It was one of those plays that, if it had worked, it would have been a great decision, but since it didn’t, ended up being the decision that might have cost the Columbia football team a chance to beat Princeton on Saturday.

In the waning moments of the third quarter, a nine-play, 66-yard Columbia drive had the Lions facing fourth-and-six from the Princeton 22-yard line. With the Light Blue trailing 21-17, head coach Norries Wilson sent the field goal unit out to attempt a 39-yard field goal. When the ball was snapped, however, holder Jason Pyles rolled out to his right and kicker Jon Rocholl ran ahead of him to go out for a pass. Pyles looked ahead for Rocholl, and decided it was best to tuck the ball and run, but he only gained two yards and Princeton took possession.

“I can’t see the fake from the sideline down there, but we all thought we had a chance to pop the ball over to Roch[oll] and make the first down,” Wilson said. “Jason Pyles ran as good as he could run, and I’ve got to trust his judgment. Jason felt like Jon was covered from the back, and he couldn’t fake it, and he couldn’t get the pass, and he ran as good as he could to get the first down and he came up short.”

The unsuccessful fake field goal did not lead to points, but the Lions took the lead later in the fourth quarter. When Princeton answered with a touchdown of their own and Columbia blocked the extra point, the Light Blue found itself down by three points, which stuck as the final margin of defeat.

“As games come down to a play or a couple of plays, today’s game was lost—in my opinion—thereabouts in the third quarter,” Wilson said. “Might still be playing overtime now if I had allowed a pretty good kicker to go out there and kick a field goal.”
Rocholl definitely has the ability to make a 39-yard kick, but the kick on Saturday, if it had attempted, wouldn’t have necessarily been a sure thing. In his career, Rocholl is 4-8 on field goals between 30 and 39 yards, and the attempt against Princeton would have been from the furthest distance in that range.

Had the Lions not run that fake field goal, or had it been successful, it’s impossible to know what would have ensued. That play definitely changed the game, but there is no way of knowing for certain if it changed the game for the better or the worse for the Lions. Hindsight is always 20-20, and because the Light Blue eventually fell by a margin of three points, it seems like that play changed the game for the worse.

Had the Lions’ final drive ended in a touchdown rather than a lost fumble, the fake field goal would have been inconsequential. Had the fake field goal resulted in a first down, the Lions would have been in position for at least three more shots at the end zone, or at worst, a much easier field goal.

The decision that was made, however, was dealt with in the best possible way by the Lions. The defense came onto the field and immediately forced a three-and-out and when the offense got the ball back, it drove the field and took the lead. After that, Princeton came back and scored, but the Lions still had the ball two more times and failed to put points on the board.

It’s easy to say that the unsuccessful fake goal lost the Lions the game, but games are not decided by one play. They are decided by the sum of all the plays, and in the end, Columbia was unable to come up with the plays it needed to pull out the victory.