Time to be Heard... UPDATE: Harris Responds

Robin Harris needs to hear from us!

UPDATE:

I got a voice mail from Ms. Harris just now. She insisted that the Harvard Crimson misrepresented the meaning of her quotes and she would not say that Ivy fans do not want to see our football champs participate in the FCS playoffs.

Harris says she is going to ask the Crimson to consider re-writing the story or clarifying it. I will leave that to them.

Of course, the points are all still mostly the same. Because the following quotes are NOT disputed at all by Harris:

“I think our fans care about Ivy League football,” she said. “Rivalry games are going to draw the most fans [to] a given game, and whether or not a team is going on to the FCS playoffs, I don’t think is going to [have an] impact.”

And

“The Ivy League presidents are not interested in allowing participation in the playoffs because they value Ivy football as it currently exists,” Harris said. “The focus for our teams is on the regular season and the value of Ivy League play. The tradition and history of Ivy League football is paramount.”

So, if we just look at quote #1, Harris is very clearly saying more fans wouldn't come to games if we allowed the League champ to go the FCS playoffs. I really don't agree with that, but even if she's right, I can tell you the opposite IS true: FEWER fans are going to come to games going forward if we continue to marginalize football. 

Quote #2 is almost as tough to swallow. We're supposed to believe that the Ivy presidents care most for Ivy "tradition." 

Sorry, but Ivy tradition was trashed a long time ago for D-IAA status. That "tradition" is less than 40 years old in a league with teams who have all been playing more than 100 years. 

What the Ivy presidents want is football phased out. The sport embarrasses them and everyone knows it. The one decent supporter of football, Dartmouth's Jim Yong Kim, has left that post now and I KNEW that his departure would bring in a new assault on the sport in general by his ex-peers.

While we may be able to erase the charge against Harris that she drastically misrepresented the will of the fans, (again, "may" being the key word. I want to hear what the reporters have to say), the issue is that the League is still blocking what the overwhelming majority of the fans want for no good reason.

So I still urge everyone to email Harris and POLITELY let your feelings about FCS playoffs be known.

The next step is to publicize the truth about what the fans want in a way that the Ivy presidents can't pretend to ignore.


Original post is below:

Sometimes, people in power are just asking for it…

All the long-time readers of this blog know very well that the overwhelming majority of Ivy football fans strongly want our teams to be made eligible for the FCS postseason playoff tournament.

And yet, in this new piece in the Harvard Crimson, Ivy League Executive Director Robin Harris says she doesn’t think the fans really want entry into the FCS playoffs.

I’m sorry Ms. Harris, but your email inbox is about to explode and I will be partly responsible.

Friends, we can’t sit back any longer on this. It’s not just about getting into the FCS playoffs. It’s about making sure Ivy football is not marginalized more than it already is. Our sport is in jeopardy of becoming D-III, like Amherst or Williams with eight game seasons at best. The slide from the glory days of the past is enough, time to turn the tide.

Please write a strong but POLITE email to Harris at robinharris@ivyleaguesports.com and CC her deputy Carolyn Campbell-McGovern carolyn@ivyleaguesports.com to make sure our voices are heard.

We may not get a policy change right away, but at least Harris will be disabused of the notion that Ivy football fans, even Harvard and Yale fans, don’t want FCS playoff eligibility.

Because we DO want our champions to show what they can do in the playoffs and we DO want HS football recruits around the country to see it too.

The time for sitting back and letting people none of us elected to speak for us is over.

I just sent my email and here it is below:

Dear Ms. Harris:

I must say I was alarmed to read your quotes in the recent Harvard Crimson piece where you spoke for fans like me and grossly misrepresented what we indeed want.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion about this policy, and if you were misquoted in any way I apologize. But you're grossly mistaken about what fans want for Ivy League football.

I am willing to put my money where my mouth is on this one. If the league would commission a scientific poll on this question to fans, players and coaches, I would be willing to mount a campaign for everyone to chip in some money to help defray the cost. 

I know you have a tough job, and I admire you for the more public persona you've cultivated compared to your predecessor. Please take all this a step further and endeavor to find out and publicize what the fans and teams really want.

I also know that you are under extreme pressure, primarily from the administrations at Harvard and Yale, to keep the status quo. But this is your chance to break out and make a real stand for Ivy athletics. You can be a hero here. I believe in you. 

The thousands of loyal alumni and fans at all eight schools are depending on you now. We want you to represent US, and not the administrators and presidents of the schools who already have enough power and representation as it is. 

Please help get this done.

Sincerely, 

Jake Novak

What Looks Good

Bruce Wood at the Big Green Alert Blog has learned that Hamilton Garner is one of just two Ivy Tight Ends on the 2013 College Football Performance Awards FCS Tight End Watch List.

