Big Plays Boost Offense As Columbia Defeats Georgetown 35-24 In Sixth Lou Little Cup

Upper West Side NY

26 September, 2021

12:39 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY MATTHEW KIM SEPTEMBER 25, 2021 Riding the momentum of last week's 37-14 routing of Marist College, Columbia football (2-0) defeated Georgetown 35-24 and took back the Lou Little Trophy. The win marks the Lions' third against the Hoyas (0-2) since the Lou Little Cup—which honors former Columbia and Georgetown head coach Lou Little—was established in 2015. "[When] you're competing not only for a game … but you're also competing for a trophy, and it's symbolic of a guy who had a legendary career here and [at] Georgetown, I think it's significant," head coach Al Bagnoli said. Despite the wide margin of victory, the Lions stumbled out of the gates. On the second play of the game, senior running back Dante Miller fumbled on the Lions' 42—nearly the same spot as fifth-year Will Allen's fumble against Marist last week. The Lions' defense was able to stay strong, though, forcing the Hoyas to punt despite their favorable field position. The initial turnover did not hinder the Lions' offense as Columbia proceeded to score on two of its next three possessions. On the opening play of the Light Blue's third drive, sophomore quarterback Joe Green aired a pass out to sophomore wide receiver Wills Meyer for 46 yards all the way to the Georgetown 18. A couple of strong runs by senior Ryan Young brought Columbia to the 4-yard line. Senior quarterback Ty Lenhart then handed the ball to sophomore running back Ty'son Edwards for his first collegiate score, capping off the quick four-play drive to make the score 7-0. The following possession, Miller escaped to the outside for a huge 63-yard run, showing off his breakaway speed. With the ball on the 6, Lenhart faked a handoff and took it himself to score the Lions' second touchdown, increasing their lead to 14-0 with just under two minutes remaining in the first period. The Hoyas quickly struck back. A 35-yard completion to Liam McHale and a defensive pass interference penalty gave Georgetown possession in the red zone. Running back Joshua Stakely punched it in from the 2 to put the Blue and Gray on the board. On the ensuing kickoff, Allen made up for his turnover the previous week. After fielding the ball on Columbia's 8, Allen wove through the defense 92 yards to the end zone. Allen's return is tied for the sixth-longest in school history and beat his previous career-long of 91 yards. "My teammates did all the blocking," Allen said. "I just had to do the running." However, Georgetown would not go away as quarterback Pierce Holley connected with Cameron Crayton for a 45-yard gain. Holley finished the drive with a 6-yard rushing touchdown off a read option. Georgetown scored another field goal, making the score 21-17 going into the half. In the third quarter, Columbia created some separation. With the Hoyas driving down the field, fifth-year safety Ben Mathiasmeier picked off Holley's pass and returned it all the way to the Georgetown 8. Lenhart then ran for another touchdown—his second of the day. Georgetown still fought back. Holley found Crayton on another deep ball for 52 yards, which brought the Hoyas inside the Columbia 10. Four plays later, Holley threw to Crayton for a 2-yard score to close the Lions' lead to 28-24. Lenhart scored another touchdown on the ground in the fourth—his third of the day and the twelfth of his career—to close out the game 35-24. Going into Saturday's matchup, Bagnoli and his staff were unsure who would start at quarterback for Georgetown. Joseph Brunell, the Hoyas' usual starting quarterback, suffered an injury against Harvard last week, making his status questionable ahead of Saturday. Bagnoli said that he expected Tyler Knoop, who relieved Brunell last week, to take over, but Holley got the nod in his first career start instead. "We really didn't know what [Holley] was good at or what the schematics were going to be, so that proved to be a little bit more of a mystique than we wanted it to be," Bagnoli said. Holley stepped up for Georgetown in a big way. Aside from his two interceptions, the junior threw for 368 yards and a touchdown, including multiple 40-plus yard completions. Georgetown wide receiver Cameron Crayton was a handful for the Lions. Crayton, who caught seven passes for 115 yards against Harvard, finished with 190 yards and a score. "I give Georgetown a lot of credit," Bagnoli said. "They came in a little bit short-handed, and I thought their kids really competed." One of Bagnoli's main areas of focus has been providing opponents different looks, which he continued to do today. Last week, sophomore Gabriel Hollingsworth took many snaps in red zone situations, and this week, Hollingsworth did not see any playing time. Instead, Lenhart took many of the touches near the goal. After only seeing snaps in the first quarter last week, Lenhart did not fail to capitalize on the opportunities, scoring three touchdowns on his five rushing attempts. "The offensive line should all be in here talking," Lenhart said. "I pretty much just walked in on all of them. It's those guys who were making the plays." Miller and Young continued their dominance on the ground, accumulating 86 and 93 rushing yards, respectively. Meyer had 87 receiving yards on five catches, serving as Green's primary target. Mathiasmeier also had a monster game for the Lions, walking away with two interceptions and six total tackles. The Lions were without wide receiver and kick and punt returning specialist Mike Roussos. The senior was out for his second consecutive game for personal reasons Bagnoli did not disclose. Allen and Mathiasmeier continued to take over his kick and punt returning duties. While Bagnoli is pleased with the result, he believes that the Lions made a lot of schematic errors—many of which led to big plays for the Hoyas—and that there is still more room for improvement. "We played well enough to win, but we also know we have a much higher ceiling that we're going to try to get to," Bagnoli said. The Lions will travel to Princeton next Saturday to take on the Tigers in their first Ivy League matchup of the season. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Deputy Sports Editor Matt Kim can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @matt_kim9. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.