Ivy Power Rankings Week 4
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1. Harvard
Still number one despite some defensive lapses against Cornell. Crimson BACKUP QB Colton Chaple threw for 414 yards.
2. Brown
The Bears beat a very good Holy Cross team, 20-13. That was the same Crusader team that spanked Harvard in week one. 'Nuff said.
3. Yale
The Elis are back in my top three after thoroughly embarrassing a Dartmouth team that desperately needed to win. 30-0 over any Ivy opponent is stunning.
4. Penn
The Quakers looked good beating Fordham by two scores, but the injuries are mounting. Penn may not have all the horses it needs to beat Brown, Harvard and Yale.
5. Cornell
The Big Red really hung in there with Harvard yesterday. It's another sign Cornell may be turning the corner.
6. Princeton
The Tigers almost pulled off a huge upset at Hampton. This was a pretty good confidence builder.
7. Dartmouth
Head Coach Buddy Teevens tried something new by starting a new QB in Andy Gay, but he was a disaster and Connor Kempe had to replace his own replacement. Dartmouth's preseason optimism has washed away.
8. Columbia
Poor tackling and now weak special teams play are on the list of Lion woes. Columbia is now officially on "0-10 watch," something the Lions haven't done since 1987.
posted by Jake @ 7:01:00 PM
29 comments
29 Comments:
Adversity - a condition marked by misfortune,calamity, or distress. We all will be faced with adversity at some point in our lives. Each individual deals with it in a positive or negative way. What is important is that we focus on the controllables and not on the uncontrollables. The only way you give into adversity is by stop believing in your ability as a team and quitting ! Gentlemen, "a bend in the road is not the end of the road....unless you fail to make the turn".
We are at the bend in the road....make the turn and do not quit!
Mike Stephens did not dress for yesterday's game. Does anyone his status? We certainly miss him.
Love the comment above on adversity Keep working hard and it will pay off
Stay positive dont take out for one bad game Stay positive and confident
The coaching staff has Stephens practicing kickoff returns for the final minutes of lost games.
" ... can you imagine what it's like for the players?"
For those of us on the sidelines, at this point that is the point. They are our team this year, as well as the heart of next year's team and beyond. This is their time and we need to support them.
Leonlion
The problems is that Norries and Staff are driving us into a dead end street. So take your "adversity" and "bending road" analogy and save it for Dr Phil! I played in the heart of "The Streak", so I know a little something of what I speak. This staff does not have the best players on the field. They are ill prepared to adjust to other team's game plans, and these kids are simply lambs facing lions. For those of us who were in the military, you know what I am talking about. You can have a great platoon of soldiers, but if your superiors are ill equipped to handle changes in the field of battle, it costs lives. -Semper Fidelis
I know this is crazy, but I am going to say it anyway... Since we are challenged at TE, why not put one of our better athletes there, Brackett. Give Bell a shot at QB and that way we can have multiple options on the field with Brackett. Wildcat, TE/WR/QB options. Just food for thought.
Actually, I think we now have our answer at TE with Hamilton Garner. He is doing really well as a receiver.
From a parent perspective, I can tell you what it is like for several of them after yesterday's game - disheartening, and after previous games, disheartening. They are aware there are missed tackles, penalties, bad special teams. No matter what we may think, they blame their own execution, or lack thereof. Not a single one blame the coaches (although some read the blog and know what is being said). In the previous post, someone asked why CU took out their leading tackler. Did you see the mismatch SH created on their short middle passing game? Even when we went to 6 defensive backs we couldn't cover him, and since he was coming out of the backfield, he was being played man-to-man. We had no answer for their short passing game. 3rd and forever and they run a draw and get the first down? Come on. The players blame their own lack of execution and this shows the character of young men representing CU. I will not comment on the coaches out of my respect for them, and most were here when these young men were being recruited so the kids knew who would be their coaches (D Coord is the 3rd in 3 years, so that is different). Jake, I love you blog and respect what others write, but will not at this time pile on the coaches. I have my own thoughts, but they will remain my own. Dr. Murphy saw the game, so she cretainly has her own thoughts as well.