That’s two nice accolades for Garner in the last 24 hours, because he was one of the Lions players given the heftiest praise from Head Coach Pete Mangurian in his assessment of the Columbia offense released last night.

The update on the offense got right to the heart of the matter, devoting four of the first paragraphs on the offensive line.

From what Mangurian wrote, it sure seems like the top 5 O-liners on the depth chart are Ryan Thomas at center, Jim Yukevich and Keith Ramljak at guard, and Eric Kuklinski and Billy Lawrence at tackle. All that could change of course, but appears where we are right now.

(And while we don’t know of Tom Callahan will move up on the depth chart or face some kind of roadblock because of the Twitter issues, it doesn’t SEEM like he was expected to be a starter this fall either way. But I still believe he has a lot of talent and it’s certainly worth it for him and the program to do whatever they can to clear everything up).

Mangurian also asserted that the line in general is improving, which is always good to hear and I don’t think he’s bluffing. He acknowledged that there’s a long way to go

None of this changes the fact that the O-line is still probably the #1 concern/challenge for this team right now. But I am a bit more encouraged than I was a day ago.

There is indeed more good news at the Tight End position where in addition to the praise for Garner, the coach seems excited about Garett Demuth. We also heard about Nick Durham basically playing the H-back position, which makes a lot of sense.

In what was a real moment of super clarity, Mangurian said that Connor Nelligan, Chris Connors, and Jake Wanamaker were the top three receivers right now. That seems to confirm my suspicions that Wanamaker was indeed more than just a little injured last season and would have made more of an impact had he been healthy.  I still think Isaiah Gross will be a de facto starter this fall too.

At running back, I was also very encouraged by the coach’s comments about Griffin Lowery and Cameron Molina.

In August, the freshmen will come in and change a lot of the factors now in place. But in one sentence here are my takes on each major part of the 2013 Lions:

Offense Overall: Looks generally good. Should be the stronger of the two units.

Defense Overall: Could drop a peg from last year without coach Lempa, Josh Martin and two of the three starting linebackers, but a chance to avoid a decline if Adebayo meets expectations.

Special Teams Overall: Generally a strength, especially if Eddy gets more consistent.

Quarterbacks: Should be a strength position with a lot of depth, and maybe a super weapon if Nottingham lifts all boats.

Running Backs: Garrett is a real star, but backups look better than before and maybe only one or two Ivy teams have a better overall running attack.

Wide Receivers: Perhaps the #1 strength of the team, with maybe three All Ivy players.

Offensive Line: Still a big worry, but will be better than 2012.

Tight Ends: Another good strength, depth seems to have jumped a few levels in quality.

Defensive Line: Looks solid, but would be more solid with Chad Washington who can’t be fully expected to play the whole season right now.

Linebackers: Olinger is a top player, but his supporting cast is a crucial question mark.

Secondary: Another big question mark; there’s talent but not much starting experience.

Placekicking: Eddy has a powerful leg; needs to be more consistent.

Punting: Delaney is the man.

Returners: Major positive jump from where we thought we were at this time last year.

Coaching: Also seems to have improved, but Twitter/Chad Washington scandals and the rough schedule will be a major test. 

Movies, TV, and 1st Pitches

Movie Moment…

I just saw Silver Linings Playbook this weekend and I have a big question: If you're an Eagles fan, is it hard to watch that movie? I mean, it's an entire film that basically promotes the stereotype that you're all a bunch of violent low-lives.

That reminds me of a story about my audition to do the color commentary for Columbia football back in 2007. The dept. asked me to pair up with Jerry Recco, who had just finished his first year as play-by-play guy for CU, during the spring game. I was splitting that job that with my competition, who was a recent Penn grad.

The Penn grad took a look at Recco’s Dallas Cowboys tote bag and started trashing Jerry’s beloved Cowboys. (If you’re wondering whether that was the smartest move from someone trying out for a job working WITH Recco… well, you’re not alone).

Penn grad said something bad about Dallas and how he was an Eagles fan and Recco responded with something about how at least Cowboys fans aren’t a bunch of low-lives.

All-in-all, that was a pretty fun moment.

Falcone Honored/Baseball Team Dissed

Speaking of NON low-lives, it was great to see CU baseball sophomore Joey Falcone honored by throwing the first pitch at the Mets game Sunday night. He got a huge ovation and wore his Columbia jersey, which was a great added touch.

Meanwhile, the NCAA Regional pairings were announced yesterday and it seems like the selection committee wants the Lions to go quietly into that good night. Columbia is playing #3 Cal-State Fullerton in the opening game on Fullerton’s home field. Then, they’ll play either Arizona State or New Mexico.

The Columbia-Cal State Fullerton game will be broadcast ion ESPNU at 11pm Eastern Time this Friday night. We’ll be watching.

