Cornell football 2018

[ugarte]

I don't think we watch the same games, Al. A better team ended the first drive by making plays. The calls weren't dumb, they just didn't work.

No, we watch the same games.  We just have a different idea of smart play-calling.

We're disagreeing over whether it was the call or the execution.

On your opening drive, With third and one on the 23 yard line of a team that hasn't given up a touchdown in its last four games, you have two shots to gain a yard, continue that drive, and maybe send an early message with a touchdown. And you have a 240 pound quarterback who can go under center and plunge forward.  At least run a play that goes north-south, where it's very unlikely you'll lose ground.  The last thing to do is run east-west and risk losing yardage on third down.  So what did Cornell do?

Third down was dumb. Fourth down was no longer one yard and the squad blocked like crap on the screen. So it was both.

Yes, the blocking was crap.  No question.  Against the #1 defense that is fast, athletic, and pursues like crazy, in a must-make or else lose-the-ball situation, call a play where the receiver is at least the requisite number of yards downfield to get the first.  How about a slant over the middle or a button-hook to the outside, at least five yards downfield?

The one thing i've learned from watching both NFL football and Ivy League football is you have to get what NFL offenses are capable of out of your head because the arms and heads in the Ivies just aren't up to it. Quick slants and buttonhooks are precise timing patterns that I don't think I'd even trust Banks to throw with the zip to make them work, and if they aren't open what's your second read? I think the answer is that Archer trusts Coles more than Banks, so that's why you get a screen called and if the entire Colgate line beats their blocks, that's how the play goes. We got torched by a team that is much better than we are. Would have been nice to get some points though.

[billhoward]

It's on to Providence. Brown has only a win over Georgetown so far, was blanked by Rhode Island 48-0 in the Newport Mansions Cup (I'm sure it has a name), and is being pounded by Princeton 35-3 today.

If Cornell loses to Brown, Archer should be fired at the end of the season.

Have you given up on the idea of summary execution? You're a softie.

[Ken711]

It's on to Providence. Brown has only a win over Georgetown so far, was blanked by Rhode Island 48-0 in the Newport Mansions Cup (I'm sure it has a name), and is being pounded by Princeton 35-3 today.

If Cornell loses to Brown, Archer should be fired at the end of the season.

Have you given up on the idea of summary execution? You're a softie.

Summary firing sounds about right though if they lose.  Let's see the finally games remaining.

at Brown - They had better win
at Princeton - No chance
Penn - Good chance
Dartmouth - Doubtful
at Columbia - Winnable

[billhoward]

Uh-oh, second quarter, and we haven't scored. Neither has Brown. Still. This is the Brown of old, not the one that clobbered Cornell most every year from the mid '90s to the mid '00s.

Now it's a shootout, Brown 10 Cornell 7 late in the second. 2 TD passes late put Cornell up 14-10 at the half. More like it.

Q3: Another Cornell TD, 21-10 in the third.  Brown gets to the Cornell 5, Cornell's David Jones blocks the FGA and Cornell runs it all the way back to the, uh, Brown 25. (Hey, we blocked it.) End of 3rd, Cornell 21-10.

Q4: 7 seconds into 4th, Dalton Banks 59 yards to Lars Pederson but there's an offside against - phew - Brown. 28-10. Roll Tide. Cornell then Brown score in last 6 minutes. Brown tries for 2 points to make it 36-18 and with a 3-minute miracle of 2 TDs, 2 conversions and an FG, they'd upset Cornell.

Amazing: six games in, we're 3-3 with a 2-1 Ivy record. Toughest game of the year, give or take Colgate, is at Princeton next Saturday. Tigers are 6-0, held off Harvard on the road 29-21. A happy note from Princeton's game story for Cornell fans who travel:

Princeton remains in a first-place tie with Dartmouth, a Saturday road winner at Columbia, and will take on Cornell next Saturday at 1 pm on Powers Field. Tickets are still available for that game, and you can watch it live on ESPN+.

Code Select Expand


Cornell          0   14   7  13  -- 34
Brown            0   10   0   6  -- 16

Cornell PR game story: https://cornellbigred.com/news/2018/10/20/football-brown-recap.aspx

[scoop85]

Uh-oh, second quarter, and we haven't scored. Neither has Brown. Still.

Brown leads 3-0. Both teams are lousy.

[Al DeFlorio]

Two TDs make it 14-10 CU at the half.

[scoop85]

Two TDs make it 14-10 CU at the half.

We're certainly playing better. Now driving to start the 2nd half, at around the Brown 20.  TD here would be big.

[Trotsky]

28-10, pulling away.  Banks with 3 TD passes.

[Trotsky]

ESPN has a win probability doohickey:

[Trotsky]

34-10, now.  I don't know how much of it is Brown, but we look mobile, organized, and confident.

[scoop85]

Uh-oh, second quarter, and we haven't scored. Neither has Brown. Still.

Brown leads 3-0. Both teams areBrown is lousy.

There's lousy, and then there's lousy. We are less lousy.

[billhoward]

ESPN has a win probability doohickey:

In medical terms, beware next week of flatlining.

[margolism]

Of the three Cornell losses, one came against Delaware, a 4-2 team nobody ever expected us to beat, and Colgate, a ranked team that hasn't given up a single touchdown since the first week of the season.

It's not as if our losses were against mediocre, cupcake teams.  Our only Ivy loss (thus far) was against the team favored to win the Ivy League this season.  

Perhaps we we are better team than we / anyone else thinks we are.  I didn't say a great team, but not an assumed W like we were two years ago.

[marty]

I watched the game on ESPN+ and it seemed that there were many commercial breaks. According to box scores, the SHU game ran for 3:10 and last week's Yale game ran 3:15.  In contrast, the first two games on IDN last year, Colgate and Bucknell, ran for 2:41 and 2:36, respectively.  Presumably, the many and lengthy commercials accounted for the extra 34 minutes per game.  I hope that this trend doesn't continue into hockey season as annoying commercial timeouts affect the flow of the game and provide a break for less well conditioned teams, not to mention that fans will get home later.

This would suck for us old timers and hockey purists of any age.  The only silver lining is that it would give the coaching staff more experience in dealing with the finesse needed in line matching, etc. when dealing with a game with more timeouts.  It could make the staff more ready for playoff hockey.

This really belongs in hockey...  Tonight at RPI there were 3 short time outs per period. The first came at about the 6 to 7 minute mark. The "shovel" time out was similar to last year at about the 10 to 11 minute mark followed by another at about the 15 minute mark. For the first and third timeout of the third period I timed the buzzer to ref whistle interval. It was about 45 seconds from the official clock buzzer sound until the ref blew the whistle to indicate the time out was over.  Within about 15 seconds the teams were lined up for the puck drop.  The midpoint time out lasted a bit longer.

I saw no red light at Houston Field House to indicate the stoppages.

[billhoward]

Extension for the Coach!