Overnight Sensations
Andrew Hatch looks bigger with bifocals
The results from the two late Ivy games are in and they seem rather telling.
Harvard crushed Holy Cross 34-6 behind a near perfect game from QB Andrew Hatch. Hatch went 20-25 for 276 yards, three TD's and no INT's. Somebody check if there's surveillance camera film of Coach Murphy deliberately injuring Collier Winters ;) .
The entire Harvard machine looked very strong from top to bottom. Next week, the Crimson take on Brown in the first big Ivy intraleague game of the year. More on that later.
Also last night, Penn came back to beat Lafayette at home, 19-14. A sloppy first half put the Quakers down 14-6, but when QB Billy Ragone replaced starter Ryan Becker, the game turned around.
Keiffer Garton did not play for Penn, and Lafayette's top QB was also out most of the game. It's hard to get a good read on the Quakers right now and next week's game against super powerhouse Villanova won't provide much insight either.
Speaking of Villanova, the Wildcats crushed the Lions' next opponent Towson, 43-7. It was 36-0 at the half before Villanova presumably brought in the second team. Towson was held to just eight first downs and 180 total yards. Tiger receiver Hakeem Moore was a bit of a bright spot, catching a 59-yard TD pass after the Wildcats made it 43-0.
Getting back to Brown-Harvard, the game looks like it will be even better than first thought as Brown's offense has clearly not missed a beat despite the graduation of a bevy of skill players. The Bears 33-30 double OT win is even more impressive considering it came without starting QB Kyle Newhall Caballero who is out indefinitely with a reinjured hand. Senior backup Joe Springer stepped in and looked shaky at times, but still put up big numbers.
Jake's Ivy Power Rankings 9/19
1. Harvard (preaseason #1)
The older and wiser Hatch is the real deal. Next stop, the canasta tournament in Boca!
2. Brown (preseason #3)
Up a notch after the impressive win vs. Stony Brook, but the Bears can't beat the Crimson without Caballero.
3. Penn (preseason #2)
Down a notch after a win over a hobbled Lafayette, but will Bagnoli risk putting Garton in next week against Villanova? No way.
4. Dartmouth (preaseason #6)
Up two big nothes because you gotta like the offensive explosion in the second half and Schwieger's 200+ rushing yards. But how did they stumble so badly in the first half against Bucknell? Next week against Sacred Heart looks like a bigger lock than before.
5. Yale (preseason #4)
Good offense, bad defense for the Elis so far. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?
6. Columbia (preseason #5)
Offense seems anemic, defense looks tough. Stephens seems like he's out for he year with that late injury. Lions need to get act together in time for Princeton in two weeks.
7. Princeton (preseason #7)
Not as bad as many thought they would be and Culbreath looks like he's back. Defense may have dropped a notch though.
55. Cornell (preseason #8)
41-7 loss Wagner?!? Oh. My. God.
posted by Jake @ 6:36:00 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
Jake - was at the game yesterday, and while it started out bad for us - there were some good signs. But disappointing end. It's tough to make any kind of prognostication from the first game, but I suspect we'll win some games, but our performance should be a mismatch against Penn or Harvard.
FYI, the Wagner QB had a big article in the NY Times - guess he played several seasons of minor league baseball, so maybe he is another Hatch - a seasoned athlete. Sounds like the opposite of Mark DeRosa - who you might remember played QB for Penn and went on the play major league baseball. Don't know exactly is his presence made a big impact, but I suspect so.
JV lost to Fordham 21-16. We scored 1 TD on a long pass play to DoNovo, who caught a 10 yd pass and ran away from the D for another 40-50, and 3 FGs by Eddy of about 30, 43 and 31. He missed one of about 43. We led until the 4th Q when our RB fumbled on our own 15 or so on a hard hit and Fordham scooped up the ball and ran in for a TD.
We played 4 dif QBs: Lenahan half of 1st Q, Rapka second half of 1st Q; Carter first half of 2d Q, Rapka second half of 2d Q. Lenahan for much of 3d Q, Rapka, Heinrich, Rapka and Carter in 4th Q.
Our D played well overall, i.e., line, LBs and DBs, and only gave up 14 pts. I couldn't see who was making tackles, but a couple of things I did notice were Melka had a sack and TFL; Waller made some nice plays at LB, but others did as well.
On O, O line had a ton of movement penalties, at least 6 or 7, but blocking was not bad. Players whose numbers I caught on O line were Kosminskas, Ghergurovich, Yurkevich and Dorris.
QB plaly did not impress. Rapka threw 2 ints, Carter threw 3 passes, all incomplete; Lenahan has a gun for an arm, but locks in on receivers; Carter runs well, but got caught for a TFL at end of game.
