Columbia-Brown: Lions Blown Away By Bears

Hopefully Columbia will be celebrating like this in the near future.

Brown 41, Columbia 10

Why Brown Won

The Bears controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball all day. QB Michael Dougherty used his time well and surgically shredded the Columbia defense, especially on third down plays. The defense shut down every aspect of the Lion offense except for QB M.A. Olawale's running. Once he went down, Columbia's chances to win were dashed.

Why Columbia Lost

Columbia never pressured one of the best QBs in the league, and that spelled disaster on defense. On offense, the passing game never got on track.

Key Turning Points

- After getting a three-and-out on the game's opening possession, Columbia was snakebitten by a freak turnover on the ensuing Brown punt. The wind hung up the kick, and it landed on the back of an unsuspecting A.J. Maddox's leg. Brown recovered in Lion territory and scored a touchdown on the drive.

- With the score tied 7-7, Brown started a drive at their own four and got all the way to the Columbia 20 before turning it over on downs on a great fourth down stand by the Lions defense. But the Columbia offense went three-and-out, and Brown took the short field after a short punt and scored a quick TD to grab the momentum back for good.

In general, this was Columbia's worst performance of the year, especially on defense. It was truly a shame to end the season this way, but with roughly 300 days to go before the 2009 season, getting any real momentum to carry over into next season is hard to do in any case.

I don't have any information on the extent of Olawale's injury, and I wouldn't expect anyone to get anything solid in the way of a prognosis for a while. I don't think Columbia or anyone in college football is required to make those kinds of updates available in the offseason period.

Of course there is a lot to churn through as I try to get a handle on the season right now. There's no getting around the disappointing nature of a 2-8 year, but I do want to end this post with a positive note: We have rarely had this kind of talent or depth on a Columbia football team, and never in my lifetime have we had this kind of talent and depth at the same time.

You just can't dispute those facts, and certainly there are a lot of reasons to be more optimistic for next season.