Capital Gains
Knowlin's 62-yard TD Catch and Run was CU's Biggest offensive play from Scrimmage in 2006 (CREDIT: Columbia Athletic Dept.)
Another way to look at how good the Columbia defense was in 2006 is to count up the number of plays where opposing offenses gained 20 or more yards against them. That number is just 29, which is very impressive over a 10-game season. But take away Bobby Abare's 52-yard interception return for a TD in the Yale game, and you not only reduce that number to 28, but you eliminate the biggest play yardage-wise against the Lions throughout 2006. That's right, the biggest gainer of the season was actually put together by an opposing defense, not an offense.
Columbia took away the long passing game from team after team thanks to the confusion the constantly shifting 3-5-3 defense created and the outstanding play in the secondary despite the mid-season loss of Chad Musgrove.
Incidentally, it was Musgrove who provided the biggest gainer for Columbia in 2006 with his 75-yard interception return for a TD in the Iona game. The Lions had a total of 33 20+-yard gainers on offense last season, but 6 of those were interception returns by the defense. The longest play from scrimmage for the CU offense was a Craig Hormann-to-Austin Knowlin 62-yard TD pass in the opener against Fordham.
Against top-notch opponents, like co-champions Princeton and Yale, the Lions were just as stingy. Columbia only allowed the Tigers and Elis three 20+-yard plays each, (and of course one of those was Abare's big return for Yale). Surprisingly, the team that abused the defense the most was Dartmouth with five big plays... but perhaps that's not so surprising given the fact that a good scrambling QB seems to be a rare antitidote to a good 3-5-3. Luckily for Columbia, that scrambling QB, Mike Fritz, has graduated and it does not appear that there are any real running QB's vying for a starting spot at any Ivy school this coming fall.
The flip side is that the CU offense didn't provide too many big plays either. And without a strong running game, the lack of a deep-threat weapon weakened the Lions greatly. Hormann's throws were usually of the 10-15 yard variety, and while he did that very well, it was sad to see him unable to hook up regularly with for long plays like he did in his sophomore season with Brandon Bowser. Not only did Columbia not complete many long passes, the Lions didn't even bother to attempt them in game after game.
The running game should be better in '07, but not better enough for the offense to go without a deep man. Knowlin needs to be a weapon at all distances while he directs coverage away from the other receivers. Taylor Joseph seems more like a possession receiver in Hormann's 10-15-yard sweet spot. Senior Tim Paulin has great speed and height, but he just didn't seem sure-handed enough last year to trust with the assignment now. He even dropped a pass or two in the spring game that he shouldn't have. So this may be a role for an incoming freshmen to fill.
In any event, it would be nice to see the defense hold opponents under 30 20+-yard plays again in 2007, but we certainly don't want the offense to fail to produce at least 40 of their own big plays. Hormann certainly has the arm strength for it, and this is his last chance to show what he can do.
posted by Jake @ 10:46:00 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Unrelated topic, but Basketball scoring Grimes away from Penn seems like a pretty huge positive
Might have been easier for Grimes to get his release by going to a non-Big 5 school. Going to Penn from La Salle would be asking for hard feelings on the La Salle side, plus he may not have wanted to play against his former teammates and coach. Plus he might have seen Columbia as a better opportunity for playing time. And we're going off of Columbia info--whether Penn actually admitted him and recruited him hard is not independently verified.
I will be dumbfounded if the Lions can restrict the opposition to under 30 20+ yard plays again this year. We lost key guys and the rest of the league has had time to adjust. But I would love to be dumbfounded on this one. Seems like a tall order however. I think the real key is for the offense to get significantly better at scoring points and take some of the pressure for perfection off the defense. You can't expect the defense to play at last year's level every year.
I would agree that the offense needs to boost its numbers more and that will be the best way to reward the defense. Two things to add:
1) Even the best Columbia defenses of the past showed a particular tendency to "let down" late in games when the offense wasn't helping out. That just didn't happen at all in 2006; a remarkable combination of physical and mental toughness.
2) More than 90% of those 20+ yard plays given up by the "D" barely qualified in that they were in the 20-30-yard range. There were less than FIVE 30+ yard plays against us.
Jake, I wonder if we had fewer long plays against in part because teams felt running on us was a better bet than throwing, especially throwing deep against Crawford and the secondary. Do you have stats on what percentage of offensive plays against Columbia were pass versus run, and how many deep passes were attempted?
We are going to be much better this year than last, despite key losses. Edge control on defense will be excellent; we have enough depth to plug the NT position plus at least 8 LBs who can play. Shalbrack and Smith are set at two of the deep positions, and we have lots of talent for the other deep position. As for the offensive side, look for some two TE sets, effective lead blocking from Stoll, and much improved line play from Partain, DeBernardo and Brune. We are capable of beating any team on our schedule.
I will do the math on the running versus the passing plays over the weekend and get back to you.
There is a definite chance the defense will be just as good or better. But I'd rather not make them prove it and give them so much support from the offense that it becomes an academic argument.
I just noticed some important changes in the football roster on the Columbia athletics website. Very big offensive tackle Ed Salter returns to the squad after apparently recovering from his ACL and possibly other injuries. He was a very good high school football player in Georgia and is still a potential standout at Columbia. Also, numerous players are shown as switching positions including Jason Pyles from quarterback to wide receiver, Pat DeFazio from offensive guard to nose tackle, Brendan Buckley from linebacker to free safety, Corey Cameron from defensive end to linebacker and Rich Ingold from defensive end to offensive guard. Pyles is an excellent athlete who could become a standout wide receiver. All of these changes make very good sense to me as every one of these players has a chance to make a significant impact at his new position. What do you think, Jake?
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