Unprotected
Conner Kempe was barely touched all day (CREDIT: Dartmout Sports)
Dartmouth 24 Columbia 21
Why Dartmouth Won
The Big Green controlled the line of scrimmage, and except for a serious bout with fumblitis in 4th quarter, they controlled the game. Dartmouth sacked Sean Brackett four times, gained 401 total yards, and ran 81 plays without using a no-huddle. With the game on the line late in the contest, the Green orchestrated an impressive 69-yard TD drive to win the game.
Why Columbia Lost
The offense went stagnant after the opening TD drive and didn't awake again until a series of Dartmouth miscues gave it new life. The defense never really pressured Big Green QB Conner Kempe and allowed him and his offense to dictate the game. After coming back from the dead to grab a 21-17 4th quarter lead, the Lion defense allowed two 3rd and long conversion and one fourth down conversion on that 69-yard Dartmouth TD drive to win it.
Key Turning Point
-Leading 7-3 in the third, the Lion defense forced a rare three-and-out on Dartmouth's opening possession of the 2nd half. But the Green punt bounced all the way down to the Columbia one. After a three-and-out of their own the Lions punted to the Dartmouth 49 giving the Green a short field. Four minutes and 19 seconds later, it was 10-7 Dartmouth.
Columbia Positives
-The Lions did win the turnover battle again, losing just one fumble that did not end up hurting them while recovering three Dartmouth fumbles. Columbia's turnover ratio is now +7.
-Alex Gross had 16 tackles, a pass break up and was all over the field once again.
-It wasn't his best performance, but Sean Brackett still went 17-31 for 188 yards, one TD and no INT's. On the season, the 18-year-old sophomore now has 12 TD passes to just ONE interception.
Columbia Negatives
-The Lions inability to control the line of scrimmage is shaping up to be a serious problem. Losing the battle in the trenches at Penn last week was one thing, but getting pushed around by Dartmouth in front of a big crowd of 11,000 people at Homecoming is something else.
-The Columbia offense is not playing consistently. It seems like it can score at will at some points, and at other times can't move forward at all.
Columbia MVP
-Alex Gross kept the Lions in the game and continues to lead the Ivies in total tackles.
posted by Jake @ 5:45:00 PM
25 comments
25 Comments:
Excellent summary, Jake, of a tough loss to Dartmouth. One additional point. The offense needs more production from its wide receivers. We miss Austin Knowlin and Mike Stephens terribly. Williams is doing nicely, but where is everyone else? We desperately need an offensive spark from someone other than Brackett. If the Lions have a speedy receiver, it's time to get him on the field.
Our biggest problem is our front seven on defense. No pressure and no penetration.
I am a cu senior that has made it to every home game (and many away) since I came here in 2007. While I am as sick of 'moral victories' as you are, I could not have been more proud of my peers both on and off the field.
Yesterday was a day of firsts in many ways. It was many students very first trip to Baker Field. It was the first time the pre-game atmosphere made my skin tingle. It was the first time I had trouble finding a seat. It was the first time Columbia miscues were followed with true anguish from our student section rather than snide or disparaging comments about how 'second rate' our athletes are, or how 'we never win'. It was the first time I could hear names like 'Gross, Brackett, Myers, Lenz, Williams etc' percolating through the student section. It was the first time I thought our opponent's band looked worse than ours.
Winning is everything in football. Yesterday it wasn't. It was the first time I heard the majority of my peers talking excitedly about when they can come back to Baker, and that is huge.
Random thoughts:
- While it appears Luke Eddy is going to be a truly great weapon for this team, Coach Wilson MUST let him attempt at least one from 50+ this year. It would be a vote of confidence from Coach, and when he drills it there will be plenty of Ivy recognition. Carrying this into his first offseason would be very beneficial for our freshman place kicker.
- Kudos to Nate Lenz. And Vinny Marino for that matter. While Lenz doesn't have huge numbers, his tactical niche makes him invaluable. Nice catch in the end zone yesterday, keep it up.
