Fumbled Away

Yale 31 Columbia 23


Why Yale Won

The Elis forced five turnovers, including two in the 2nd quarter that both led to Yale TD's. Freshman QB Kurt Rawlings came into the game in relief and helped the Elis maintain their lead throughout.


Why Columbia Lost

In addition to the turnovers, the Lion offense took way too long to get into a groove. Columbia finished with just 92 yards rushing and allowed four sacks.


Key Turning Points

-On the second play of the 2nd quarter, Lion RB Alan Watson fumbled the ball at the Yale 36 and Eli freshman DE John Herubin returned it for a TD.


-Less than two minutes after that TD, Columbia punt returned Lynnard Rose dropped a punt that Yale recovered at the Columbia 15. Two plays later is was 14-0.


Columbia Positives


-The Lions defense performed extremely well despite the final score. Yale was held to just 99 rushing yards overall and start runner Alan Lamar had just 66 yards on 28 carries.

-The 4th quarter marked the emergence of a new potential weapon for the Lions: WR Ronald Smith. The fact that he was making so many difficult catches when so many of his teammates had trouble holding on to the ball was notable. He finished with six catches for 114 yards and two TD's.


Columbia Negatives

-The turnovers were galling, especially the dropped punt.

-The Lion offense still looked unready to play, especially after it committed two substitution penalties on the same drive.

Columbia MVP

-It seemed like the Lion defense was making tackles for a loss every other play. Once again, that effort was led by senior LB Ginamarco Rea. He was the MVP of this game with Smith coming in as a close second for his receiving heroics.

Seeking a New Kind of Streak

Al Bagnoli is 18-6 lifetime vs. Yale


Yale Elis vs. Columbia Lions

October 28, 2016

Kickoff Time: 7:00pm

Location: Robert K. Kraft Field at Wien Stadium

Game Time Weather Forecast: 45 degrees, clear, possible moderate wind gusts

The Spread: The game is "pick 'em"

TV/Radio: The game is nationally televised on NBC Sports Network . Superior audio can be heard on the Ivy League Digital Network with Jerry Recco and Sal Licata on the call.

Columbia Game Notes

Yale Game Notes


Leading Story Lines

1) Talk about role reversal! Yale comes into this game in a tailspin at 1-5 and with most Eli fans calling for Head Coach Tony Reno's head. The negative vibe swirling around Yale seems like it could snowball for the rest of the season, or the Elis could be fired up to fight back.

2) On the flip side, Columbia seems to be on the rise even after an ugly win over Dartmouth last week. Tonight's game will give the Lions the chance to win two in a row for the first time since they had a three game winning streak in 2010.

3) Columbia's defense has been stellar while its offense simply has trouble scoring touchdowns. Yale's defense might be the weakest the Lions will face all year. If Columbia can't finish drives tonight, it may not happen this year at all.


Players to Watch

-Columbia's offense may rely heavily on freshman WR Josh Wainwright #13 and his ability to shred the generally porous Yale secondary.

-Yale's freshman RB Alan Lamar #5 almost single-handedly defeated Dartmouth three weeks ago for the Elis sole win of 2016. He's been battling some injury issues since, but could be ready to play at full tilt tonight.

-Columbia safety Landon Baty #23 has had been the top target for opposing defenses all season long. Baty has made them pay with excellent pass defense, run defense, and open field tackling. Tonight, I expect Yale to go after him anyway. Look for Baty to be in on a lot of plays where Eli QB Tre Moore tries to take off and run.

-Yale senior safety Foye Oluokun #23 is kind of like the last man standing on what was once a good defense. He'll need to step things up to do something about the massive chunk of passing yardage the Elis give up each game.

-And it goes without saying that Columbia LB Christian Conway #7 and H-back Jackson Conway #4 must be watched closely in this game. The Conway twins had their slots on the Yale football team rescinded by Eli Head Coach Tony Reno in 2012 and they had to change their commitments from Yale to Duke. After transferring to Columbia last year the Conway twins, especially Christian, slaughtered Yale's ball carriers all day in the 17-7 Lion win. 


If, Then

-If Columbia's offense sputters again, then Yale will feel more confident in spreading its offensive attack around. The Lions can't rely on just being able to shut down the Eli run attack alone.

-If Yale falls behind by more than one score early, then look for the fight to go out of this team the rest of the way. With a coach under fire and a number of key players who have left the team recently, Bulldog fortitude is at a low ebb.

-If Columbia establishes its passing attack early, then look for the Lions to shift to the run down the stretch. The Columbia offensive line has been wearing down opponents in the running lanes lately.

Joseph Leeman


UPDATE: We have a new Lion!

-I missed this earlier this season, but Columbia Football is honored to have a returning veteran now on its roster.

His name is Joseph Leeman, a 2010 graduate of New Jersey's Pompton Lakes HS, (which is not far from Wien Stadium on the other side of the George Washington Bridge).

Leeman was a Marine who once won the prestigious "Marine of the Quarter" award.

Let's welcome Joseph and all the potential athletes who can help Columbia via our excellent Yellow Ribbon program.