WRs had a hard time getting separation; Fordham's DBs were very good, fast and very aggressive. Couldn't tell whether our WRs just aren't that fast or whether the routes were too plain vanilla. They also don't yet seem to know how to fight for a ball that's up for grabs. One good play was the Dinovo TD.
One area that impressed was RB. Lowry was in civvies; RB duties shared by Garrett and Williams. Both impressed me a lot. Both burst through the line at almost full speed; both can get to and turn the corner. Both run hard. I sort of expected Garrett would, but was impressed how hard Williams runs, surprised b/c he's smaller and b/c he's only played football a couple of years. There was one play in which he dragged 3 or 4 defenders for 5 yds. I jotted dowh Garett runs of 15/20, 10, 15; 15, a bunch of 5/6 yds. Williams had runs of 10, 10, 7,8, 20.
-Dr.V
Dr. V.
Do you think Garrett and Williams are ready for varsity? Seems clear from the first game that we could use some help at rb.
I'm not Dr V but my thoughts were that Garrett looked like he should get some carries this year if the coaches want to work in a 3rd back. Williams is quite talented but might need a little more time.
TE Mooney also looked quite good. He did a nice job sealing the edge for the backs and had some pancake blocks. He also had really nice catch and run where he showed some quickness.
Finally, the kicker Eddy looked like he could get into the lineup soon as well. He gets excellent height on his kicks, which we need so that it doesn't get blocked. The 43 yarder he hit as time expired in the first half would have been good from 55.
One would have to see them day in and day out in practice against the varsity to have an intelligent opinion.
-Dr.V
My comment was posted before I saw the comment of the gentleman who also posted about the JV game and did not relate to his evaluation, only to my own reluctance to project about a first year's ability. Also, fully agree with his take on Mooney and the kicker's height on FGs.
-Dr.V
Monday morning tidbits: (1) Gerst did not play Saturday. Is he injured? (2) Lowry may have been in civvies Sunday because he was listed as a participant in Saturday's varsity game. (3) We need a shot in the arm quickly at running back. (4) Apparently Dartmouth used a freshman running back in its opening game. Why not get Lowry, Garrett or Williams on the field asap if they are more productive than the returning players? (5) Ivery and Kouromna are good running backs, but they have to break some tackles inside or get outside at full speed. (6) Sounds like at least DiNovo and Eddy are ready for prime time. (7) Fordham junior varsity had one game under its belt which undoubtedly helped the Rams avoid some of the motion and other penalties that you always have in the first jv game of the season (8) We are going to need a lot more than the 9 points we scored against Fordham to knock Towson, Princeton and Lafayette. All three of them will be airing the ball out to their wide receivers (Moore, Ryan, Peacock, etc). We will need at least two or three passing TD's against Towson, Princeotn and Lafayette; (9) The last offensive drive of the Fordham football game was the only one I liked because Brackett turned it up and he is darned good. Our playcalling was much too conservative up to that point. The offense needs to have the mentality that it can score on any play from anywhere on the field. Let's win the next nine games. Go Lions!
What is a "TFL?"
Too bad about Stevens. Great young man and a great athlete. Princeton seems to have also lost its best player, Steve Cody, to injury in its first game. What is Owen Fraser's status? Alex Gross looked great in his first game since his ACL. Our defensive line looked outstanding at times. We have plenty of talent across the entire defensive line, and will get better, but of course, miss both Miller and Fraser.
TFL= tackle for loss
Gerst: 1 play in second half, 3 Rb's and Brackett in shot gun, play was QB option towards C bench and was "blown up" by Fordham and brackett TFL'd with no chance to pitch to Gerst, so much for an opportunity.
suggestion, let Brackett be Brackett for 4 qtrs not just when in desperation mode. "Open it up, please!
Also, with using the excuse of it's our first game and their 3rd we should never beat the non Ivy teams since they will always have more games under their belt then us.
Excuses= WEAKNESS
I agree with last poster...no more excuses for not winning. The play calling was timid until the fourth quarter. Brackett is instinctively superb when his hair is on fire and he is scrambling at full gallop. Just let him be him and you will get more drives like the final one of last game (sans bad snap).
This Fordham team was absolutely beatable. I think Wilson should show some daring as he did when he started Brackett last year as a frosh and put in Eddy as kicker, Garrett a/o Gerst as running back and run the triple threat aggressively unt
jv game had 3 standouts in my opinion:
RB Garrett: Should be ready for varsity time any game now
TE Mooney: Moved well with the ball, making several kids miss, good blocker. Is my prediction to fill in for kennedy next year
Defense: Stellar play from all over, especially the front 7, Waller and melka looked good
QB play was terrible, but thats expected with young guys
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