- Augie Williams had the hardest job on the field yesterday. In trying to scheme out Gross, Augie got the brunt of a pretty darn good Dartmouth offense. Being that pivotal man play after play is brutal. Kudos to Augie for being resilient and making every play he could.
- Kudos to the weather. Awesome.
- And finally, kudos to the athletic department and everyone involved with the football team. While the university may tout diversity and embracing new experiences, they seem very selective in which experiences and cultures they support. What could be a better look into contemporary American culture than a fantastic college football gameday experience?
Thank you to Jake for a PERFECT summary and also to CU Senior. Now we need to win!
Jock/doc
Did you notice any changes in the O and D alignments, plays in the second half?
Thank goodness the College still has students like "CU Senior"--spirited, articulate, open and sensitive, and above all, with an independent mind. Good luck to him and all like him, and here's hoping that as an alum he'll get to see a CU Ivy football champ.
Attended first half of JV game; score at half was CU 7-3. Don't know ultimate score.
Good news: entire D played very well, holding Army to a field goal. Many 3 and outs and twice stopped Army on 4th down. DTs: Lee, Villamagna and some Raimondi; DEs played really well: Losee, Melka and Coleman with Coleman with 12 yd sack. LBs pursued well; noticed Ollinger making some nice plays, but there were others whose numbers I couldn't make out in the pile. DBs covered well; Carter is back to DB from QB and make a nice play as FS on a long pass.
Not so good news: QB play was ineffective. After making nice pass, Rapka was sacked and fumbled. Lennehan played most of the first half and threw 2 Ints and almost threw 2 others. It was very cold on Friday night and our WRs/punt returners/kickoff returners, Grant, Rothschild & others, seemed to have hands of stone. O line was OK; only one holding penalty. Offensive highlight was Garrett's 35 yd TD run.
-Dr.V
Great summary Jake. I thought the failure to field the punt at start of the 3rd quarter was a terrible turning point. Our D was struggling already and then they ended up on the field way too much. We're going to struggle if the OL and DL keep getting dominated. As for the senior, good points. I hope you never know what it is like to attend 20 CU football games as a student and alum and be 1-19. After awhile, it is hard to get the family to be interested in homecoming.
The biggest play in the game was the mishandling of the punt that permitted Dartmouth to down the ball at the one. We really miss AK's game on punt returns. Perhaps it's time to try one of the first years back there. But the real key to the last two losses was the failure of our line play. Finally, great post by CU Senior!
Thought the D actually did a nice job stopping the run overall. No pass rush made it a tough day for the DB's...Play selection needs a hard look. Bracket is one talented kid but he can't be running the ball 19 times for 38 yards when you have a tailback like Gerst that averages 6 yds a carry and only touches the ball 6 times. O coordinator can learn from Dartmouth when you have an outstanding tailback you run stretch plays, options, swing passes to get that speed back outside with an occasion draw play. This will only make the passing game that much better and help with ball control
KEEP THE FAITH
Keep the faith has it right about offensive play calling. Too many straight back drops and no option plays or sprint outs .
Anybody know the final score of JV game? Details?
Good Summary. OL wasn't too bad, but, the play calling became very one dimensional which hurt us. Shawn needs to do a better job of checking for open receivers. There were wide open receivers on several occasions when he passed to someone that was double covered. Needs to check and re-check the whole field.
4 man DL wasn't breaking through and I see that continuing. Why they didn't blitz more confuses me. The #2 line again seemed more effective, but, 4 players against a strong OL just isn't going to do it. They need to change things up and blitz more often. I do have to give credit to their QB. He was really hot and in most cases the ball was gone at or before a 3 count and no defense is going to handle that.
How did the JV score?
How did the JV score?
Is Norries delegating too much to his coordinators? the coordinators seem to be doing all of the coaching of their respective units at the sidelines? As a former offensive coordinator Norries may need to get more directly involved. In addition, in the three wins we dominated in the trenches. In the last two games our line play was poor. What is going on here?
