Another Countdown
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Meet Norries
Fans who want to meet and talk with Head Coach Norries Wilson will get a pre-training camp chance to do that at the Village Pourhouse on August 12, details here.
Ivy League Countdown
For the last several years, I've been counting down the 100 days until the Ivy football season begins with some kind of special daily feature, (although last year, I dedicated that time to assembling the "Lion Feeder" database of all the know high schools that have sent football players to Columbia and published that data every day for that 100 day period).
Anyway, the folks at the Ivy League sport website are doing something very similar starting today to count down the 56 days until the season starts.
Top 100 Moments of 2010
#56: The Goal Line Stand that Wasn't
After Columbia's second straight failure to capitalize on a drive that had begun inside Penn territory, the Quakers took over at their own 29 with about seven minutes left in the first half and a 14-3 lead.
The ensuing drive would essentially ice the game.
Seven rushing plays and one pass put Penn at the Lion two yard line with a 1st and goal.
Suddenly, the Columbia defense stiffened up the middle.
First Brandon Colavita was stuffed for a one yard loss by linebackers Nick Mistretta and Matt Moretto.
Then on 2nd down, Mistretta and safety Steven Grassa combined to stop Jeff Jack right at the one.
On 3rd and goal, Jack couldn't get moving and fell down right at the one.
Instead of going for the FG and handing the Lions a minor moral victory, Quaker coach Al Bagnoli called a timeout with 2:06 remaining in the half.
On the crucial 4th and goal, Jack ran to the outside instead of the inside runs Penn had tried on the three previous three plays and he danced into the end zone for a 20-3 lead.
posted by Jake @ 5:37:00 PM
13 comments
13 Comments:
The problem was failing to score when we had the ball on the Penn 33 Yard line, not the goal line stand.
Doc/jock
Overall, there were way too many three and outs last year
Same old story. The elite teams commit to the run. With backs like Gerst why doesn't Columbia?
I'm beginning to think that's true: that running in the Ivy League is the way to win. It's great to have a good quarterback that can throw it, but only on occasion when you need it at certain times. When it is used as an element of surprise it can be enormously effective. Otherwise, at this level, it is simply too hard to rely on passing very often when receivers just can't get consistently open, drop the balls, or the quarterback is sacked under too much pressure. (Heck we had Austin Knowlin and still couldn't get a winning record) . A committed running game wears down the opponents, and eventually--slowly, steadily-- wins the race. Penn didn't throw a pass for essentially the first half last year and beat us purely on the run--even when we knew they were going to run on every play ahead of time!
Jake, it's funny that you mention Mistretta twice in stuffing the Penn runners and then magically Mistretta completely disappears from the linebacker position for the rest of the year and only gets little time on specials??
I can not figure out that decision, can you or anyone else?
Mistretta in my opinion is a stud and more importantly a leader on D. Hopefully this year will be different defensively. I have no hope for the offense due to the consistently poor play calling and poor use of the skill players.
Could not agree more about Mistretta. A stud from day one that never got the playing time for some odd reason. When you get a kid from the #1 high school football power in the country Don Bosco he must play. When you get an all state running back from Bergen Catholic HS Nick Gerst he must play. These kids come from schools that are a cut above that will excel at the Ivy league level of football from day one.
Agreed, if you want to beat the best teams you have got to commit to the run. Get Gerst off tackle. With Bracket and Gerst's speed you must run the stretch play and option to Gerst over and over again.This will protect Brackett.
Plenty of talent on this team. Now it's the coaching.
Go Lions
Sorry to hear about Myra Kraft. Condolences and prayers to the Kraft family
By some accounts, Gerst was injured for much of the second half of last year.
Easy to always say the defense was the problem, but Offense failed to score on two separate occations. The number of 3 & out are too high
Mistretta will have a monster year. He is working hard this summer and holding down a job at a top law firm, Dewey & LeBoeuf, along with another great young man, Ben Popeck. Both appear to be in great shape. The new DC will know how to use them.
Unless you are an NFL quarterback, there is no point in passing very often in the Ivy's. Look at CU great John Witkowski: He broke every passing record in the book, and the Lions won 3 games in four years with him! No doubt our defense stunk in those years, but passing takes up very little time on the clock, and I doubt the opposing offenses would have had all the time they had, if we run it more often
... teams that are able to run the ball consistently and play defense are consistently winners !!! .... Why ??? .... they control the clock,fewer touches for the opponent to score and fewer scores when the opponent has the ball ... if you want to throw the ball consistently, you need to have more than one quality reciever ... two tears ... a defense can always "take away" one player ... we can complain about paly calling and coaches, but in the end it's the players that have to do it ... Martin, Groth, Adebavo and Mistretta need to step up lead the defense ...
We have the talent, we just need someone who can use them properly and change things effectively during the game.
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