The Key Moments in That (Co)-Championship Season (Part Two)

Carter McFadden

 Moment #2: Bang Bang!

If you decided to count all of the resilient moments in Columbia's 2024 season, you'd run out of fingers and toes pretty quickly. Indeed. resiliency was what stood out the most about this team both during games and from week to week. 

Columbia's first resilient moment was as exciting as it was inspiring and trendsetting for the season. Leading 10-6 and with 12:46 left in the 1st half against week one opponent Lafayette, Lion QB Chase Goodwin was strip sacked and the Leopards took over at their own 49. Momentum was already moving in Lafayette's favor before the play, as the Leopards had executed a 75-yard drive for a TD to cut the CU lead to 10-6 before DL Ayden Baker blocked the extra point attempt. 

Lafayette took just two plays to get a 1st down on the Lion 39, but on that 1st down play S Carter McFadden made an extremely acrobatic one-handed interception along the west sideline to give Columbia the ball back at their own 20. 

BANG!

Then on the Lions first offensive play after the pick, Goodwin threw a pass going the other way down the west sideline that WR Bryson Canty snagged in another acrobatic play for a 29-yard gain. 

BANG! BANG! 

Seven plays later, Goodwin threw a perfect TD pass in the east corner of the south end zone to put CU up 17-6, but it was the interception and the first play of the drive that really set a tone for that game and the season as a whole. There would be other bounce back moments like this in several games, but perhaps none came so quickly and were the result of a team effort on defense and offense. 

For the record, McFadden finished the season with three interceptions, 12 passes broken up, and was fourth on the team in tackles with 50. Perhaps more impressive than his stats is the fact that his early season play forced opposing offensive coordinators to rip up their game plans that determined he was the best CU defender to target through the air. By midseason, no one was primarily throwing McFadden's way anymore. 

Canty missed a full game and most of about two others, but finished the year with 43 receptions, 790 yards, and nine TD receptions. We await the news on whether he will be named a finalist for the Offensive Player of the Year.

The Key Moments in That (Co)-Championship Season (Part One)

 

Braden Dougherty snagged Columbia's first TD of 2024

Columbia's shared championship season was defined by a number of crucial moments in almost all 10 games. Since this was such a positive and successful season, most of those moments were good ones for the Lions. But there were some bad ones that became educationally constructive as the season wore on and will perhaps be helpful in the years to come as well. 

Moment #1: The Opening Drive

Only a very naive fan would watch his team's opening possession of the season and think it was a solid indication of the entire season to come. 

But this year, it wouldn't have been naive. 

Columbia lost the coin toss in its season opener vs. a highly-ranked Lafayette squad and thus received the opening kickoff. They began their first drive of the 2024 campaign at their 25. 

And what a drive it was. 

You might have guessed something special was in the air for the year when on the third play of the drive, RB Joey Giorgi did something you don't usually see on a 3rd and 1 play. Instead of just crashing into the middle of the line to get that one yard, Giorgi followed his blockers sideways along the left of the line before cutting up field for a thrilling 19-yard gain to the Lafayette 47. Giorgi, who made the decision to use his 5th year of eligibility to return to Columbia immediately provided dividends from that choice on that play. 

Columbia's more aggressive offense didn't relax after that. On the next play, sophomore QB Chase Goodwin tossed a pass to an extremely wide open WR Edan Stagg for a 27-yard gain to the Leopard 20. Goodwin was making his first collegiate start after getting on the field for just a few plays as a freshman in 2023. The coaches' decision to make him the undisputed starter also paid dividends right away. Stagg, whose status with the team became uncertain late in the season, actually grabbed the ball at the 28 and made one of his many nice yards-after-the-catch moves to get to the red zone. 

Then the drive got even more impressive and worthy of optimism.

On the ensuing 1st and 10 from the 20, Goodwin threw a perfectly timed and placed ball to sophomore TE Braden Dougherty who caught it at the five and pushed his way into the end zone for the TD. Dougherty was also making his first-ever collegiate start and provided hope that Columbia's long drought when it came to having a playmaking tight end pass receiver was coming to an end. 

Yes, it was only one drive. But there's a long list positives it embodied that lasted for just about the entire season:

-Smart running and timing from Giorgi that resulted in 860 rushing yards and a stunning 5.7 yards per carry average. 

-Dominating run blocking and pass protection by the offensive line. Lafayette was supposed to have just about the best defense Columbia would face all year, but it was the Lions who controlled the trenches. Despite some serious injury losses up front as the season progressed, the O-line produced a running attack that averaged 169 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry. The pass blocking yielded 19 sacks for the season, which may seem just a little better than average on paper but it was obvious all year long that CU QB's had time to throw. 

-Excellent and aggressive play calling from new Offensive Coordinator Seitu Smith that paid off most of the time throughout the year. 

-Dougherty's ability to hold on to the ball after being hit just as he caught the ball or just after he grabbed it. 

-Stagg being wide open in the space in between the numbers and the sideline is something we saw almost all the Columbia receivers able to accomplish all year.

-While Dougherty did not finish the season with massive receiving stats, (he finished with 13 receptions), he made a significant percentage of those catches count, including a crucial catch and run vs. Penn that will be described in an upcoming installment of this series.  

-K Hugo Merry kicked a successful PAT en route to a 100% perfect 24-24 season on PAT's and now Merry has hit 36 straight successful PATs. 

While most folks will understandably chalk up Columbia's co-championship season to the amazing performance of its defense -- and they have a strong point -- it shouldn't be forgotten that the Lions made a loud statement about their 2024 transformation before their defense even took the field for the first time.

