Sunday, October 03, 2010

Broadway Beatdown


The Tiger has been Tamed


Columbia 42 Princeton 14


Why Columbia Won

The Lions won the battle in the trenches, especially with its offensive line, allowing QB Sean Brackett to have one of the most remarkable games in history for a Columbia passer. On defense, the Lions hit hard, hit often, and disrupted what had been a prolifically scoring Princeton machine this season until today.


Why Princeton Lost

Tiger QB Tommy Wornham looked generally confused, and the defense had absolutely no answers for Lions like Brackett, RB Nick Gerst, and especially TE Andrew Kennedy.


Turning Points

-After Princeton took a 7-0 lead mostly courtesy of a myriad of horrific calls by the referees, Columbia got focused on offense and quickly drove down for the tying score. A 50 yard kickoff return by Craig Hamilton got it started, and Brackett's 16 yard pass to Kennedy on 3rd and five from the Princeton 37 kept it alive.

-Trailing 14-7 with 44 seconds left in the first half, Princeton elected to try to score instead of heading into the locker room.

That was a mistake.

On 2nd and 7 from his own 34, Wornham completed a pass to Trey Peacock who was pounded by Ross Morand, forcing a fumble picked off in the air by Ben Popeck who rumbled all the way to the Tiger seven. Two plays later, Brackett found Kennedy for a seven yard TD pass and it was 21-7.


Columbia Positives

Just about everything, but the domination by the offensive line and the great way the skill players took advantage of that, stood out. Gerst had his first 100+ yard game, and his entrance into the contest was a turning point in and of itself.

The defense seemed unphased by the Tiger no-huddle attack, looking more ready than Princeton was for its own offensive plays.

Special teams was stellar again, highlighted by six perfect PAT's by Luke Eddy, who I just learned today has only been playing football for 12 months!


Columbia Negatives


Not many, but the 10 penalties hurt. Some of them were absolutely terrible calls by the refs, but a number of false start penalties in the 1st quarter were clearly the Lions' fault.

Columbia's offense is also continuing a dangerous habit of not waking up until the second quarter.


Columbia MVP

Sean Brackett directed a masterful attack, going 18-for-24 for 273 yards, five TD's and no INT's. His 5 TD passes matched a Columbia record set by Paul Governali, and tied by John Witkowski in 1982. Brackett also ran for 48 yards on eight carries.

In the 141 year history of Columbia football, no Lion team has ever defeated Princeton two years in a row.

This team just did it.

10 Comments:

At Sun Oct 03, 09:08:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

We did the job in all three phases. Our special teams play was very solid. Our tackling was superb. Our line play was dominating. I think we are for real. and no linebacker can stay with Kennedy.

 
At Sun Oct 03, 09:22:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Jake, Mike Rubin here.
Sounds like an amazing game!

Does this change your prediction for the Lions' season?

 
At Sun Oct 03, 09:30:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

YES! YES! YES! Wow! I am really enjoying this win. Maybe next year, Princeton! Domination!!!!

 
At Sun Oct 03, 09:30:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bracket for President!!!!

 
At Sun Oct 03, 10:34:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Coach Wilson is a class act. Princeton was so tired and demoralized in the fourth quarter that the Lions could have easily scored another 10 or 14 points. He's "the Man," and one classy guy.

 
At Sun Oct 03, 10:35:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Andrew Kennedy was fantastic against Princeton.

 
At Sun Oct 03, 12:12:00 PM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ok...So now we know..2 weeks in a row the offense sputters then Nick Gerst enters the game and the offense turns into a powerhouse...Everything starts working

 
At Sun Oct 03, 05:01:00 PM GMT+7, Blogger Jake said...

Mike:

Right now, my ranking for Columbia depends more on how the two teams I picked ahead of them, Harvard and Penn, respond to their injured QB situations. Also, Brown is better than I thought.

But with a running game, a QB and a defense like ours, the sky's the limit!

 
At Mon Oct 04, 04:36:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not sure why Columbia would show any "mercy" against Princeton. We have decades of payback to give. Thoughts? Should NW have run up another 10 to 14pts. I say no mercy....

 
At Mon Oct 04, 05:54:00 AM GMT+7, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Part of me agrees with revenge scoring but the better part of me says that what NW did is classier. Also, he gave the second teamers some good snaps. Maybe what I might have done is give Eddy a final FGA instead of going for it on fourth down just for more game practice...

Princeton essentially rolled over and died in the second half

Chen'82

 

Post a Comment

<< Home