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Game Week

Columbia Preview

The 2-4 Columbia Lions travel to New Haven this weekend to face the Bulldogs at the Bowl. Kickoff is slated for noon and the game will air on ESPN+.

Columbia’s two wins were both over non-conference opponents as the Lions knocked off the Georgetown Hoyas in Week 2 by a score of 30-0 and then defeated the Marist Red Foxes 16-0 in Week 4. The Lions dropped two very close games against Princeton and Penn and missed several opportunities to narrow the contest last week at Dartmouth.

Senior QB Joe Green (6’4”, 230 lbs.) returned from an injury last week and had a solid showing versus Dartmouth completing 25 passes for 239 yards and an interception. The Lion’s other option at QB, senior Caden Bell (6’0”, 205 lbs.), struggled through five games completing just 41.3% of his passes with a single touchdown thrown. Columbia utilizes three talented running backs that all average 4.4 yards per carry or more. Senior RB Joey Giorgi (5’10”, 205 lbs.) leads the Lions in rushing with 86 carries for 389 yards and a touchdown but did not play in Columbia’s last contest. Junior RB Malcom Terry II (5’9”, 205 lbs.) rushed for 62 yards last week at Dartmouth and is averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Rounding out the running back trio is senior Ty’son Edwards (5’11”, 210 lbs.) who leads the team in both yards per carry and rushing touchdowns. The offensive line averages 301.0 lbs. across the board and returns two starters from 2022. The line has paved the way for 3.4 yards per carry on the season and given up 12 sacks to opponents. Columbia has two very skilled receivers in senior JJ Jenkins (6’2”, 200 lbs.) and junior Bryson Canty (6’2”, 200 lbs.). Jenkins leads the team in receptions and receiving yards posting 19 catches for 310 yards and a touchdown. Canty was a 1st Team All-Ivy WR a year ago and is averaging 11.6 yards per catch. Senior TE James Miller (6’4”, 245 lbs.) is adept at run blocking and pass catching. The Lions have had a run-heavy offense but that could all change in this contest based on their study of the Yale vs. Penn film.

Columbia’s defense is one of the toughest in the Ivy League and leads the nation in both red zone defense and scoring defense. The defense has limited opponents to just 103.8 rushing yards per game and 170.7 passing yards per game through 6 contests. Senior LB Anthony Roussos (5’11”, 230 lbs.) has been dominant this season with 57 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, a sack, and a forced fumble. Junior DE Justin Townsend (6’1”, 255 lbs.) is one of the top defensive linemen in the Ancient Eight and has racked up 15 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks and an interception. Junior DB Hayden McDonald (5’9”, 180 lbs.) has been a key to Columbia’s defensive success this season with 42 tackles, 3 pass breakups and a fumble recovery. Junior S Aaron Brebnor (6’1”, 195 lbs.) has seen action since his freshman season and is tied for the team lead in interceptions with 2. Opponents have scored just 6 touchdowns on 19 drives inside the red zone and have converted on 3rd down just 35.1% of the time. The Yale offense needs to find its footing in the contest to control the clock and exploit mismatches on the outside.

Freshman K Hugo Merry (6’2”, 215 lbs.) has made 4 of 9 field goals with a long of 42 yards on the season. Senior P William Hughes (6’0”, 175 lbs.) has done a tremendous job punting with an average of 44.2 yards per punt with 9 punts over 50 yards. Senior Carter McFadden (5’11”, 180 lbs.) could be the best returner we’ve faced so far this season and has averaged 14.3 yards per punt return and 25.8 yards per kickoff return.

Go Bulldogs! Beat the Lions!

32 replies on “Columbia Preview”

Yale , should win this game. But I see a trend of underperforming on this team. Which I haven’t seen in a very long time. No leadership at all. It’s everyone is waiting for someone else to do something. Well the weather should be better, hopefully Yale Bowl won’t have just 2,000 people at the game. If it’s nice I’m going Apple picking instead

Last year Columbia was the breakout game. Yale hadn’t been that impressive up to that point and had lost to Penn in a very winnable game the week before. Let’s hope this year is a repeat.

I don’t see Yale winning another game this year. 3-7 to bad
Picked to be #1 hero to zero, secret football practices. No one can watch , Hey Reno, no one wants to watch your team now. Good PR work . You elitist bunch of morons. Again it’s the communities that always filled the Bowl.
Vicky and you deserve each other, or Dumb or Dumber. As I see it.

I saw a Carm Cozza practice once. Boring as hell. Who gives a shit about watching practices?

I’m hopeful that they can find their mojo this week and carry it through the end of the season.

This is probably Yale’s last chance at saving a mediocre season, and it won’t he saved if they keep the same game plan they have relied upon all season. First, Yale’s DB’s have shown that they cannot play zone defense; opponents crossing patterns have receivers wide open all day. Try playing man to man; it can’t be worse than the zone. On offense, stop relying on Groomes running the ball; opponents are putting a defender on him and they are shutting him down. His passing game is too weak to carry the offense, especially an offense that shows no imagination. Put a QB in there that can see the middle of the field, and have someone other than the OC call the offensive plays. Running it up the middle on first down is getting old and predictable. Yale needs a drastic change and they need it now if they want to save this season.

Gentlemen; creativity is the key on both offense and defense let’s see what happens today. The lack thereof will prevent our squad from prevailing against the Lions.

Good start on offense and then back to inconsistent. We never seem to put two good drives back to back

Holy Cross game started with a nice TD drive.
Cornell game started with a 7-play drive (but punt) followed by a good TD drive.
Penn game started with a TD drive.
Let me think, what else do those games have in common?

Why does Grooms continually throw deep balls into Double or triple coverage. Yates was WIDE OPEN on the right side. No one around him.

When Grooms throws deep, it is usually a “Hail Mary” pass, and it’s almost always a sideline pass. I don’t think he is tall enough to see down the middle of the field; that severely limits the offense. It isn’t that noticeable against a team like Columbia, Sacred Heart, or Morgan State, but good teams catch on fast. Almost all his passes are “dink and dunk” sideline passes.

When was the last time the Yale defense did not allow any passing yards in a quarter. Not sure if that’s a tribute to the D or a terrible Columbia passing offense (so far). I guess we will see.

A nice first half. I don’t know why Yale didn’t seem to try to score on the last drive, though.

Why do we not seem to want to try and score in the last minute of the first half? Makes no sense.

Totally agree – especially after Lindley returned punt to midfield with 1:33 remaining as very perplexing to understand what Reno thinking as can’t win coaching not to lose.

Yale has been horrible in the third quarter of Ivy games this year. Hopefully, today will be different.

And why is he running the ball? Hand off to the backs. All you want to do now is kill the clock.

Starters stay in way too long under Coach Reno. Give the understudies a chance to develop. Maybe then when your starters go down, there won’t be such a drop-off (hint: o-line, secondary).

I don’t think it’s Reno, though Reno should have said something to put in the subs early in 4th quarter. I put this on OC, the coach who calls the offensive plays in this very predictable offense. He shut down too early before the end of the first half and then leaves his starters in when the game is well in hand and backups can gain experience.

I think the Bulldogs once again control their destiny if Harvard beats Dartmouth. Agreed? And does that mean I have to root for Harvard?

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