Burdened with Long History of Losing, Columbia Enters Pivotal Penn Game

Homecoming always brings with it the talk of history and tradition. The Columbia Lions and the Penn Quakers have their own type of history as well. Unfortunately for Light Blue fans, it’s not a pretty one. The last time the Lions won a game against Penn, Bill Clinton was President, Michael Jordan was still playing for the Bulls, and current Columbia undergrads were in elementary or middle school. Perhaps the Lions will be able to snap their losing streak this coming Saturday. First, here is a look at what went wrong in their previous meetings.

In October of 2004 the Quakers and Lions met in Philadelphia for Penn’s homecoming and the Quakers came away with the victory, 14-3. The reason for Penn’s win was that they were able to consistently move the ball down the field and take advantage of scoring opportunities. The Quakers struck first when quarterback Matt McDermott found wide receiver Dan Castles in the end zone for a two-yard touchdown pass. After a scoreless second quarter the Lions were able to put three points on the board with a 19-yard field goal by kicker Nick Rudd. In the fourth quarter the Quakers finalized their win when McDermott found Matt Carre for a 28-yard touchdown pass. The Red and Blue defense also had a solid performance, dropping Columbia players in the backfield eight times for a total of 51 yards for loss. The Lions hoped that when they met a year later things would be different.

When next year’s meeting came the Lions were not able to stick with the Quakers. The Light Blue dropped another game to Penn, this time by a score of 44-16. Penn was able to punish the Lions because of their unstoppable rush offense and their ability to cause turnovers. The Quakers were able to put up 277 rushing yards while putting the ball into the end zone three times. The Lions rushing game was MIA against Penn. The Lions had to fight for 13 yards on 21 rush attempts and zero rushing touchdowns on the day. Penn forced two fumbles from Columbia and stopped any chance of scoring. The Quakers defense only let the Lions into the red zone twice and only allowed a field goal. Penn was perfect in the red zone, scoring four times against Columbia.

Last year the Light Blue traveled to Philadelphia, but the Lions were shut out by the Quakers in a 16-0 loss. This was the first time since November of 2004 that Columbia had been shut out in a game. Columbia played a fundamentally sound game but could not come up with the key plays when they needed them the most. The Lions put together two drives early in the game that looked promising, however, the Quaker defense was able to stall both drives on fourth down plays. Penn was then able to capitalize on a fumble by Jordan Davis on the next drive and Penn proceeded to strike paydirt, giving them a 9-0 lead. In the first half Columbia was only able to rush for eight yards and failed to do much better in the second half. Late in the third the Quakers finished off a drive with a touchdown from tailback Joe Sandberg. Although the Lions lost the game, there were signs of promise from several players. Quarterback Craig Hormann threw for 246 yards and zero interceptions, while Austin Knowlin had 102 receiving yards in last year’s losing effort. Had the Lions been able to convert on essential plays they might have been able to come home with a win.

This year the Lions are looking for their first conference win of the season. They will have to establish several aspects of their game early if they want to emerge victorious. The Lions will have to establish their running game, which they have not been able to do in past meetings. They will also need Hormann to find his receivers, such as Knowlin, if they want to put together scoring drives against what is probably the weakest Penn team in recent memory.