Oddities

Some strange facts about the 2010 Columbia football season:


-All four of Columbia's wins, even the 42-14 thrashing of Princeton, were come from behind victories.


-All 10 of Columbia's games were played in generally nice weather. The overcast game at Harvard was as bad as it got. I can't remember a warmer and drier Lion season.


-Sean Brackett became the first Columbia player since Archie Roberts in 1964 to lead the Lions in passing and rushing. I consider this an oddity mostly because the Lions have had excellent running QB's like M.A. Olawale and Mike Cavanaugh, but neither were ever able to lead in both categories. Roberts actually did it twice, in '64 and his junior year of 1963.


-The Lions overall stat comparisons for the season are a remarkable study in almost total symmetry. Columbia scored 222 points compared to 228 for their opponents. They rushed for 1,520 yards compared to allowing 1,526. They passed for 2,092 yards while allowing 2,053. They committed 57 penalties compared to 56 committed by their opponents. The list goes on...


-Neither the Lions nor any of its opponents missed any field goal attempts until the week six game when Dartmouth missed one. Then it wasn't until week eight that Columbia had a miss, actually two, while Harvard also missed two.


-In the final game of the season, Columbia attempted its only fake punt and its first onside kick attempts of the season. They were both successful and executed by Greg Guttas.