Shorted Out

Next stop, Franklin Field

Lafayette 13 Columbia 3


Why Lafayette Won

The Leopards defense was dominanting and the offense had just enough spark to win. They made no turnovers and no stupid penalties and overcame injuries to some key players, including starting tailback Maurice White, who went out of the game for good in the first quarter.


Why Columbia Lost

The Lions got very little going offensively, and when they were in a position to score, they blew most of those rare opportunities. Columbia had two first and goal situations that could have led to a total of 14 points. Instead they came away with just three points, leaving 11 points on the table in a game they lost by just 10 points.


Key Turning Points

1) Late in the first quarter with Lafayette leading by 3-0, Mike Stephens energized the crowd with a beautiful 53-yard punt return for a first down at the Leopard 24. Three plays later, Columbia had a first and goal at the Lafayette seven, but moved the ball no closer. Jon Rocholl's eventual 25-yard field goal attempt was blocked and the Lions came away with no points.

2) On the ensuing drive, Lafayette took the ball 80 yards for a TD and 10-0 lead. The key play on the drive was a 30-yard pass on a third and six from QB Rob Curley to Tim Watson who split the seam against the left side of the defense just like Princeton did three times in the previous game.

3) Columbia had an excellent opportunity to cut the Lafayette lead to 10-7 at the end of the half, but two running attempts after a first and goal at the one went nowhere. The Lions had to settle for a field goal because the clock was running down and the Leopards had a touchdown lead going into the lockeroom.

On the bright side, this was a strong game for the Columbia defense. Drew Quinn had another monster game with 13 tackles giving him 54 on the season after just four games!

Freshman nose tackle Owen Fraser continues to impress. He had seven tackles, including one for a loss. For the most part, Columbia's opponents are avoiding running the ball right up the middle against the Lions, and he's the biggest reason why. That's a welcome change from last year.

Lafayette's defense made Shane Kelly look like an almost totally different quarterback than he's been so far this season. Kelly didn't throw an interception, and he went a decent 18-for-33. But he held the ball way too long over and over as the Leopard defense bottled up the Lion receivers all day.

Kelly also had a lot of trouble getting the option going and Columbia was fortunate not to have any turnovers despite four fumbles and a couple of Kelly passes that could have been picked off.

Austin Knowlin only had one catch for 17 yards. His lower numbers across the board this season are starting to get weird. It seems like he could break out at any time, but when?

Without the injured Jordan Davis, the Lions opted to use Ray Rangel for just about every running play. Against Lafayette's strong run defense that just didn't work.

Tight end Andrew Kennedy did make more of an impact that he has in most of the games this season with five catches for 42 yards. I expect him to continue to post similar stats for the rest of the season.

The Leopards got a nice lift from D'Andre Morrow, who replaced the injured White and brought some great speed to the table. The Lions eventually were able to contain him, but his excellent run for the game's only TD was impressive and more a result of his strength and determination than a missed tackle by the Columbis defense.

Andy Shalbrack made his presence felt with 11 total tackles, including two monster back-to-back tackles for a loss in the fourth quarter. He also almost grabbed an interception.

Kalasi Huggins suited up but did not play after going out of the game against Princeton. Fellow freshman AJ Maddox replaced him and he did a nice job despite missing a few plays himself after getting banged up in the game. Overall, the Lion secondary did a fantastic job holding the Leopards to just 150 yards passing and superstar receiver Shaun Adair to just three catches for 11 yards.

Taylor Joseph had the best day receiving for Columbia with five catches for 59 yards. He continues to impress in his junior year.

All in all, this was another game Columbia lost that they could have won. However, this was clearly the first game where they definitely seemed like the weaker team on the field that day. The Lions have to try to build on the improving defense while getting the offense back on track. The next opponent, Penn, has to at least be a little worried that the team that scored 24 points against them in week two barely managed 13 against Columbia.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Call this Saturday's games a "return to normalcy" in the Ivies as some of the favorites, namely Yale and Harvard, rolled to easy victories over Ivy opponents.

Harvard scored a TD in the first millisecond against Cornell and then rolled to a 38-17 win. So much for Cornell's perfect record. The Big Red looked lost much of the day.

Yale overpowered the Big Green in Hanover and won 34-7.

Brown lost to Holy Cross 41-34 in a non-league game, but what a game it was. Listen to these stats:

1) Bear QB Michael Dougherty went 41-of-60 for 526 yards, four TDs and no interceptions.

2) Brown ran the ball a grand total of 12 times the entire game.

3) There were no turnovers in the game.

After three weeks of playing relatively low-scoring games, the high-powered Brown offense is back.

Princeton lost a tough one on the road to a very good Colgate team, 27-24. Jordan Culbreath, who Columbia really shut down last week, ran for 153 yards on just 18 carries. QB Brian Anderson, who really hurt the Lions last week, had a rough game, going 6-for-14 for 105 yards, one TD and an INT.

This means the winner of the Brown-Princeton game this coming Saturday in New Jersey will be all alone atop the Ivy standings.

Penn beat the weak Georgetown Hoyas in Washington, 27-7, but starting tailback Michael Dimaggio went down with a separated shoulder and it's unclear when he'll be back. Freshman Matt Hamscher came up big replacing Dimmagio and running for 102 yards and TD.