Color commentary

At the beginning of the season, Joe Jones emphasized that an improved perimeter defense would allow the Lions to contend for an Ivy League title, and improve on last season’s 16-12 overall record.

The buzzer rang as the final seconds of the first half expired, and a three-pointer from Michele Gage slid down the net. Columbia up two against Oakland. The Lions left the court for intermission with the wind at their back, homecoming sails struck and billowing.

For just the third time since becoming Columbia’s starting quarterback, Craig Hormann was benched midway through Saturday’s action. The senior co-captain, who has the second-most completions in Columbia history, couldn’t manage Cornell’s relentless blitzing attack and was replaced by sophomore transfer Shane Kelly when the Lions were down 34-7 near the end of the third quarter.

Although Columbia can’t boast much about its league play this season, the Lions (1-7, 0-5 Ivy) are the Ivy League team to have received the most consistent and standout play from their freshmen class. In the eight weeks of play so far, a Columbia player has received the Ivy Rookie of the Week award four times.

Mike McLeod is the most dominant skill position player in the Ivy League this year. He broke his own school record for touchdowns in a season by adding three against Columbia, and with three games left and another season to go, his career stats will only become more phenomenal. Yale’s running attack was completely smothered in the first half of play Saturday, however, with McLeod averaging just 3.5 yards per carry on 23 takes.

Ray Rangel was slated to give Jordan Davis some rest in Saturday’s game against Dartmouth. The sophomore tailback had progressed enough that the coaching staff deemed him ready to make the move from special-situation player to every-down back. Rangel ended the day with 15 carries to Davis’ three and showed how the Columbia offense may stand to benefit from having two competent tailbacks, not only to divide the job, but also to bring new variety to the offense when they’re both on the field.

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.