Impressive Individual Performances Downplayed by Loss

There were a couple bright spots in Columbia’s 59-28 loss to Penn on Saturday--senior quarterback and co-captain Craig Hormann and sophomore wide receiver Austin Knowlin both had career days.

Hormann did something that only one other Columbia quarterback had ever done before when he threw for 417 yards. The performance put Hormann at third in single-game passing yardage behind two huge days by CC ’84 quarterback John Witkowski. Knowlin was Hormann’s main target, catching 10 passes for a career-high 188 yards, including a 90-yard catch in the first quarter.

What makes Hormann’s performance a little more impressive is that he wasn’t necessarily getting a lot of time in the pocket for most of the game. He was only sacked three times, but for most of the afternoon, he had to step up in the pocket to avoid the rush in order to avoid hits, at least until he had gotten the throw off.

“I think their quarterback is terrific, and I think he’s the best in this league at stepping up and buying time,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. “As a consequence they get a lot of pretty good plays so we were trying to make sure that we collapsed that pocket.”

However, Columbia head football coach Norries Wilson looked at Hormann’s performance a little more critically, focusing on his quarterback’s levels of confidence throughout the game.

“You saw some of that confidence in the second half when we were down 45-7 and it looked as if we could move the ball down the field as if we’d actually been coached,” Wilson said. “I didn’t see that confidence when it was 7-7.”

Whether it was a confidence issue or not, Hormann’s feat illustrated how good the passing game can be, even when the Lions are having trouble establishing the run. On Saturday, it got to the point where it was evident that the Light Blue was going to throw, yet Penn was unable to do much about it. Knowlin was constantly double covered, yet he was still pulling down grab after grab.

Along with completing 10 passes to Knowlin on the day, Hormann also hit nine other receivers. He spread the ball around very well, which just shows how many potential weapons that the Lions have on offense. The key is keeping them involved, which will make other teams respect them as options, and keeping them honest will open passing lanes, making things much easier on the offense.

The problem is that offensive stats, no matter how impressive, become irrelevant when they come in a loss, especially a colossal one like the game on Saturday. The whole team needs to work together for 60 minutes in order to win games, and when only two players are clicking, no matter how well they play, it won’t matter.