Columbia Drops To Fifth In Ivy League After 49-21 Defeat Against Harvard

Upper West Side NY

07 November, 2021

7:13 AM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY MATTHEW KIM NOVEMBER 6, 2021 Columbia football head coach Al Bagnoli knew that Harvard would come out with a vengeance against his fourth-place squad. While the Crimson (6-2, 3-2 Ivy) entered Saturday's matchup at Baker Athletics Complex with two losses, its record could have easily been 7-0 instead of 5-2. Harvard's only two defeats came against Princeton (7-1, 4-1 Ivy), a five-overtime dogfight where an officiating mistake robbed the Crimson of a victory, and Dartmouth (7-1, 4-1 Ivy), a 20-17 nailbiter that came down to the very last minute. "They've lost two gut-wrenching games," Bagnoli said ahead of Saturday's game. "We're gonna have our hands full." The Light Blue boss turned out to be right: Harvard humiliated the Lions (5-3, 2-3 Ivy) in front of their home crowd, mercilessly piling on the points en route to a 49-21 victory to break out of the two squads' tie for fourth in the Ancient Eight. "For whatever reasons, we weren't ready to play," Bagnoli said. "That falls on me. We haven't been this lethargic in God knows how long. We had very little energy, very little passion—it was noticeable." It did not take long for the Crimson offense to make its presence felt, earning two first downs on its first two plays. Two plays later, quarterback Luke Emge, who made his first career start, threw a deep ball to wide receiver Kym Wimberly for 35 yards, who came down with the catch despite the Lions' tight pass coverage. Running back Aaron Shampklin finished the drive with a five-yard touchdown run. Later in the first quarter, the Light Blue was set to punt the ball back to the Crimson on fourth down, but a roughing the kicker penalty moved the chains for the Lions. Sophomore quarterback Joe Green took advantage of the fresh set of downs, finding streaking senior wide receiver Emerson Kabus across the middle for a 44-yard completion: the receiver's longest catch of the season. With the ball on the six-yard line, the Lions looked to tie up the game, but two incompletions by Green after a one-yard run by senior running back Ryan Young put the Light Blue in a fourth-and-goal situation. Opting for what seemed like guaranteed points, the Lions looked to junior kicker Alex Felkins. In a surprising turn of events, the preseason First Team All-Ivy selection's 23-yard kick went wide, and the Lions left a promising series with no points on the board. "We definitely should have come away with seven there," Green said. Taking over on its own 20, the Harvard offense picked up right where it left off. Emge connected with Wimberly again, this time for a gain of 25. The very next play, Harvard went for a flea flicker as Shampklin tossed the ball back to Emge after receiving the handoff. The quarterback then launched a bomb down the right side to a wide open James Batch, who was brought down right in front of the goal line. Shampklin completed the drive once again, punching in his second touchdown of the day to make the score 14-0. Columbia's offense could not build any momentum, failing on a fourth-down conversion attempt and punting on its next two series. To open up the second quarter, Emge and Shampklin led a steady attack into Light Blue territory. On second-and-seven, the Lions brought the pressure to Emge, nearly taking him down for a sack, but the Pennsylvania native evaded the flurry of defenders and turned what would have been a loss of yards into a 12-yard gain. Shampklin and his backfield mate Aidan Borguet tore through the Columbia defense all the way to the two-yard line, after which Emge lofted a pass to Adam West. The six-foot-seven wide receiver and long snapper took advantage of his size, hauling in the grab despite senior strong safety Ben Mathiasmeier's airtight coverage to give the Crimson a three-touchdown lead. The Lions found some hope when Green threw to sophomore wide receiver Marcus Libman in the middle of the field for 23 yards, but they could not gain another first down. Already behind by 21 with half of the second quarter to play, the Light Blue went for it again on fourth down, but the Crimson defense, which entered Saturday as the fourth-best fourth-down defense in the Football Championship Subdivision, made a stop once again. Following the turnover on downs, Harvard went back to its bag of tricks. Wide receiver Gavin Sharkey received a pitch and threw a bomb to wide receiver James Batch for 39 yards. Emge then completed to tight end Adam Shepherd from the 15, adding six more points in a two-play, 34-second drive. "I did put down an edict that we're gonna run X amount of explosives. … They [hadn't] seen those things, and therefore it's obviously the perfect time to get after