Postseason Honor Wishlist

Head Coach Jon Poppe will surely be named Ivy League Coach of the Year, but I'd like to make sure we're all on the same page in pushing for Poppe to be named NATIONAL coach of the year, (at least for FCS football).

Here are some of the key talking points in promoting his candidacy:

1) Took a team picked for last in the Ivies to a tie for the championship

2) Inspired, by word-of-mouth only, several key Columbia players to commit to a 5th year after he was named head coach in December 2023.

3) Established and developed amazing depth at the QB position after Columbia's two starters from 2023 graduated. All three Columbia starting QB's this season won at least one key Ivy game and looked confident in their roles, even if suddenly thrust into them.

4) That said, Poppe and his staff made the quick and difficult decision to make the change at the starting QB position after the Harvard loss to a true freshman.

5) Overcame an unusually long list of key injuries to starters, including two QB's, CU's All American candidate at DE, and multiple starters on the offensive line. 

6) Instilled a remarkable level of resiliency both during games when bad things happened and in the weeks following Lion losses. 

7) Provided excellent communication with the fan base, with weekly emails that were truly educational about football and forthcoming. With the exception of the need to surprise Brown with the move to insert freshman QB Caleb Sanchez as the starter in week 9, even the weekly game notes and two-deeps were honest and trustworthy. 

I'm sure there are more items to list here, so feel free to add to them. 

NOTE: None of this is in any way an insult to Al Bagnoli, Mark Fabish, Joe D'Orazio, or any of the coaches who have come to this program since 2015 and played a role in making this season happen. Because I have a job and a life, I just can't police the immature comments on this blog as much as I'd like. But I do know that gratitude is the key to happiness in life and I'm publicly acknowledging Bagnoli, Fabish, etc. now and always. 

Crowning Glory

 

The real Class of 1925 Cup is a lot bigger

Columbia 17 Cornell 9

Why Columbia Won

The Lions defense kept the high-powered Big Red offense out of the end zone the entire game. On offense the Columbia running attack, led by a career-best performance by RB Joey Giorgi blended well with a few gutsy passing plays to give Columbia enough points to secure a win in tough windy conditions and clinch a share of the Ivy title for the Lion program for the first time since 1961. 

Why Cornell Lost

The Big Red offense struggled more with the Lion defense than the wind, and QB Jameson Wang was inconsistent as a passer at key moments. Meanwhile, the Cornell defense had no answer for Giorgi and rarely even pressured Columbia's QB's all day.

Key Turning Points

-With no score in the game and 9:46 left in the 1st quarter, the Big Red began their second possession at their own 27 and the wind at their backs. Aided by an absolutely awful roughing the "passer" penalty when Wang was decked after an option toss, Cornell got as far as a 1st and 10 at the Lion 14 when Columbia's defense began to step it up. The Big Red ended up being forced to attempt a 30-year FG that sailed wide right.

-With the game still scoreless and 10:43 left in the 1st half, Columbia took over after a Big Red punt at the Lion 36 and with the wind at their backs this time. A run-heavy drive looked stalled when the Lions faced a 3rd and 8 at the Cornell 27, but on that play starting QB Caleb Sanchez moved left and then threw back right to find RB Griffin Johnson at the 1 yard line. On the next play, Sanchez took it in himself and the Lions had the crucial first score of the game.

-On the ensuing possession, the Big Red executed a beautiful fake punt for a 40 yard gain to the Columbia 31. Two plays later, a Wang run set Cornell up with a 1st and 10 at the Columbia 17. But once again, the Lion defense stiffened. The next three plays resulted in a Wang run for no gain, a Wang pass broken up by CB Carter McCray, and another Wang pass broken up by LB Anthony Roussos. The Big Red ended up having to attempt a FG again, but this time it was good to cut the Lion lead to 7-3 at the half. 

-The 3rd quarter began with a long drive by each team that resulted in no points. But after Cornell turned the ball over on downs at the Lion 24, Columbia had just 1:19 left in the 3rd quarter to work with before losing the wind advantage at the start of the 4th quarter. On 1st and 10, Sanchez uncorked a deep pass that hit WR Ethan Hebb in stride for a 73 yard gain to 3 yard line. Two plays later Giorgi easily strode into the end zone for a 14-3 Lion lead. 

-With the score now 14-6, a bad snap by the Columbia offense led to a Big Red fumble recovery at the Lion 36 and what looked like a massive swing in momentum. Once again, the Columbia defense stepped up and McDonald snagged an interception when Wang threw into double coverage in the end zone and returned it to the Lion 15. Columbia then drove the ball 78 yards to set up a Hugo Merry 25-year FG that essentially iced the game. 

Columbia Positives

-Despite all the injuries to the offensive line, the Lion running game and pass protection was dominant, providing all the tools Columbia needed to amass more than 400 yards of offense in rough weather conditions.

-The defense held a Cornell offense that came into the game averaging 33 points per contest to just 9 points and, in some ways, the Big Red were lucky to get that. 

-In just his second start, the freshman QB Sanchez showed incredible poise and good decision making. It's hard to really gauge his arm abilities based on the two windy condition games in which he's started, but his head is razor sharp.

Columbia Negatives

-The Lions struggled with their snaps all day, and things got worse when they were forced to go to their 3rd string option at center. They were lucky only one turnover resulted from the problem. 

-Columbia continues to frequently bring in a running QB when they get into the red zone, breaking up the good momentum sustained by the regular offensive skill players. 

Columbia MVP

-RB Joey Giorgi had career highs in rushing yards with 165 and carries with 29. He also scored the final TD of the Lion season. It was a great way to close out the 5th year senior's Columbia career.

WE ARE CHAMPIONS

Columbia 17 Cornell 9

Yale 34 Harvard 29

UNBELIEVABLE