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.