I was at Harvard Stadium Saturday, but if you couldn't get there and you have an ESPN+ subscription, you can see the archived game here.
A number of fans have told me the same thing I thought when I finally caught the ESPN+ coverage: the announcing team of play-by-play man Alex Vispoli and color man Justin Gallanty was really excellent, showing no undue biases, and catching all the key angles. Really well done!
Thoughts on Brown
First, some history: Columbia has defeated Brown in three out of their last four meetings, including the last two games at Brown Stadium.
Wondering how long it's been since the Lions have won three in a row at an Ivy League opponent's stadium?
The answer is 59 years, when Columbia wrapped up four wins in a row at Brown Stadium, (1957, 1959, 1961, and 1963).
The only other Ivy team the Lions have defeated three straight times on the road is Harvard, (1950, 1952, and 1954)
Now to the present: Yes, Brown was clocked by Yale at the Bowl on Saturday by that 69-17 score. But the Bears have been a much better team at home this year.
It's not clear who will be starting at QB for Brown, as Jake Wilcox sat out last week with an injury for the second week in a row. Aidan Gillman, who played well against Penn in week seven, was not as effective vs. Yale but also not remotely the reason why the Bears lost.
That responsibility fell squarely on the Brown defense, which has been one of the weaker units in the league this year and has been especially bad against the run. Columbia's deep and talented running attack should be excited about that.
On the other hand, the Brown offense has just the kind of varied pass offense that seems to hit some of the key Lion weaknesses.
Another factor to consider is that forecasters are expecting a rainy day in New England Saturday. Of course, that can change but wet conditions should be expected.
21 comments:
Did the Brownies finally get new field turf installed or is it the same “blanked” up field where the sidelines are a foot lower than midfield?
Yes they have a nice field turf... we just haven't played on it yet because of the 2020 season cancellation.
In defense of the DBs:
I’m of the view that much of the criticism directed at the DBs is misplaced. I think that for the most part they have played well. Sure, there are blown coverages and missed tackles, but that’s to be expected. Playing DB is really hard, especially the way the DC has set up the defense.
First and foremost, they are tasked with covering very fast, very talented, and often very tall receivers— often one on one. In addition, the problem they face each and every game Is that we have trouble putting pressure on the QB since we almost always rush just four guys. Blitzing or a five man front is a rarity. The result is they usually don’t put pressure on the QB until after he has had sufficient time to drop back, survey the scene and make a good throw to receivers who’ve had ample time to shake their defenders. Playing DB is a lot easier when the QB has to hurry throws early in the play cycle before the WRs can make their moves and gain separation from the DBs.
Each and every one of our opponents realizes this. That’s why in game after game, we see 50 yd pass after 50 yd pass thrown to a speeding WR downfield ( and there’s lots of them in this league). And we also get killed on planned rollouts where the QB rolls out of pocket to hit a WR on a mid range to deep crossing pattern . It’s just asking too much of our DBs to be able to stick with these very talented and fast WRs for so long.
I remain at a loss as to why the DC doesn’t blitz more, especially on second or third and long. We can get away with his approach when we face teams whose OL is mediocre, but it hasn’t worked against the better teams with good OLs, e.g. Pr, P, Y,H.
I can’t see him changing his approach now unless, of course, Bags steps in. But if he hasn’t stepped in yet, it means he’s on board.
Looking ahead, I’m pretty confident that Brown will continue to seek to exploit this. I’m betting, however, that our improving DL will be able to generate a solid pass rush on its own against them. If they do, they’ll take a lot of heat off the DBs and give them a better chance to perform well. It’ll help us win too. And it wouldn’t hurt to throw in a few blitz packages.
To Peter Stevens: excellent breakdown and analysis, even the 2nd time around! Seriously, thank you. It makes a whole lotta sense.
Peter, here's a thought... maybe we should put faster and more athletic DBs on the field. Blown coverages and missed tackles is an understatement. What we put on the field are straight off a Sprint Football team. We have hobbits covering 6'2”-6'4" WRs and TEs. If I were an opposing QB and saw our 5’8”-5’10” DBs lined up, I would simply call an audible and throw directly at them (and they do!). Because we have such undersized DBs, we should be playing more zone defense to neutralize this shortcoming (pun intended). Over the past few games, our DBs got beat several times and the opposing WRs simply dropped the ball. Then, when our DBs see that it is an incomplete pass, they do dances on the field. What am I missing? In fact, against Dartmouth, our DC recognized this concern and called for a zone defense. The problem was that half the DBs were playing man-to-man and the other half were playing zone. That is why they were wide open in the end zone. There is nothing more frustrating than watching our DBs try and cover WRs on 3rd and 15+ and we consistently fail. Call it coaching, height/athletically challenged personnel or whatever you like, but the DB position in its current state is a concern. It is not the DL or LBs lack of pressure on the QB.