For a player, the key to improving (and surviving) in a series of losses is to not allow long term negative thoughts. Focus on what you can do in this game, this quarter, this play. If you win the play, you can win the quarter, and the game will take care of itself.
I treasure my memories as a CU player and they were so useful when I was head coach at a Chicago hs at the age of 25. But I have to be honest: most of what I learned about coaching at CU was how not to coach. I hope that the current players will never have to make that statement, but I don't know.
Speaking of which,there was a truly outstanding article some years ago in CC Today by a CU player from the Garrett year. I wish I could find it. It beautifully illustrated the power of setting short term personal goals -- even during practices -- in a really hard time for the team.
To the parent who recently wrote in, thank you for your insight and candor. Respectfully, Jake requests that parents, coaches, and players do not post (for a myriad of reasons). To that extent, I agree. I fear that your feedback may be short-sighted and skewed (again, respectfully) because you refuse to comment on the biggest issues, the coaches. Obviously, this is for fear of repercussions on the player. We as fans and alums fully support te kids, but to not address in the Pink Elephant in the room is not looking at this big picture.
Roar Lions!
To the parent, I'm sorry, but your view is incorrect. As a former student who knows many players, they do put much blame on the coaches. They know it, we know it, its a shame the AD doesn't know it
I like Norries. But I don't think he is coaching. I think the assistants are doing all of the coaching, even during the games. Just watch what goes on at the sidelines and during time outs. And I don't think we have good assistants. Not in terms of schemes, or putting the best players on the field. I think that Dianne is not a good AD. She has gotten more support than any AD in our history. Unfortunately she did not get the West Point job that she coveted. That is the place to start, with the AD. As far as the talent level, we recruit on a par with most of our opponents. But we aren't developing our kids. I know the kids entered this season with high hopes. Most of the starters were on campus all summer. So what happened? I put it on some poor coaching decisions at Fordham which let a winnable game slip away from us. I also put it on the failure to execute. We are very poor tacklers. Our special
teams play is atrocious. We do not make proper throws to open receivers on short passes. We drop catchable balls. Those things are correctable. But it all goes back to a commitment to excellence. Does our university want to excel? Or does it want an athletic program which goes through the motions?
For the Semper Fi poster let's not compare the team to a platoon and the game a battle! Nobody is losing their life playing Columbia Football. The point here is to understand adversity and move forward in a positive mindset. Unfortunately, your team during the "Streak" was not able to work through adversity! I do agree that some positions do not have the best player's on the field!
I have no interest in criticizing either the coaches or the players. My sole interest is seeing Columbia defeat Penn next week. However we get it done is fine with me. Go Lions!
We have enough offense to win. Our defense is just not producing. Missed tackles at this level are inexcusable. If a player cannot or will not tackle he has to sit down.
Do you want to make a statement? Do not donate, or invest in this group? It's like investing in ENRON, a black hole of deceipt and empty promises. Only this will make Diane (and maybe Bollinger/Campbell) wake up to the fact that there is a problem.
I disagree with the above comment on the defense and offense. When the defense is on the field the majority of the game the offense is not producing. Some passes will have to be completed and as far as i know that has nothing to to with defense. Let's beat Penn hopefully the fans will support the team. Not sure since there are so many people making comments who feel they are coaches. Always easy to blame when things aren't going well. Also the comments about the right players on field. There are good players playing hopefully everyone above will support the program this week with Penn.
Go Lions Beat Penn Great players and Coaches
I actually liked the change in rotation on the defense this game and thought playing Frasher at end really worked well. They actually did a better job containing the run especially early which I think the change in rotation and changes at LB gave us. Definitely not perfect. The biggest issue is the guy coming out of the back field and at times playing off the receivers too far. We need to do something to disrupt the receivers more often. Keeping the defense off the field longer would help things too.