TV Schedule

Speaking of TV schedules and being “dissed,” we have been assured that the NBC Sports Network will not snub Columbia this fall and make the Lions the ONLY Ivy school not getting a game on that network like last year.

I expect the Penn game to be televised and that’s about it… with the exception of the game at Yale, which I expect the YES Network to cover once again as it did last season.

The last two CU-Penn games have been down-to-the-wire nail-biters with some decent highlights, (and the 2010, 2009, 2008 games weren’t stinkers or blowouts either), so the chances that this will be a watchable game for the fans at home are decent. The fact that the game will be the Homecoming day at CU should also make the stands relatively full, (that is, unless the anti-football people on campus find a way to keep their demonization campaign going through the summer and most of the fall).

But the best Columbia game to watch this season, if the past 10 years or so is to be considered, will probably be the game against Brown. The last three Lion-Bear games at Wien Stadium have been extremely good contests, especially the double OT win by Columbia in 2011. But since the Columbia-Brown game is in week 10, it won’t be televised by anyone since that’s also the day of the Harvard-Yale game.

The Columbia-Yale games every year since 2009 have been pretty great too, but again, that’s going to be on YES.

So when you think about it, Columbia-Penn really is the best way to go for NBCSN. Hopefully, the network will end up broadcasting the first Lion win over the Quaker gridders since way back in 1996. 

They Don’t Stand Still

Every morning on the way to work, I listen to about 10 minutes of the start of the Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts Show on WFAN sports radio.

What I really love about the show is how these guys cut through the B.S.

I mean, they're so good at it that I actually think it would be very good for the country if we had two guys like that covering politics and general news every day!

Part of that honesty is that even though both Joe and Evan are HUGE Mets fans, they don't let that blind them to the truth about where the team is and how well it's playing.

Evan is also just as realistic and introspective about his beloved Nets, as is Joe about his beloved Jets.

We might all think we're seasoned fans who can roll with the punches and still see the trees for the forest, but unless you can hold your own like the WFAN guys, (one of whom is our own football play-by-play man Jerry Recco), you're just an amateur.

And let's face it, we could really use that kind of mature perspective when it comes to OUR beloved Lions.

So, when I look at all the comments about how great many of our returning players are, I have to say that I generally agree with them.

We do have impressive talent and even improving depth on this team right now. We have players at many positions who are a significant upgrade over the average level player we’ve seen over the past 20 years or so.

We have the Campbell Center open and ready to go with all the added amenities and comforts the program has needed for almost 40 years.

We have extremely dedicated alumni who are donating more money than ever to athletics and football in particular.

But one thing I don’t think enough of our fans are recognizing is that our seven Ivy League opponents are all improving too. They don’t stand still while we catch up to them.

And while every coach has to publicly say that he is only focused on his team and not looking at the competition, I sure hope that isn’t actually the case for Pete Mangurian right now.

Here’s why:

We have great returning players, but we don’t have as many All Ivy returnees as most of the other Ivies.

We have the great Campbell Center, but can we definitely say it’s better than the new arrangement the Quakers have at Franklin Field, or the Floren Varsity House at Dartmouth?

For every 10 paragraphs I write on this blog extolling our players’ virtues and the general improvement of the program, I have to dedicate at least one paragraph to continually reminding everyone about what a MURDEROUS schedule Columbia faces in 2013.

Not every team Columbia is playing this year is better than it was in 2012. But Fordham, Dartmouth, and Yale look like they will be.

Not every tough game Columbia faces in 2013 is on the road, but it will be tough to repeat last year’s wins over Cornell and Yale in their stadiums this time around.

Lehigh is one of the best programs in all of FCS football right now, and even though that’s a home game, it would be a huge accomplishment to beat them anywhere.

Princeton won’t catch anyone by surprise this year, but their defensive line and running game are very strong and the Lions have to play the TIgers in Princeton this year.

Two of Columbia’s three Ivy home games are against Penn and Harvard, the other game is against Brown. Those three teams will very likely be picked as the top three schools in the preseason polls this summer.

Columbia almost beat Dartmouth last year at home, but this fall the rematch is in Hanover where the Lions have been blown out their last two visits.

The question we all have to ask ourselves, is that barring massive upgrades in player performance at multiple positions, where are the wins in 2013?

Here’s the schedule:

Sat, Sep 21	Fordham	Bronx, N.Y.	TBA
Sat, Sep 28	MONMOUTH	Robert K. Kraft Field	TBA
Sat, Oct 05	Princeton *	Princeton, N.J.	TBA
Sat, Oct 12	LEHIGH	Robert K. Kraft Field	TBA
Sat, Oct 19	PENN *	Robert K. Kraft Field	TBA
Sat, Oct 26	Dartmouth *	Hanover, N.H.	TBA
Sat, Nov 02	Yale *	New Haven, Conn.	TBA
Sat, Nov 09	HARVARD *	Robert K. Kraft Field	TBA
Sat, Nov 16	Cornell *	Ithaca, N.Y.	TBA
Sat, Nov 23	BROWN *	Robert K. Kraft Field	TBA

Okay everyone, which games are we going to win?

