Endzones Justify the Means

If you go to one away football game this season, make it Princeton. Columbia has unveiled a surprise in each of its two games this season, and Princeton provides the Lions’ last best chance for a trifecta.

Craig Hormann’s start at quarterback against Fordham was the first example of the Lions capitalizing on any competitive advantage they possessed. The decision to leave his name off the two-deep for the entirety of preseason despite knowing that he was the starter pushed the limits of sportsmanship. It was the first game of the season, though, and Columbia was playing a team with two games of experience. Head coach Norries Wilson had every right to keep the entire two-deep a secret. He actively hid an important piece of information because it gave his team a better chance of winning. The Lions went on to lose to Fordham despite the use of cunning, but the football program—from the coaches to the sports information department—showed what it would do to help the team win.

Against Marist, there was less of a sudden, curtains-up surprise, but the Lions did bring in pieces of their game plan as yet unseen on tape. The first was Troy Evangelist at tight end. He and Jamal Russell were used sparingly last season, but against Marist, Evangelist had one 14-yard reception and was a target for a missed pass. More importantly, though, he was in for most of the game, doing a great job blocking. His addition as a fixture on the offense could prompt an increase in the variety of plays the team runs. This could be seen at the end of the Marist game, when the Lions were up by two possessions. Pete Stoll came in at fullback for three carries and a 35-yard pass. Ray Rangel took the ball for three more runs, including a touchdown on a sweep. There was an overall sense of experimentation on the offense, which is worth noting, because the Lions could just as easily have let Jordan Davis run up the gut for a fourth or fifth touchdown. I would not be surprised if we still haven’t seen Columbia’s absolute best offensive game plan.

What does all this say about a surprise against Princeton? First off, Princeton is a much better team than Marist, and arguably more talented across the board than Fordham. More importantly, an Ivy win will do more net good than winning the Liberty Cup would have. One need only look back to 2005, when the Lions beat Fordham and Duquesne to start the year 2-0, and then were whipped 43-3 by the Tigers at Princeton Stadium. Everyone in the football office knows what that loss did to that Columbia team, even if only the current seniors and juniors were a part of it. Last year, Columbia played Princeton to a close 19-6 loss. The statement at the end of that game was that the Lions could compete with the best team in the conference (Princeton shared the Ivy title with Yale). The statement this year has got to be that or better.

So if Columbia knows how important this win would be, and has proven that it will use deception and surprise to help the cause, then what will we see against Princeton? I have no clue, other than to say that we will see something we haven’t seen before. I’d even go so far as to say that Columbia won’t win unless we see a surprise. I’ve tossed around the idea of a live lion on the sidelines, but that idea may be a few years away.
Toward the end of the Marist game, Shane Kelly and M.A. Olawale were warming up on the sidelines when Kelly took an urgent phone call from the coordinators above the stadium. They were hatching a plan. Even if Kelly didn’t get in that game, I have a feeling that the two backup quarterbacks are more important to the offense than we suspect. These are two great athletes who led the offense on the field throughout preseason. Wilson has shown he will extract an advantage wherever he sees it, and these two players have been underutilized. As it stands, opposing defenses will guard against long passes from Hormann to Austin Knowlin. They may have new respect for the run game thanks to Davis’ performance last week. At Princeton, however, Columbia will do what it has to do to win, and that will take a surprise.