One thing I did notice when Garrett was in they always had a LB shadowing him. At times they actually had one shadowing him and Shawn. We have a huge tendency of trying to pass/option to Garrett. Screen plays to the back didn’t work this week for that reason. If it happens again maybe a 2 back set with a little misdirection could payoff. Personally I think Gerst was much more effective this week. He seemed to read the holes better. It is pretty apparent that the play calling is starting to be very one dimensional and in the long run that will kill us if it continues. Getting the TE more involved in the passing game was refreshing. He was wide open a lot. Hopefully the coaches will see that and Shawn will start doing a better job checking off receivers.
One last thing. It was very apparent that the place kicker probably didn’t get as much live practice last week. Other than a missed kick due to a bad snap he was doing great the first 3 games. Kicks were low and yes maybe one bad snap this week. All things typical of less live practice. The squib kick near the end of the 1st half was definitely a bad call. They weren’t able to do anything on the returns all that half. Should have kicked it long.
The tone of the comments appear to be becoming less angry. Let's get behind the players because I certainly am not reading support for the coaches or the AD, and I think all who have wanted to comment on those issues have written on this blog. While I do not like to credit Princeton, I will paraphrase one of their faculty from a while back. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Let's try new plays, players or whatever it takes. Penn appears very beatable and how nice would that be on national television.
Anyone who attended last year's game against Penn in Philadelphia remember that the Penn defense interrupted the Lion's offense in the first half with a variety of blitzes, that were not ready for and did not handle well until Brackett started throwing the ball long to the tight end, Kennedy. Obviously, the Lions need to be prepared for the same thing this Saturday.
What were the changes at LB that took place last Saturday? The changes that I think we need to make are with the DBs, some of whom do not want to tackle.
Every quarterback we have faced this season has had a gamebreaker on the field with him; e.g. Ayala (Fordham), Moore (Sacred Heart), Dibillio and Costello (Princeton. A gamebreaker, by definition, wins games, and until Columbia puts a gamebreaker on the field, we are going to continue to have problems on offense. Without a gamebreaker, the defense can simply tee off all day on our quarterback. The question, of course, is do we have a gamebreaker, and, if so, will he be ready for action on Saturday?
Gerst has the potential to be a gamebreaker but appears to have difficulty picking up a blitzing LB in pass pro. With a one back set that back must be able to block, or the QB will get killed. Garrett is a good blocker who picked up the blitz nicely. So what does this mean? Gerst can only play in a two back set, with either Garrett or one of the FBs in the backfield with him. One other note; I am impressed with the improvement in Garner's game. With his size and hands he should see more balls.
PS, I would like to see Alec Fischer get a few touches. I think he has talent.
Put Gerst in the I with Garret or the fullback blocking...Run him off tackle and he will run forever out of a stretch play...Line him up in the slot or at wideout and throw to him in the seam or skinny cross...Let him chip block off a screen..There is so much you can do with this kid..Somebody send the OC some film from Krafts team up in New England ala Danny Woodhead...He has got to touch the ball more than 4 times....Once you establish a weapon and he is on the field Bracket and Garrets life will get alot easier...
"It's easy to blame when things are going bad."
How about for the last 60 years?
This is what some of you Bloggers fail to understand... We are passionate about CU football and only want the best for the KIDS! If, for example, Diane said that the Univerrsity would NOT be renewing NW's contract next year (I know, wishful thinking), then the majority of the posts would be positive. Sure there would be game analyses and review of the Xs and Os, but overall, there would be optimisim. At the beginning of this year, with all of the kids coming back, and the size of our O-Line, we all anticipated GREAT (and positive) things. After four disheartening weeks and all of the empty promises from the staff, we are bitter, confused, and felt taken advantage of. That is why some of these posts are so negative.
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