October 24 | 3 p.m. | Memorial Field | Ivy League Digital Network
Columbia
Dartmouth
NEW YORK - The Columbia football team will travel to Dartmouth on Saturday for a 3 p.m. contest with the undefeated Big Green.
HISTORY LESSON
Dartmouth holds a 67-17-1 edge in the series history against Columbia. The Big Green have won the last six meetings, including a 31-7 win at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium a season ago. Al Bagnoli holds an 8-2 record all-time against Dartmouth, while the head coah of the Big Green, Buddy Teeves, is 14-1 all-time against Columbia.
BAGNOLI vs. TEEVENS
Saturday will be the 10th meeting between Columbia head coach Al Bagnoli and Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens. Bagnoli holds an 8-2 all-time record against Teevens, who's Big Green team knocked off Penn, 31-13, when the two last met on Oct. 4, 2014.
LAST TIME OUT
The Lions got on the board first when Skyler Mornhinweg found Cameron Dunn on a six-yard touchdown pass, but Penn rattled off 42-straight points to defeat Columbia, 42-7. Dominic Perkovic was named the John Toner Homecoming Player of the Game after posting five tackles and a forced fumble.
DARTMOUTH'S STATUS
Coach Teevens has Dartmouth ranked No. 25 in the latest STATS FCS Poll, after a hot first half of the season. The Big Green are off to its best start since 1997, when the squad went 5-0 before dropping a contest to Lehigh. A year prior was the last Ivy League title for Dartmouth. The team from Hanover knocked off Central Connecticut 34-7 last week, after conference wins over Yale (Oct. 10/35-3) and Penn (Oct. 3/41-20).
HANG TIME
Punters Cameron Nizialek and Matthew Panton have been among the nation's leaders in pinning opponents deep. Columbia is currently fourth in the FCS in Net Punting at 40.22 yards per punt. Nizialek is seventh nationally with a 44.0 yard average and a long of 65 this season. Panton, who is the directional punter, has punted four times this season with all the kicks landing inside the 20.
THE SAFETY DANCE, PART II
Columbia tallied a safety in back-to-back weeks against Wagner and Princeton. When the Seahawks brought out a kickoff after the Lions built up a 24-0 lead, the ball went into the end zone after it had been brought out, and taken down for a knee, giving Columbia two points. The Lions earned another safety the week before at Princeton, after Max Keefe blocked a third quarter punt into the end zone.
ON YOUR HONOR
Keefe and Mornhinweg landed a spot on the Ivy League Honor Roll after their efforts in the win over Wagner. Mornhinweg earned his second weekly honor, while the pair joined Cameron Molina, Dominic Perkovic, Scooter Hollis, Matthew Cahal and Alan Watson, who represented Columbia previously this year.
TAMING THE TIGERS
The Lions held one of the top offenses in the FCS to just 10 points and 183 total yards at Princeton on Friday, Oct. 2. Columbia got to the quarterback for three sacks and added six tackles for a loss. The Tigers cames into the game No. 1 in the Ivy League in third down conversions, but went just 4-of-15 against Columbia.
A REUNION OF SORTS
Bagnoli was among four members of the Columbia staff that coaches against a former team last time out. Associate Head Coach/Wide Receivers Coach Mark Fabish won two Ivy League titles as a player at Penn in 1993 and 1994, before spending 2009-14 on the Penn staff. Offensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator Jon McLaughlin spent nine years in Philadelphia from 2006-14 as the offensive coordinator and coach of the offensive line. Tight Ends Coach Joe D'Orazio won two Ivy League titles as a player at Penn in 2009 and 2010.
NEW ERA
The 2015 season marks the first for Al Bagnoli as the Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football. Bagnoli comes to Columbia after 23 years at Penn. The winningest football coach in the FCS, Bagnoli comes into 2015 with a 232-91 record, while his Quaker teams claimed nine Ivy League titles.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
The current staff of Columbia coaches have combined to win 43 conference championships, including 22 from the Ivy League.
THE CAPTAINS
Running back Cameron Molina, tight end Nick Durham and defensive lineman Chad Washington were voted as the 2015 team captains.
SEE HIM ON TV, ANY GIVEN SATURDAY
When the Ivy League announced its most expansive national television coverage in conference history, Columbia came through as the beneficiary. The Lions will be featured on television twice more this fall. Columbia will take on Yale on FOX College Sports on Saturday, October 31 at 12:30 p.m., followed by a Friday, Nov. 20 contest with Brown will be broadcast on NBC Sports Network.
WNYC'S “THE SEASON”
The Season is a weekly podcast presented by Ilya Marritz and Matt Collette of WNYC, where the pair follow Columbia's football team over the entire 10-game season. Archived podcasts can be found at www.wnyc.org and on iTunes, with new episodes being released every Thursday.
WHAT ARE YOU, NEW?
A total of 25 athletes joined the Columbia football team this fall. Along with 22 first-year players, three transfers made up the incoming class.
HE AIN'T HEAVY
Two more transfers will be featured for the Lions in 2015 when Jackson and Christian Conway suit up. The twins are currently juniors, as Christian will line up in the defensive backfield, while Jackson will be featured at fullback. Senior Max Keefe played alongside his brother John Keefe '15CC a season ago, as did sophomore Turner DeMuth, brother of Garrett DeMuth '15CC and junior Keith Brady, brother of John Brady '15CC.
#TEAM125
This year marks the 145th anniversary of Columbia's first intercollegiate football game against Princeton in 1870. It is the 125th competitive season of Columbia Football.
