Easton Assassins
Lafayette 29 Columbia 0
Why Lafayette Won
They controlled the line of scrimmage on offense and defense, and turned what had been a close-fought battle into a rout as they wore down the Columbia lines more and more over time.
Why Columbia Lost
They finally gave in on defense and the offense never took advantage of the many breaks the defense did offer before it was too late.
Game MVP: Matt Morreto
Why I'm not blogging as much this week
The time constraints of my new job, (FOX Business Network launches in just 8 days and we are in 24/7 mode), and my new responsibilities doing Columbia radio have stretched me too thin for now. Please use this forum to continue commenting and I will continue to post, (albeit briefly), every day.
posted by Jake @ 6:50:00 AM
20 comments
20 Comments:
Jake,
Relax, CU football is a marathon not a sprint! There will be time to post the good news .
Last year at this time I had joined the chorus calling for a change at QB to put MA on the field. Tehn CH turned his season around with sparkling play. But that was a healthy CH. This year hhis lack of mobility is going to be an issue. If, and that is a big if, our offensive line can get nasty, then we can win some games. But NW is right that our O Line stank up the place on Saturday night. Those guys have to play nasty football. If they can't then NW has to find some guys who will. We are no longer below average in size, and in fact the Princeton O line was smaller than ours. We also need to make the paly call ing less predictable. Finally, we cannot run the ball without Stoll blocking for Jordan Davis. The one back set out of the gun is not going to work on a regular basis because running plays are too slow to develop and the holes close up. Finally, our defense is playing soft on the run. Arm tackling doesn't even work in high school. If we don't have guys who can lay hits on running backs and dish out punishment, then we need to find some guys who love to hit.
The problem is NOT the QB. Horman is by far the best QB on the team. The problem in the Lafayette game was the O line. There were 5 sacks and Horman was hurried (and also hit on release) way too many times. Lafayette has the first ranked D in the FCS football division(formerly I-AA). They play a big, four man front and, to put it bluntly, they frequently overpowered some (not all) of the guys on the O line. We couldn't open holes for the run and we weren't protecting the QB.
NW said after the game that there maybe some O line changes. My guess is that he was serious and probably will be more so after watching the film.
Most fans do not appreciate that O line is one of the hardest positions on the field to learn. Unless you have played O line at the college level or above, you are probably unaware of how much assignment shifting goes on when the team lines up for the snap and even after the snap as the defense twists, blitzes and stunts. That is why you will often see a more senior O lineman play ahead of younger guy who has more raw talent but hasn't learned to read the D or yet mastered the very large play book.It is not an accident that O line players are almost always among the most intelligent players on any football team and usually don't start as freshmen.
If NW brings up some stronger, more talented freshman O lineman, it may take a awhile for the overall O line play to improve while these guys get up to speed. However, there is not a lot to lose given the current level of play and it will certainly build for the future.
I agree on Hormann. He has made two big mistakes in the past two weeks, but otherwise been very good under heavy pressure.
The O-line performed very well at Princeton and I think it will do much better against most teams except maybe Harvard. Teams like Lafayette and Harvard with big four-man fronts pose a serious problem for us and most everyone else. Penn does not have as much of a ferocious D-Line.
I think that we need to play a two back set with Stoll and Davis. We need Stoll as a lead blocker to develop a running game. We made that switch last year and it worked. I also think it is tough to run consistently out of the gun. As for the O Line, we have two veteran tackles and a veteran center, but two young guards. I agree that the O Line requires a lot of experience and intelligence. NW was doing a lot of the coaching of the O Line last year and I suspect will be more "hands on" going forward. I see that Dan Cohen has moved up to the two deep on the O Line, which is impressive for a first year. Will we see him on the field? And has Veldman lost too much weight at this point (listed at 250)?
Is Penn a three man front?
The announcers on the replay said a Laf coach moved his secondary toward their right just before the intercepted pass. Anyone notice that?
We really need to show up on Saturday. Last year in Philly the team coaches treated us outrageously, and Dianne did n ot back up NW. I hope that we play with a lot of emotion. Teh boo birds on voyforums (foehi, etc.) are out in force and expect us to fall on our faces. This really is huge.
Jake, where are your priorities? To paraphrase a friend of mine from Buffalo who is a huge Bills fan, Bills football is not a matter of life or death, it's more important. That is the way we sometimes feel about Coolumbia football!
to 2:19 PM'
Get a life!
All we can do as fans is support the boys...they still can win a few games this year, and an upset and/or strong finish would be a big boost for recruiting for next year.
NW commented on possible O line changes. Any ideas?
To Blue Balls: I don't have an ilk.
Sanford did a very good job relieving Veldman last weekend in Easton.
Why would an OL (Moose Veldman)lose 60 pounds from one season to the next, especially when it brings him to an underweight 250?
Or was he obese, with 310 pounds on a 250-pound frame?
He looked pretty good to me at 300.
I guess we'll see if there are any o-line changes when the 2 deep is posted for the week; or maybe not. our o-line simply needs to play better as a group. on paper (just like last year), they have the size to be competitive. Partain has played pretty well. They may be banged up. Maybe they're having a hard time getting together behind their position coaches. Watching the coaches break the eraser boards on the sidelines in fits of rage and scream at the players between reps makes one wonder.
Veldman lost weight to be faster at guard. Thats a tough spot in this offense. He'll make progress if given time. Sanford did play well last week during his reps, so there are choices. I agree that the new kids may be big enough but may not be ready for the game plan.
CH played ok last week, a couple of big picks in situations that would've changed the game were not helpful to our offensive momentum. 2 Touchdowns would've changed the momentum. Should he have checked off on a couple of plays? They were in a run front almost all night, so we had a tougher time moving the ball on the ground.
What's up with special teams, more misses and blocks this year?
I would continue to be positive with the players (if I were a coach) and try to get them in a winning mindset. We had a tough group of "out of Ivy" opponents this year. If we beat Penn this week we'll be back on track.
Fordham is a good team; now we know.
Kicking game is marginal at best this year too. Great in that Rochell has strong leg but he regularly misses chip shot 30-39 yd fg's(he's 50% this year-I'll give him a pass on the 55 yd attempt) and he is getting outpunted everygame. Never been a fan having one guy do both as it ends up that the guy has a dead leg halfway through the season. Norries does a grading grid for offense,defense and special teams every week and we have lost the special teams contest every week--that needs to change if we expect to knock off one or two Ivy teams..
Sched is all Ivy from here on, so this means our max this season is two or three wins? And who is supposed to play QB next year? Seems the future as well as the present is bleak.
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