Greater Danes
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Eddie Delaney
Albany Prepares
I must say I was blown away when Phil Steele’s new FCS preview magazine picked week 2 opponent Albany as one of the top 40 FCS teams in the nation, AHEAD of Penn and Harvard!
Not that I thought Albany was going to be a pushover, but if Steele is even close to being right Columbia is in for a very tough home opening game on September 24th.
The biggest reason for Steele’s enthusiasm is Head Coach Bob Ford, who has been the only head coach for the Great Danes for the last 38 years. Ford also has an incredible .608 winning percentage in that span.
Another big reason is senior defensive end Eddie Delaney, an inspiring young man who is a fearsome player despite being born with just one hand.
The Great Danes already shook up this league a bit when they beat Yale in New Haven last year.
Here’s a look at how Albany is doing in training camp so far.
The Great Danes begin their season at Colgate under the lights on September 3rd.
Witt vs. Brackett et al
Yale QB Patrick Witt is being touted by many as the Ivy passer who will have the best season this fall.
I’d say he’s getting about 5 to 6 times the attention as Columbia’s Sean Brackett and maybe 10 to 20 times the ink as Brown’s Kyle Newhall-Caballero or Penn’s Billy Ragone.
There’s only one problem with that.
Witt has NEVER been a 1st Team All Ivy QB, Brackett, KNC, and Ragone all have.
Witt’s record as a starter is a “lofty” 7-8.
That’s about the same as Brackett’s 6-7 record as a starter and way below the strong winning records Ragone and KNC have in their careers.
If anyone has any GOOD reason why Witt should be picked over these other gentlemen as the best preseason QB, OTHER than the lame argument that a Nebraska transfer MUST be better than anyone who was an Ivy player from the beginning… well, please share that reason here.
Top 100 Moments of 2010
#32: Signs of Life in New Haven
Trailing 24-0 midway through the second quarter, it seemed things just couldn’t get any worse for the Lions at Yale in week 7.
But thanks mostly to some great efforts by senior RB Zack Kourouma, Columbia started to make a game of it at the Bowl.
On the first play of a drive that began way back at the Lion 11, Kourouma busted off a 19 yard run.
Two plays later he ran for 11 yards and another 1st down to the Yale 36.
Two plays after that, Kourouma grabbed a nine yard pass from QB Sean Brackett.
It was Kourouma again three plays after that with an eight yard run to the Eli 16.
Columbia finally score a few plays later on an eight-yard Brackett-to-Andrew Kennedy TD pass.
But while Kennedy got the score, Kourouma was the workhouse racking up 47 of the yards in an 89 yard TD drive.
posted by Jake @ 1:47:00 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
The Yale PR machine is working overtime on Witt.
Per Coach Wilson's reported comments last Friday night, I'm very happy to hear him say that some of the freshman wide receivers will have a chance to see varsity action this fall. Last season, Dartmouth got major contributions from a number of freshmen including the running back, Pierre and the linebacker Bronson. We got help from Olinger and Eddy, but no one else that I can remember. With a great quarterback like Brackett, you almost have to deed him the right to select his receivers and if it turns out that one or more of his favorite receivers turns out to be a freshman that only means that the freshman is better than the returning veterans and should play and maybe help us win the Ivy League Championship this year.
In my book, Brackett is a much better quarterback than Wiit. Maybe we need to crank up our PR machine as well.
We have a great quarterback in Brackett and at least two standout wide receivers returning in Mike Stephens and Kurt Thomas. However, for the passing game to really be productive, we need two or three more wide receivers and at least one tight end to step up and be impact players starting with game #1. We need a speedster with glue on his hands to break loose in the secondary whenever the defensive backs come up to stop Brackett from running the ball.
Witt may also get more "PR" because he LOOKS like a better quarterback, physically, for whatever that's worth. He' significantly bigger at s 6'4 while Brackcett is 6-1. Anyway, of course, none of that really means much
Witt gets pub because he transferred from a BCS school. The assumption is that a 3rd stringer from a Big 12 school is much better than anyone in the Ivies. Hence the high expectations for Wells Childress.
Brackett is bigger and stronger and a better athlete than Witt. And he sure is a better leader. Kurt's last name is Williams. Good idea not scrimmaging Brown. Familiarity breeds contempt.
I agree with one of the previous posters about why Witt gets the PR. It's because he is more of a traditional pocket passer, with good size and arm strength. This makes him attractive on paper. But of course many QB's like Ryan Leaf had all of these characteristics and you know what happened with him. Reading the defense and intangibles are key.
This whole talk of Bracket, Witt, Ragone, KNC is very myopic. Winters at Harvard has proven himself as a top QB and a winner. This guy can flat out play. I would expect a Columbia blog to be pro Columbia, but to not even mention Winters is a huge oversight. Just wait and see. Crimson fever!
To the Crimson guy...
Talking about Brackett as one of the league's best is not exactly blindly partisan...he did make first team all Ivy as a sophomore!
HUCK FARVARD
If we're not scrimmaging brown, who are we scrimmaging?
While I agree that Brackett doesn't get enough recognition, the league is loaded at QB this year and Witt is one of the better ones. While Brackett led the league in passing efficiency and total yards last year, Witt had the most passing yards and was #2 in total yards. Not sure why Jake is so down on him. And Winters and Newhall-Caballero hardly played last year and will major competition for first team All Ivy.
To that guy with the fever,
Get your own blog. You'll feel better!
To the Harvard guy's credit, he did use a fancy word. Not all of us would have the "vision" to use the word myopic. I searched for a dictionary but "could not see" where it was. Must have had temporary "blindness" as it is early in the morning here in HK.
Can anyone help me out?
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