No Spots on these Leopards

 

Dean DeNobile

Home opener opponent Lafayette came into this season ranked prominently in everyone' FCS top 20 lists.

And the Leopards have not disappointed. As of now, they are ranked as high as #14. 

Lafayette started the year with a tough 30-13 loss at FBS Buffalo; a game that still misleadingly skews some of the Leopards' overall stats to the downside. 

Then Lafayette outlasted Monmouth in New Jersey before dismantling Marist, 56-14 at home last Saturday.

The Leopards big star is still RB Jamar Curtis, who has 187 rushing yards and 4.0 yards per carry average despite being totally shut down in that first misleading game at Buffalo. 

QB Dean DeNobile may be an even bigger star. He's thrown four TD passes so far this year and hasn't thrown an interception since he was picked twice at Buffalo. In the week two 40-35 shootout win at Monmouth, DeNobile went 31-45 for 394 yards and two TD passes.  

Junior WR Elijah Steward amazingly already has 374 yards receiving, with one TD reception. 

On defense, the Leopards don't have a singular standout star so far this year, but this unit is still considered to be the best in the Patriot League. One player to watch out for is sophomore DL Jaylon Joseph, who has three tackles for a loss including two vs. Buffalo. 

So, yeah... Lafayette could very well be the toughest opponent Columbia faces all year. It's a pretty tall order for a season opener and Jon Poppe's CU head coaching career debut. 

But no one said this would be easy. 

It's Finally Game Week

With a week to go before the 2024 season finally kicks off, it's time to begin regular coverage of the season for the Lions.

Information out of the Athletic Department has been sparse during training camp. But that was really made up for with an email new Head Coach Jon Poppe sent out today providing the most solid and specific preseason positional information I've ever seen from a Columbia head coach in my 38 years of following this team week-by-week. 

Poppe has asked to keep the details of the email private, so I will just give a brief overview based on what I've already reported, etc. 

The key info we knew already, including the fact that the QB starter will indeed be sophomore Chase Goodwin and the backup will be junior transfer Cole Freeman.

We also already knew 5th year senior Joey Giorgi and senior Malcom Terry will be the starting running backs. But Poppe did mention another RB who has impressed in camp at RB. 

Poppe was especially complimentary of the tight end corps, but did not mention a specific starter. He was also very glowing when describing the core group of two seniors and three juniors who will start on the offensive line. 

Poppe didn't have any surprise names to offer as far as D-line starters, but he did mention a late-blooming footballer that I flagged as a hidden gem in January 2022 has been the biggest star of the preseason. 

The veteran secondary, (three returning starters), includes a battle for that last open starting spot. A good looking freshman is one of the two finalists. 

Sorry for the caginess here, but we will try to reward Poppe's rare candor about the roster with some secrecy for now. 

Scrimmage Saturday

An intersquad scrimmage on Kraft Field will be held tomorrow (SATURDAY) at 11:30am.

It is open to all. 

I'm not posting today to bash Craig Haley, (I did that once before and turned out to be just about 100% wrong), but his Ivy League preseason preview  did have some key omissions and a bad error in the Columbia summary.

Presumably, Haley meant to spotlight returning 5th year senior LB Anthony Roussos when he inexplicably wrote "Mark Chapman." (In actuality, junior OL Mark Chapman was an All-Ivy honorable mention last season and returns at center this season).

There's also no mention of the major talents coming back in the wide receiving corps, but when they pick you to come in last you're not going to get much notice. 

For the record, I don't see the Lions coming in last this season for a number of reasons. But I generally agree with Haley's call that Harvard seems like the strongest team going into the season. 

The Opponents

There's not much "news" I can report from preseason training camp, so I'll do the smart thing and look at how Columbia's out of conference opponents have done so far in their *regular season games. 

Pete Lembo

Week one opponent Lafayette lost at Buffalo 30-13 last week in a game that was notable as Pete Lembo's debut as the Buffalo Bulls head coach.

But while the Leopards were clear underdogs going into the game and the loss was not a surprise, the total bottling up of Lafayette star RB Jamar Curtis was surprising. Curtis was held to just 12 yards on 14 carries, with a long run of eight yards. As good as the rest of thewo  Leopard team is, especially on defense, this team will not win games unless Curtis does damage. 

The Leopards will be on the road again tomorrow to play Monmouth. Next week, they'll host Marist before taking on the Lions at Wien Stadium on the 21st. 

Naieem Kearny

Week two foe Georgetown fared much better at home in a 46-24 win over Davidson. It was a close 19-17 Hoya lead late in the 1st half before Georgetown rattled off 27 straight points. 

The Hoyas did it with the run. They racked up 263 rushing yards and a whopping 9.3 yards per carry average. This is even though Georgetown ran the ball by committee. Naieem Kearney was technically the top runner with 87 yards, but he only had five carried. 

Meanwhile, the Hoyas passed the ball just 17 times for 106 yards.

Of all of Columbia's out of conference opponents, Georgetown has become the hardest one to figure out from week to week. For example, just a week after losing to the Lions 30-0 last year, the Hoyas shocked everyone by defeating Fordham a week later in the Bronx. Every year, GU puts up a shocking win or two like that. 

The Lions have defeated Georgetown three games in a row, but before this current streak the two teams always seemed to play nail-biter games that went down to the wire and neither team would win more than twice in a row.  

Tomorrow the Hoyas take on Marist (and Marist is NOT on the CU schedule this season) in the Red Foxes' home opener. 

Hameline Field, Staten Island

Week four opponent Wagner trounced D-III Lynchburg 46-7. There's not much to take away from this game, as you might expect. But we'll learn more when the Seahawks travel to Lehigh tomorrow. 

Wagner hasn't had a winning season since 2016, but the Seahawks are on the mend overall. After not winning a game in 2021 and 2022, Wagner went 4-7 last year. 

Columbia travels to Staten Island on October 12th for the first time since eking out a 15-13 win over the Seahawks in 2016.