Reflection Time & Monday Helmet Stickers

It's going to be a much tougher week for Lions fans coming off a loss compared to the highs we all enjoyed after the Fordham win in week one.

If emotions concern you, remember that the Ivy League opener, with all of its crucial importance, is now directly ahead of us. It's important to learn the on-the-field lessons from the CCSU loss without letting the disappointment linger.

As great as a win against the Blue Devils would have been, I've felt all offseason long that this upcoming game against Princeton would be the much truer test of where this Lions team is.

There will be more analysis of the Tigers in the coming days, but it appears Princeton's defense is stronger than most of us expected while the offense is struggling mightily at this point. And now the status of defending Ivy League rushing champion Jordan Culbreath is in doubt after he left Saturday's win over Lehigh with an injury.


Monday Helmet Stickers

-Speaking of Ivy League rushing champs, Ray Rangel has moved even further ahead of his nearest competition in that key race. He leads Yale's Jordan Farrell by 83 yards and earned a spot on the Ivy honor roll this week.

-Marc Holloway also made the honor roll. He had 18 tackles including two for a loss, (one of those TFL's was on a 4th down for a five yard loss and he had another tackle with Andy Shalbrack for no gain on 4th and goal).

-I'm giving a virtual helmet sticker to every Lion who got a tackle or half tackle in that great goal line stand at the end of the first quarter. In addition to Holloway and Shalbrack, that includes Corey Cameron, Alex Gross, and Matt Stotler.

-Austin Knowlin had one of his best games receiving since Craig Hormann graduated after the 2007 season. He had eight receptions for 73 yards and TD. Knowlin keeps moving up the career stat boards and is back on pace to break the receptions and career yardage marks.

-Frosh punter Michael Williamson had a punt blocked, but he still finished the game with a 42.7 yards per punt average. He's now second in the league for punting average, less than a half yard behind Princeton's Octavio Fleury. He generally looks like one part of the kicking game that is healthy right now for Columbia.

-Craig Hamilton did another great job on kickoff returns, averaging more than 20 yards per return with a long of 32 yards. Eventually, he's going to break one for a score as teams continue to kick away from Knowlin.

-M.A. Olawale has yet to throw an interception through two games and 44 pass attempts.

-A team helmet sticker goes to the Lions for comitting just four penalties after getting flagged nine times at Fordham. Meanwhile, CCSU committed 11 infractions.

-Adam Mehrer leads the Ivy League in tackles. You don't want to see a safety on your team leading in this category because is usually means you're allowing too many completed and/or runners to get into your secondary. But Mehrer is doing a great job of damage control in that regard.