Gut Check Helmet Stickers: Harvard Edition

So what does this Columbia football team have left in its emotional tank for the final two games of the season?

It's a fair question to ask after a series of losses, one more gut wrenching than the next.

Needless to say I believe in these kids, and if you're reading this, you're most likely a strong or longtime Lion fan who has endured far worse and you haven't stopped following the team and never will.

Anyway, our Lions have some company as this week's opponents, the Cornell Big Red must be on emotional pain meds right now after some of their rough losses. Saturday's double-overtime loss at Dartmouth has to still be producing nightmares on Ithaca's Elm Street. More on that below.

But let's look at the bright sides of our 34-14 loss to Harvard with some helmet stickers for a few of the unsung heroes:

-Starting QB Sean Brackett broke off some great runs, including a TD scamper that was unfortunately called back on a silly penalty that did not aid that run. He was taken out of the game in the first half, but he still showed some of the talent that makes his future at Columbia look bright indeed.


-QB Jerry Bell played most of the game and earned his keep with 42 passes thrown for 226 yards in just two quarters and change. His TD pass to Andrew Kennedy was a thing of beauty; perfectly timed placed in the end zone. He made some good throws on the run. Again, not a perfect performance, but a gutty one.


-Austin Knowlin made a nice impact on the game, breaking the all-time Columbia receiving yardage record in the first quarter and making the adjustments from Brackett to Bell nicely. Can anyone else believe that "AK" only has two games left to play?

-Speaking of wide receivers, Mike Stephens made a great play to avoid a tackle and almost squirm into the end zone early in the second quarter. He finished with six total receptions. Senior Taylor Joseph finished with five catches, including the first three in a row from Bell, and Mike Muston, Nico Gutierrez, and Nico Papas all grabbed their first catches of the season.

-Sophomore linebacker Chris Paruch led the team with nine tackles and one-and-a-half sacks.

-Greg Guttas made both of his PAT attempts and kicked two onsides kicks beautifully, the second of which the Lions recovered.


Around the League

You can get more detailed summaries and all the box scores here.

The big story is that Penn easily dispatched of Princeton, setting up a potential winner take all matchup at Harvard Stadium next week. It was another great performance by the Quaker defense, but this time much-maligned backup QB Kyle Olson also did very well. The question is whether he'll split time with Keiffer Garton under center now that the Penn offense seems to be getting used to Olson?

After seeing both the Quakers and the Crimson, I have to lean to the Crimson here as far as predictions go. But it's a lot closer than I thought it would be. I'm still not sure Harvard QB Collier Winters can pass his team to win if he needs to, and with the Penn defense, he may need to. But I'm also not convinced that the Penn offense will be able to run the ball at all against Harvard, UNLESS Garton is healthy enough and he's willing to run all day.

If you like drama, the Dartmouth win over Cornell was the game for you. But the Big Red have to feel snakebitten after:

1) losing a 10-0 4th quarter lead

2) allowing a QB to scamper for a long OT TD to score on a 3rd and very long

3) Missing a FG that could have pushed it into a 3rd OT.

Oh, and Nick Schwieger's 242 yard school rushing record set against Columbia lasted all of two weeks, (less than that actually), as frosh QB Greg Patton ran all over Cornell all day. It was Patton's first varsity game.


Brown won what I called the "bronze medal game" as it appears the Bears have clinched the third place position in the Ivies with their 35-21 win over Yale. Columbia faces Brown at home to close out the season on the 21st.