The Drive For Five: Take 3

Saturday's game at Brown presents tremendous upside for Columbia. The chance to go 5-5 and avoid a losing season for the first time in 10 years would be the biggest deal, but going 2-5 in the Ivies and finishing in a likely four-way tie in the league would not be bad either. And beating the Bears in Providence for the first time since 1971 would be the icing on the cake.

The Lions have been in a similar position twice in the last eight years. In 1998, Columbia was enjoying one of its high points during a roller coaster season that saw them win a 24-0 game over Harvard, but also lose by more than three touchdowns at Yale and suffer a shutout at home against Princeton. Coming into the final game at home against Brown, Columbia was on a two-game win streak; first beating Dartmouth in Hanover for the first time since 1946, (and the first time anywhere since 1971), and then beating Cornell at home. That put their record at 4-5 and 3-3 in the Ivies. A win over the high-scoring 1998 Brown team would not only give the Lions a respectable 5-5 record, but a winning record in the league.

The Bears were playing for a lot more; they had a shot to share the Ivy title with a win and a Penn loss. The 1998 Brown team was stacked with offensive power. QB James Perry, wide receivers Sean Morey and Stephen Campbell, tight end Zachary Burns, and center Tim Hevesy were all FIRST-TEAM All-Ivy selections at the end of the season. Burns was even named as a first-team All American. A few weeks earlier, the Bears had defeated Penn 58-51 in the highest scoring game in Ivy history.

The game turned out to be a very surprising defensive struggle. Columbia came into the game giving up just 18.3 points a game, but the Bears couldn't get their passing game going. Finally, a missed tackle on the eastern sidelines led to a Brown TD and the Bears had a 10-3 lead late in the fourth quarter. Then Columbia Head Coach Ray Tellier put the game into the hands of freshman running back Jonathan Reese. Using a simple pitch-out play, Columbia started to drive down the field getting all the way down to the one yard line before they faced a 4th down situation. Tellier elected to go with a pass, and it was intercepted in the end zone. Brown got the win, but Penn beat Cornell as well and the Bears had to settle for a second-place tie with Yale.

Five years later, the 2003 Lions were right back in the same spot. An up-and-down season was looking better as Columbia came into the Brown game at Wien Stadium riding a two-game win streak after a 16-13 win over Harvard at home and 34-21 win over Cornell in Ithaca. Once again, the Lions were 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the Ivies. This time, Brown was in exactly the same boat; 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the league. The winner would not only clinch a winning record overall, but end up in a four-way tie for second in the Ivies.

But Columbia was never really in the game as the Bears ripped the Lions 42-10. In a taste of things to come, Brown tailback Nick Hartigan had a big day and the season ended on a sour note for the Columbia faithful.

The current seniors on this squad were just freshmen then, but it's taken this long for them to have a shot at a fitting revenge. Not much is at stake in this game other than pride, but finishing 5-5 would be a major, major achievement for first-year Head Coach Norries Wilson and this entire team of players, coaches and support staff. It would prove that they can succeed where so many other Lion teams have failed. And it would end the season on a tremendous high note in what would easily be their most impressive win of the year.


A Brief History of Misery

The 1971 "Kardiac Kid" Lions finished their season filled with nail-biter wins with an uncharacteristic easy 24-6 win over Brown at Brown Stadium. Columbia posted a 6-3 overall record that year, (5-2 Ivy), and finished second only to the Ed Marinaro-led Cornell Big Red who barely edged the Lions in Ithaca, 24-21. A weaker Columbia squad whipped the Bears again at Baker Field, 28-12, in 1972.

Then the changing of the guard took place. Columbia went from being able to rely on Brown as a perpetual punching bag and insurance against falling into the Ivy cellar to playing exactly the same role for the Bears. Columbia didn't beat Brown again until 1988, when the Lions won easily at home by a 31-13 score. Since then, Columbia has only defeated Brown twice more; a thrilling 34-28 win in 1992 and an even more thrilling 31-27 victory in 1996, both at Wien Stadium. Other memorable games at Wien in this era include the 1994 shocker where Brown racked up seven straight second half touchdown's to erase a 27-10 third quarter Lion lead and win 59-27.

Most of the games since 1971 in Providence have not been close. John Witkowski had a huge game in one of the rare close contests in 1983, as Brown held off Columbia by a 42-36 score. And Steve Hunsberger had a pass intercepted in the end zone in the final seconds of the 2002 game that ended with a 35-28 Bear win. The last time the Lions trekked to Brown was 2004, and the Bears overcame a strong performance by Columbia running back Rashad Biggers to win 33-21.

It's up to these Lions, particularly the freshmen and sophomores, to change things again. For most of the last 35 years, the final game of the season has meant absolutely nothing for a Columbia team that's enjoyed just two winning seasons since the day they beat Brown in Providence way back in November, 1971. If you looked up "playing out the string" in the dictionary, you could very well see a picture of the Columbia football team in late November. It's time to change the course of history, and the young players who dominate this Lion squad can fix things before they feel the pain of the problem in the first place.