Week 7 Picks

I went a humbling 1-2 straight up and 1-2 against the spread last week to bring my season records to 18-11 straight up and also 18-11 ATS.



Princeton -8 1/2 at Cornell

The Big Red will not win this game, and the clock is close to striking midnight on this team. But Cornell often plays Princeton very well at home and I think it will be somewhat close. In the end, Princeton will cover as it must realize its Ivy championship dreams are far from dashed at this point.


Penn -19 vs. Brown

Without a storm to cover for its problems, Brown will be exposed much as Yale was by Penn last week.


Harvard -4 1/2 at Dartmouth

The small spread for this game is tough to beat because I do think this game will be close. But the Crimson should win by a TD.

The Core Four

Jared Katz

When the day finally comes where Al Bagnoli brings the Columbia football program to the top of the Ivies, there will be a lot of talk and reminiscing about his first few teams and how much they struggled. Only the die hard fans will remember the names of the players who were the best and most effective competitors during this lean, but improving era.

A group I think about a lot right now are the 18 or so seniors who came to Columbia as part of Pete Mangurian's first recruiting class. To say they went through some hard times is an understatement. Their first two years were marked by an 0-20 record and brutal controversies about Mangurian's tenure throughout. Then when Bagnoli was brought in, they had to deal with the chance that they may lose any hard-earned seniority on the depth charts.

But look at the roster and you'll see that a clear majority of those 18 players are either starting or playing key roles on the team today. They're on offense, defense, and special teams. But there's no denying that their presence is most felt on Columbia's excellent defense. And I want to put a spotlight on four of those seniors on defense that I call "The Core Four."

Two of them are DB's: Jared Katz and Brock Kenyon. The other two are LB's: Gianmarco Rea and Keith Brady. 

Anyone watching Columbia football this year knows how it seems like one of these guys is in on the stop on every single play. Rea is leading the Ivies in tackles. Katz is getting looks from NFL scouts. Kenyon and Brady are simply incredible sometimes.

Brock Kenyon in 2014


Speaking of incredible, check out this piece from last week in the Columbia Spectator about the day in the challenging life of Keith Brady. Considering how little it took for me to lose focus as a student when I was at Columbia, I don't see how the Engineering students on the football team or any team do it.

Just look at the Columbia stats so far this year. The three leading tacklers are Rea, Kenyon, and Brady in that order. Katz's numbers are impressive considering most teams don't bother to throw in his direction anyway. But he's still found a way to get 15 tackles including 1.5 tackles for a loss.

Gianmarco Rea

In a year marked by the encouraging play of so many freshmen, and the emergence of a quite of few juniors by the way, you might think it would be easy to overlook the contributions of these four-year Lion seniors. But it isn't easy because the Core Four have been playing so well. And looking at the remaining four games on the schedule, there are at least three teams on the docket that have big vulnerabilities to the weapons the Core Four bring to the table.

Their best days may be yet to come.

Texas Tech Target Flips for Columbia

5-10 190-pound DB Ben Mathiasmeier from Cinco Ranch HS in Katy, Texas has committed to the Lions.

Mathiasmeier will be the first Cinco Ranch grad to come to Columbia.

Mathiasmeier was pretty high on the Texas Tech radar after attending the Red Raider camp this summer. The Tech coaches even see him as a possible threat at slot receiver.

This brings our unofficial and incomplete, even as of today, list of incoming freshmen to 18:

1) Luke Adams RB/LB 6-2 210 lbs. Notre Dame Prep Pontiac, MI

2) Josh Bean QB 6-2 200 lbs. Hinsdale HS Hinsdale, IL

3) Seth DeVary OL 6-4 275 lbs. Larue County HS Hodgenville, KY

4) Alexander Filacouris RB 6-1 200 lbs. Half Hollow Hills West HS Dix Hills, NY 

5) Graham Flinn DB/WR 6-1 180 lbs. Benedictine College Prep HS Richmond, VA

6) Tyson Hugee DB 6-0 170 lbs. Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Philadelphia, PA

7) Emerson Kabus WR 5-10 170 lbs. St. Augustine HS St. Augustine, FL

8) Josh Kaminsky DL 6-4 280 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

9) Cameron Lipton-Martinez TE/DE 6-5 225 lbs. Montclair HS Montclair, NJ

10) Ben Mathiasmeier DB 5-10 190 lbs. Cinco Ranch HS Katy, Texas

11) Jake McCurry WR/DB 6-0 180 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH

12) Carson Powell DB 6-0 190 lbs. Cardinal Newman HS Palm Beach, FL

13) Bailey Rotsky DB/WR Mayfield Heights HS Mayfield Heights, OH

14) Jonathan Rowe OL 6-3 283 lbs. Audrey Kell HS Charlotte, NC

15) Drew Schmid P 6-0 205 lbs. La Jolla Country Day La Jolla, CA  

16) Hank White OL 6-6 250 lbs. Buford HS Buford, GA

17) Ashton Cooper Wilson DE/LB 6-3 230 lbs. Merritt Island HS Merritt Island, FL

18) Peter Wise OL 6-5 290 lbs. Brunswick School Greenwich, CT