play calls, but when do you ever find 150 people that agree on everything.
But back to Al. He is one of the primary reasons why every player is at Columbia. Players don't choose schools if they don't like the head coach. Just about every single player had other Ivy League options. they wound up choosing Columbia. Case in point, if they didn't like Al, they likely would have gone to a different Ivy league school.
Columbia doesn't just offer kids. They offer kids after the kids have gone through an academic analysis to see if they meet columbia standards. When that happens, the offer comes. And once an offer comes from an Ivy school, many of the others wind up offering as well as most of these kids are on the radars of all of the Ivy schools. And once one offers, the others know that the kid would pass their admissions too since they all have the same process.
Special teams were a disaster yesterday. Guarantee Al and the coaching staff will be addressing that in their meetings today and going forward.
No point in arguing, but one used to have only three years of eligibility. Freshman, played on a Freshman team, that played a schedule that actually included Army. (In fact, the Freshman Football coach under Bill Campbell was Bill Polian.)
Over three seasons, though, we beat every Ivy League team, at least once.
Again, not by way of comparison, we never played the likes of Marist or Wagner either.
No one is disputing that Coach Bagnoli revived the dead. He deserves enormous credit.
Then again, world’s greatest cardiologist is not who you want to set your broken tibia.
I will ask it again. Who was your best friend on the CU football team in ‘71? Something is not adding up with this story
I guess you have been living under a rock. Austin was announced academic ineligible this year and is also not even on the team anymore. Get a clue.
When was this published and where? Very little info ever comes out other than Jake.... Tell me where we can get weekly injury updates, details about Green's shoulder injury/surgery and where we can listen in on the fabulous game plans!
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