it," Harvard head coach Tim Murphy said about his offense's trick plays. Columbia managed to drive down to the Harvard 26, but on fourth down, Green was sacked by defensive lineman Jacob Sykes, giving the Light Blue its third turnover on downs of the half. With 3:28 left in the quarter, Harvard was not done yet. Emge threw his second touchdown pass of the day, finding Wimberly this time. Going into halftime, the Lions trailed 35-0. The second half did not start smoothly for the Lions as the Crimson marched down deep into Columbia territory, with Borguet running in for a 22-yard touchdown. After a punt by fifth-year punter Drew Schmid coupled with an illegal block in the back penalty pinned the Crimson on its own five-yard line, the Lions' defense found some life. With the pocket collapsing, sophomore defensive tackle Ben Corniello broke through Harvard's offensive line, nearly forcing a safety as he brought Emge down on the one. On the ensuing punt return, senior kick and punt returner Mike Roussos wove through Harvard's special teams unit to bring it all the way inside the Crimson 10. Following a three-yard completion to junior wide receiver Jack Ertz, Green scored his first career rushing touchdown to put Columbia on the board. In the fourth quarter, the Lions gave its first home crowd in three weeks some hope. Green led a Columbia attack downfield, culminating in an 11-yard touchdown pass to junior tight end Luke Painton. Senior free safety Jordan Colbert picked off Emge's pass on the next drive, giving the Lions the ball on the Harvard 40. Senior running back Dante Miller did the rest, running it to the house on the very next play to make the score 42-21. However, it was too little too late. Borguet ended all possibilities of a late-game miracle when he ran for his second touchdown of the day to give Harvard a 28-point lead with 4:22 left in the game. "When you get out to a slow start against a good team like that, [those are] the results," Green said. "We just started out slow offensively. … It really starts us out on a bad foot, and especially against a good team like Harvard, it's not easy to come back from." Harvard's defense, which had only allowed 56.4 rushing yards per game going into Saturday, bottled up Columbia's normally formidable running game, holding the Lions to only 49 rushing yards. The Crimson front seven ended the day with eight tackles for loss and two sacks. Though he was without sophomore wide receiver Wills Meyer for the third straight game, Green had his second-highest passing output this year, throwing for 213 yards. The sophomore spread the ball around as five different pass-catchers finished with 20 or more yards. Libman led the team with 53 yards on five catches. Emge impressed in his first career start. He completed 17 of his 25 attempts while throwing for 227 yards and three touchdowns. "Luke did a terrific job coming in, back against the wall, and executing our offense," Murphy said. Harvard's 49 points is the most Columbia has allowed this year. Mathiasmeier attributed the Lions' poor defensive performance to a lack of energy. "I think more than anything, we just came out flat," the captain said. "We didn't have a lot of energy. That's not the defense we play at Columbia. That's not the defense coach Ferraro teaches us. It's an embarrassing performance defensively." Wimberly did bits against the Lions' secondary, catching eight passes for 109 yards and a score. Harvard's receivers had their way, making numerous acrobatic catches and coming away with several 50-50 balls. "The secondary as a whole, me included, just didn't do a great job of finishing at the point of attack when the ball was in the air," Mathiasmeier said. The Harvard running backs also tore through the Light Blue defense. Shampklin and Borguet each found the end zone twice as the duo combined for 173 yards on the ground. However, the Lions defense was without several starters, including sophomore linebacker CJ Brown and senior defensive back Fara'ad McCombs, who missed his third straight game. Colbert filled in admirably for McCombs, coming away with 13 tackles and an interception. With the loss, Columbia drops to fifth in the Ivy League while Harvard stays in fourth. After Dartmouth gave Princeton its first loss of the season in a dominant 31-7 showing Friday, the Big Green, Princeton, and Yale (5-3, 4-1 Ivy) all sit in a tie for first in the Ancient Eight. Despite their three losses, the Lions are still in the running for a top-half finish. In the two remaining games of the season, the Lions will take on Brown and Cornell, the bottom two teams in the Ancient Eight. Columbia will host Brown next week in the season's penultimate game. "We'll be a little bit more inspired next weekend. Trust me," Bagnoli said. 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.