When we blitzed against Princeton it worked to our advantage. Princeton had only one legitimate long drive against us. JT had three sacks. We lost that game because we had no offense and several world class mistakes. Give any QB 5 or more seconds and he will complete most of his passes
Look at the tape of the Princeton game and you will see one of the best PD plays I have ever seen, when our CB knocked the ball away from Princeton’s all world #9 on a deep ball. Our corners aren’t getting beat; one of our safeties seems to have difficulty staying with fast WRs. We are playing more zone now, which should help.
As you know I hate the Hurry Up and Wait Offense, and the Dumbcat at any time..I have already pointed out that the Hurry Up and Wait has also spread to the defense.. This hesitation and uncertainty has led the defense to be unprepared for the current play... Murphy's offense last week LET us look around, be unprepared and confused.before snapping the ball.. Good teams against us run up-tempo, damn the torpedos! AND catch us completely off guard... Are we in a zone or man to man? Let's get set before the play! As to the DB follies, Peter Stevens rings the bell.. NOT ENOUGH CONSISTENT pressure on the QB..Ferraro mixed the constant pressure by bringing it from different players all the time..Still time to adjust....
Agreed. DBs at any level will get burned if there is no pass rush
Sounds like all Al needs to do is to form a steering committee of Bloggers on this site to serve as coordinators. It might be a bit unwieldy but with so many brilliant football minds success is virtually guaranteed.
Hey Anonymous, it seems you can’t quite get your head around the notion of constructive criticism, especially when it’s directed at those in positions of power. The good news for you is that there are many places around the globe where your desire to suppress dissent (and demand blind loyalty) is looked upon quite favorably. Personally, I’m not a fan of those kinds of authoritarian regimes, but it’s nice to know that you’d be at ease living in a dictatorship.
I'm at a loss... Do you people even watch these games? I've attended several and watched the balance on ESPN+. Objectively, I think that we can all agree that the PRIMARY weakness on the field (note, not on the sidelines or in the box), are the DBs. Forget pass rush, pressure from the LBs, or pressure from the ends; it's the DBs. With inferior talent (and size), we should just play Zone. We should look at shifting more athletic (and bigger) players into that position next year, or recruit accordingly. Unfortunately, our DBs do not wrap up properly to tackle (see Penn, Dartmouth and Princeton games), and half the time they tried to tackle with their backs? That still escapes me. As far as the Princeton game, Classi (#7) and Iosivas (#9) were toying with our DB. This may be a coaching matter on how to tackle properly, but at this level, they shouldn't have to teach the basics...
I looked at the roster and these are very generous heights listed, except for Aaron Brebnor, Come Crews, Lucas Mireur and Ethan Hubs.
https://gocolumbialions.com/sports/football/roster?sort=position
Well said NJ Lion! There are many bloggers who not only know what they are talking about but are spot on in the comments. Here's hoping that some of the coaches read the board.
Lion 1 excluded
I don’t where this unfounded hatred of the defense came from but it is very weird. Other than the Yale game, our defense has played up to expectations. Once can argue, they have exceeded expectations as they are definitely the stronger unit compared to the offense. Go back and look at preseason analysis on how we expected our defense to have a down year compared to previous years and graduated talent. Not only has Sto done a tremendous job, but also had a top ranked rush defense. The DB play hasn’t been the best but our passing defense in years pass hasn’t been astoundingly better. Remember Montclair of 2019? Yale 2021? Our defense is solid and certainly the highlight of the year. Constructive criticism is fair but trying to bash Stovall is unfair in my opinion. Offense has been poor and was even poor last game. Defense bailed them out. Too many turnovers. Albeit, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I agree. D has saved our anemic offense a few times. While there have been some issues as you say, I feel like we almost always have a chance with our D, whereas the same cannot be said of our O.
I suggest all of us lighten up; we want the same thing, a great football program.
Re the Princeton WRs; they were kept under control and in fact out #9 made a play on their #9 which was picture perfect; we could have won that game with a better offensive performance. Princeton only had one long drive and we botched our long drive with a screw-up on a wildcat snap. Our defense had to defend a short field o17 of Princeton’s 24 points. In short, we played a very good defensive game, kept Princeton’s WRs under control, and lost the game due to offensive ineptitude. The only bad defensive game we played was against Penn, which was also due to offensive gaffes.
How are the hoop Lions doing? What a nightmare!
Defense has been good all year. Good job by Stovall..How about the offense?
I see improvement in the offense and continue to be impressed by Caden Bell's game management, which is also improving every game. The Giants in the Phil Simms era weren't barn burners on offense, but they scored enough points and the defense did the rest. Who knows, maybe the CU offense uncorks some amazing stuff against a weaker D like Brown. Looking forward to the game.
Go Lions!
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