Crunching the Numbers
A couple of interesting tidbits from the just-released Ivy weekly football release & stats:
-Alex Gross was the sole Columbian on the Ivy honor roll this week. Does that answer my question about who was the Yale game MVP?
-Columbia is now giving up just 118 yards rushing per game. LESS THAN HALF the 237 yards rushing per game they allowed last year! Kudos to Coach Kelton and the entire defense for that amazing achievement.
-Gross and Drew Quinn remain at #1 and #2 in the Ivies for tackles, but now it's Gross who's #1 and Quinn who is #2 just one tackle behind. Dartmouth's Ian Wilson is lurking at just one tackle behind Quinn. This will be a great horserace to the finish for the #1 spot there.
-Lou Miller still leads the league with tackles for a loss with 11.
-Only one Ivy rusher, Princeton's Jordan Culbreath, is even close to being on track for a 1,000-yard rushing season. Finding quality runners in the Ivies has become harder and harder. I know most Ivy coaches say recruiting top defensive linemen is the toughest thing to do nowadays in this league, but I can't remember when the Ivies were devoid of even two rushers with a shot at the 1,000 mark by year's end. Columbia saw Culbreath in week three and held him under 70 yards on the ground.
-Brown certainly seems to be sitting pretty with an undefeated 4-0 league record and only Yale, Dartmouth, and Columbia left to play. And two of those games will be at home for the Bears, (Yale and Columbia). I kind of like the idea of the Lions going up to Brown on the last week of the season with a shot to ruin the Bears perfect season hopes. It would add to the drama, add to the crowd totals, and really put Columbia in a national spotlight win or lose. After last year's near-win against Brown, and our overall defensive strength, I'm not so sure we couldn't pull it off!
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posted by Jake @ 12:20:00 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
We have a great running back, but he is playing QB. Coach Kelton is tremendous. If only he could also coach the offense and special teams!
I'm not giving up on football, but it should also be noted that, hey, why, golly, it's basketball season. We've been picked to finish in the middle of the pack, but this is a league with parity and nothing is set in stone.
We open on the 14th against Fordham, which is easy for many of us to make. Then there's a showcase game at the new arena in downtown Newark (where last year's game at NJIT drew about 75 fans TOPS from both sides) vs. Seton Hall, on a Saturday afternoon. So this one's worth going to just for the curiosity factor.
Jake, some publicity about basketball, please?
Looking at our overall stats, our season can be summed up in one word: field position. We have a stout defense, a decent running game, a decent passing game, and a very uneven special teams game, combined with a tendency to commit horrific turnovers. If we can protect the ball, and get some consistency in our kicking game we can be a very good team.
Agree that special teams have hurt us. But also, does anybody agree with the 4th and 1/2 yd inside the Yale 10 that we should have gone for it-ie qb sneak? We had the momentum, and really needed the touchdown. I thought this was the turnig point in the game.
The turning point was the blocked punt
I agree that not much was said about going for it on fourth down. This was a coaching turning point. Well into the fourth quarter, Kelly just finished off a great drive for touchdown on the previous possession and we are down by two scores. Felt we had 'mo' on our side and left it on the field there.
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