The biggest play of the game was the last offensive play...why not call time out and run a play that has a chance? The kids played really hard and cam eup short...great game!!! If CU is going to spend all this money on Baker field...why not a parking lot...they can even charge and make an ROI onan assett that would really please the fans who want to come see the games???? It took this ageing alum 1.5 hours to park.
I too wondered about the play calling. Accept for plays for Bracket, it seemed like we stopped using our running game at all even before the endo of the third quarter. Maybe the coaches felt that Dartmouth was in too much control of the line, but perhaps gerst could still have been useful in taking pressure of Sean and in giving Dartmouth a few more variables to consider. All told, we did not seem to have one of our better days which is why it would have been spectacular for us to pull in out. I would have loved to watch the team sing the fightsong to such a big crowd.
Dartmouth hurt us with a solid one-two running attack with the veteran Schweiger and the freshman Pierre. The latter made two big runs against us in Dartmouth's final TD drive. We need to emulate Dartmouth's success and mix up our running game with a combination of the veteran running backs Ivery and Kouroumna, the sophomore Gerst and the speedy freshman Garrett. Does anyone know how the freshman wide receivers are doing? y
Tough loss, but a great day. we were in for the game and parents weekend. We hope the sentiments of CU senior cause many students to return and root on their fellow students. These athletes work very hard at preparing for these games and their fellow students show respect by coming to the stadium and rooting them on. We felt the atmosphere at this game was great. On the shuttle bus from campus we all sang the fight song together and were pumped. The Homecomng party and festivities, vendors and free stuff, drinks free footballs, etc all made for an excellent college football experience. The band playing the fight song pumped up the alums, parents and families.
As for the game we saw to very evenly matched teams. We saw a well played game of D-1 football that came down to a few plays making the difference. That is what college football, especially in the Ivey, should be about. Columbia football is right there. They are amassing depth and building a serious program with very talented players. We saw a strong defensive perfromance in the JV game, with an improving o-line as well. This bodes well for the future.
As for the comments on the game, I thought what continued to hurt was failure on run support defense. The ends did a great of forcing the pirch, but again and again there was no corner support. Had the corners or safeties been there it would have been a long day for the Green.
Thanks for a great weekend CU
Final score of JV game was 10-7 Army. CU had an opportunity to tie the game late but missed a field goal after a fumble recovery by LB #43 at the Army 20. First half was normal game timing and 2nd half was 60 minute running clock. I agree that the defense played well, and rotated personnel by series so all played. Offensive play calling had many deep balls thrown, and Friday was very windy at the stadium, so it was difficult to tell well the passing would have been. Given the number of games these young men have played, they look as if they will be a good class.
so what's the strategy against Yale?
What is going on with super DT Owen Fraser?
The game plan should be to score more often. Given Darthmouth's excellent offense (28 points against Penn), it was very likely Dartmouth was going to score at least 3 TDs. It was, therefore, also pretty obvious that CU would probably need to score at least 28 points to win this game.
Columbia had 12 possessions during the game. One TD, seven punts in a row, second TD, fumble, third TD and the last unsuccessful attempt to tie or win.
CU took the kickoff and produced a 13 play, 80 yd Touchdown drive. The drive consisted of 11 rushes and 2 pass plays. Brackett had runs of 6,5 + 5 yards. Lenz had a run for 3 yards. Gerst had runs of 4, 6, 9 + 3(for the TD)yards. Kourouma had runs -1, 8, + 4 yards. CU was running the ball well.
For some reason CU went away from the run as the primary weapon. Seven possessions in a row ending in punts. Too many unsuccessful passes on first down and on THIRD and SHORT (< 3 yds). This lack of Offensive production kept the D on the field too long and they got worn down. Also, Brackett held the ball too long, too often while in the pocket. This led to some sacks.
This year CU has moved the ball the most effectively when Brackett and Gerst are the primary runners. CU needs keep the ball on the ground and in Gerst's or Brackett's hands most of the time. The running game has very effectively set up the passing game especially when the opposing D is afraid of designed runs by Brackett and his ability to throw on the run.
Be more physical than Yale...everything will take care of itself. Football is simple that way.
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