Before everyone jumps on the Monmouth game, remember that this was a 5-5 team last year that darn near beat Lehigh and has a returning RB in Julian Hayes who’s been named to the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) Watch List. 

So tell me which games we’re going to win?

Of course, I want us to go 10-0. Everyone knows that. But I’m not seeing one game where Columbia will even be favored this season.

Does a big part of me really believe that new factors on the stage will change all that? Of course, but we all have to be prepared for what we face beginning on Sept. 21^st when the Lions stop playing and practicing against themselves and start facing the opposition. 

Who's the Man?

Marcorus Garrett




I admit that no one is more responsible for all the Brett Nottingham hype than I am... and I hope I won't need to apologize for that as I think he will turn out to be a star QB in this league.

But that doesn't mean I rule out the possibility that the 2013 Columbia season could end up belonging to another player or two poised to have breakout seasons and carry this team to the next level.

Here are my top 5 contenders and what kinds of stats they'd need to grab the headlines:


1) Marcorus Garrett

-Garrett already had his breakout season last year by coming darn close to rushing for 1,000 yards behind a weak O-line and on a team that was still sub-par. Now, #23 has stepped things up by pushing himself to new heights in his offseason weight training.

Just getting to 1,000 yards alone probably won't be enough for Garrett to push the Lions past the three or four win mark. But I see 1,200 as a magic number because that would be a more likely sign that he's getting about 25 carries a game.

Another magic number would be at least 10 rushing TD's, doubling his total from last season. It sounds cliche, but opposing teams should know that Garrett is going to score at some point in every game and the best they can do is to contain him after that.

I also think Garrett could be a lot more dangerous this year coming out of the backfield as a receiver. He only had 22 receptions in 2012, but he many of them really count. If the receivers and tight ends do their jobs this year and draw adequate coverage, Garrett should be able to get open much more after he makes an initial block or move at the line.  I'd like to see him get 40+ receptions with five or more TD's in 2013.


2) Hamilton Garner

Top notch tight ends are almost always a new starting QB's best friend. ASnd since Columbia will have a new starting QB no matter what, Garner has a chance to post a major upgrade to his 2012 season this fall.

A dominant year for Garner would mean doubling his 2012 reception total to 50+ and coming close to or achieving the 10 TD reception level.

It doesn't mean that Garner won't be a major contributor if he falls short of those numbers, but to be a dominant cog in a successful season that's where Garner is going to need to be.


3) Seyi Adebayo

Columbia may actually flat out NEED a breakout year from Adebayo if Chad Washington is unable to play this fall.

Adebayo is a complete x-factor after missing 8+ games last year with an ACL tear. Physically, he's more than 100% back. But he needs to get some serious numbers to shore up a D-line that is improving but still faces a major challenge without the graduated Josh Martin.

For Adebayo to be the game changer this fall, he needs to hit the 40-tackle, 10-sack neighborhood and put in monster minutes doing it.


4) Zach Olinger

Without as much experienced talent playing beside him at linebacker, Olinger is another already great player who absolutely MUST pick up his game this fall if the Lions are going to have any chance to win four or more games.

Olinger will need to get into the 100 tackle territory, and net more than 10 tackles for a loss. He'll also need to break up more than five or six passes in total.

If Olinger isn't a shoo-in 1st Team All Ivy LB at the end of the year, then this will not be a 5-5 team this fall. Simple as that.


5) Connor Nelligan

Nelligan can actually put up all the same numbers he did in 2012 and still be dominant in 2013... with one exception: TD's. Nelligan MUST get some scores this season to make the impact Columbia needs him to make in 2013.

It's truly amazing that Nelligan had 62 receptions for 636 yards last season, many of them in crucial, clutch situations... and STILL did not score ONE TD for the whole year.

I think he needs to get five scores minimum this fall, period.


Honorable Mentions/Dark Horses

Travis Reim can be the superstar if he gets more pick-offs and pass breakup stats.

Marquel Carter could surprise if he becomes more a tackling force and helps shore up the fresh linebacking corps from his safety position.

Niko Padilla has the chance to make a major difference because impact-level defensive tackles in the Ivies are almost as rare as unicorns. If he gets into 30-tackle, 10-TFL territory, watch out.

Isaiah Gross still may be the best deep threat Columbia has at WR and his off the radar for a lot of teams because he missed just about all of 2012 to injury. This guy is dangerous and even if he only grabs 30 or so passes, it's likely he'll average a lot more than 15 yards per catch. That would be a game-changer for CU.