Football looks to rebound against Yale

With Mike McLeod (Yale ’09) gone, the Bulldogs (3-3, 1-2) have a new coach in Tom Williams, and a new, pass-happy offense, but one thing hasn’t changed—their defense is still punishing. And it’s something Columbia head coach Norries Wilson is prepared for.
“They’re really good in the red zone—when they let you get in the red zone,” Wilson said. “They do a good job tackling. They’re physical … They just line up and they get after it. They don’t just line up and sit there. They move and they slant and they angle and they blitz and they come after you and they get tackles for a loss.”
The Lions haven’t beaten the Elis in seven years, and are on a three-game skid after losses to Lafayette, Penn and Dartmouth. But Wilson has tried to turn things around, starting with the first principal he instilled in his players: be the most physical team on the field.
“I think that’s something over the years we have built, and somehow we have lost that edge that we used to have coming out the of the locker room, that no one was going to play harder than we play,” Wilson said.
The Bulldogs’ defense certainly won’t make that easy. Ranked second in total defense, the Elis lead the league in red-zone defense, allowing only five touchdowns this season. They’ve forced five fumbles and intercepted seven passes.
The Lions will have an immeasurably hard task of finding a fill-in for senior tailback Ray Rangel. Rangel, who led the league in rushing until last Saturday, left the Dartmouth game in the fourth quarter with an undisclosed injury. Rangel is averaging 5.8 yards per carry and 83 yards per game. Junior Zack Kourouma came in for the injured Rangel on Saturday and will get the start against Yale.
Their offense, however, has struggled, most notably against Penn last weekend, where the Quakers shut out the Bulldogs in a 9-0 loss for the Elis. Yale has two quarterbacks in Brook Hart and Patrick Witt, and though Hart has started the past three games, that is no indication that he will start again on Saturday against the Lions. Witt started the first two games and got significant playing time last Saturday in the loss to Penn, where he and Hart each had just eight completions.

“We feel very good about both of those guys. They’ve both got different strengths and different weaknesses, but we feel that they are both capable of winning us football games,” Williams said.

A major battle will happen in the trenches on Saturday, as the Eli offensive line has given up 21 sacks over the course of the season. Though Wilson’s Lions have just seven sacks to their name, he’s looking to put pressure on whoever is taking the snaps and rack up some more.

“We’re going to get after them, whoever’s back there,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to get after them, not just because who’s back there, but because we need to get after some quarterbacks and getting some sacks and taking the pressure off the secondary.”

“We’ve been talking about it since Sunday, about having to get after them up front with our defensive front,” Wilson said.

After the 28-6 loss to Dartmouth in Hanover last weekend, Wilson said changes needed to be made. On Wednesday, he said that those changes mainly had to do with the attitude of his players, but that there will be personnel changes as well.

“Sometimes they are hard choices to make,” Wilson said. “I love every guy on the team, but I’ve got to put who I think are the best kids out there that give us the best possibility to win.”

What kind of changes? Wilson is keeping those secrets locked up safe until game time. “You’ll probably see those at 1:05 on Saturday.”

The meeting Saturday marks the first matchup of African-American football coaches in the Ivy league. When asked what that meant to him, Wilson said that it’s more what it means for his kids and the next generation of coaches.

“I think Coach Williams and I both understand that what we’re doing as head coaches in the Ivy League is respected by many, and we have a responsibility to those that may get an opportunity after us to do the best job that we can in our roles, and make sure that we are respectful on and off the field, that we don’t do anything to diminish the opportunity for anybody to come behind us,” Wilson said.