GAME 2 • Lou Little Cup
COLUMBIA (1-0, 0-0 Ivy League) at GEORGETOWN (1-2, 0-0 Patriot League)
Saturday, September 22, 2018 • 2 p.m. ET • Cooper Field • Washington, D.C.
 

---

THE FACTS
 
Television/Streaming: Patriot League Network (Jeremy Huber, play-by-play; Mike Nebrich, color analyst and Donna Wilkinson, color analyst; Yousef Nasser, sidelines). Watch Live; Watch Live on Facebook
 
Columbia Online Radio Network: Alex Oberweger, Ted Gregory and Shawn FitzGerald. Listen Live
 
Live Stats: www.guhoyas.com. Live Stats Link
 
Coaches: Columbia- Al Bagnoli, 4th year at Columbia (14-17), 36th year (249-115). Georgetown- 5th year at GU (12-35), 5th year overall (12-35).
 
Series: Columbia and Georgetown meet for the sixth time in football and fourth consecutive season in the Lou Little Cup. Columbia owns a 3-2 record in the series dating back to 1901, including a 35-14 win last year in New York.
 

---

GAME NOTES
 
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Columbia plays the second game of its 128th all-time football season on Saturday, Sept. 22 at Georgetown (1-2). Kickoff for the annual Lou Little Cup matchup at Cooper Field is set for 2 p.m. ET.
 
The Patriot League Network will stream the game live with Jeremy Huber (play-by-play), Mike Nebrich (color analyst) and Donna Wilkinson (color analyst) calling action. Alex Oberweger (play-by-play) and former Columbia football players Ted Gregory and Shawn FitzGerald will call action on the Columbia Online Radio Network. The audio only broadcast is available for free at www.gocolumbialions.com.
 
SATURDAY'S TOP STORYLINES

• Riding a school-record five-game non-conference win streak and three-game overall win streak, Columbia travels to Georgetown for its annual Lou Little Cup game.
• With a win over Georgetown, Columbia would start a season at 2-0 for the second straight year. The Lions have opened a season at 2-0 only four times since joining the Ivy League.
• Columbia and Georgetown meet in the Lou Little Cup for the fourth time. GU has won two of three meetings but the Lions won 35-14 last year.
• Columbia is coming off its most successful season in 21 years after posting an 8-2 record and second place finish in the Ivy League at 5-2 in 2017.

 
ABOUT THE LIONS
 
Columbia plays game No. 2 of its 2018 season after it claimed a 41-24 season opener at Central Connecticut State last Saturday. Columbia recovered three fumbles, limited its opponents to 45 yards rushing and used a three-quarterback system to register a convincing win on the road at Arute Field.
 
Central Connecticut State (1-2) won the Northeast Conference championship and finished 8-4 in 2017 and was picked as the preseason favorite to win the NEC in 2018. The win was impressive, but also costly as several Lions suffered injuries.
 
The win gave Columbia (1-0) a school-record fifth straight non-conference win. The Lions also won their third consecutive game and claimed their second straight season opener in as many years.
 
Columbia is also coming off one of its most successful seasons in school history in 2017 under Head Coach Al Bagnoli. The Lions return 14 of 22 starters (seven on offense and seven on defense) and six All-Ivy League selections from a program that recorded its best season in 21 years. Last year, Columbia posted an 8-2 record, finished second in the Ivy League with a 5-2 record, began a season with six straight wins for the first time since 1996, put together the school's longest win streak since 1935 (seven games) and posted one of the nation's top-five best yearly comebacks in the FCS with a five-win improvement from 2016 to 2017. Along the way, it was the Lions' resiliency, toughness and work ethic that captured the attention of their fans, the New York City media and national media members alike.
 
Columbia recently completed its preseason training camp which began on August 18.
 
ABOUT THE HOYAS
 
Georgetown enters Saturday's game with a 1-2 record following a season opening win at Marist (39-14), a close 13-9 home loss vs. Campbell and at 41-0 loss last Saturday at Dartmouth.
 
The Hoyas are led by quarterback Gunther Johnson, who has completed 53 of 89 passes for 628 yards and four touchdowns. He has thrown only one interception. His chief targets are wide receivers Michael Dereus (11 catches for 192 yards and a TD), Brandon Williams (seven catches for 60 yards) and Winston Jackson, Jr. (22.7 yards per catch, six catches, 136 yards, TD). Herman Moultrie leads the rushing attack with 53 yards on 19 carries, while Jay Tolliver has 30 carries for 46 yards.
 
On defense, Georgetown is led by Wesley Bowers, who has 31 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception. Blaise Brown has totaled 23 tackles and two interceptions and Xavier Reddick has 18 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
 
Georgetown has turned the ball over 12 times in the first three games (4.0 turnovers per game) and lost seven fumbles.
 
LOU LITTLE CUP
 
Columbia and Georgetown will compete in the Lou Little Cup for the fourth year. The rivalry game was established in 2015. The game's winner earns the right to take home the Lou Little Trophy. Last year, Columbia won the Lou Little Trophy for the first time with a 35-14 victory over the Hoyas at Robert K. Kraft Field in New York. Georgetown claimed the first two games in both 2015 and 2016.
 
The Cup's namesake, Lou Little, served as the head football coach at both institutions. Lou Little coached at Georgetown from 1924-30 and helped bring Georgetown football into the modern era. Little recorded a 41-12-3 record over six seasons, while also serving as athletics director. His .759 win percentage is still the highest among Georgetown head coaches who have coached more than 20 games on the Hilltop.
 
Little took over at Columbia in 1930 and continued his Hall of Fame career until 1956. At Columbia, he posted 110 victories and is the school's all-time winningest coach. His most notable win at Columbia came in the 1934 Rose Bowl, when Columbia upset Stanford 7-0. Overall, his teams won 149 games, lost 122 and tied 11.
 
COLUMBIA TO HOST PRE-GAME EVENT ON FRIDAY NIGHT
 
Columbia will host a Friday evening event in partnership with Columbia Alumni Association. The event is a panel discussion with Peter Pilling that will cover topics from the importance of leadership and wellness in sports to the impact of technology and data analytics. It will take place at The CASE Foundation, which is located at 1307 New York Avenue NW Washington D.C. 20005 from 6 p.m.-8:30 p.m. There will be a reception both before and after the panel discussion and Q&A.
 
COLUMBIA ON SCHOOL-RECORD FIVE-GAME NON-CONFERENCE WIN STREAK
 
Columbia enters Saturday's game at Georgetown riding a school-record five-game non-conference win streak. It established the record with a 41-24 victory in its season opener at Central Connecticut State.
 
The current streak, which began at Wagner on Oct. 8, 2016, was previously tied for the record with another four game win streak which began at Fordham on Sept. 28, 1996 and ended at Lafayette on Oct. 4, 1997.
 
In 2017, Columbia completed its three-game non-conference schedule with a 3-0 record for the first time since the 2006 season. The Lions defeated Wagner (17-14), Georgetown (35-14) and Marist (41-17). Columbia has completed perfect non-conference seasons only six times since the Ivy League was formed in 1956: 1963, 1967, 1970 all with 2-0 records and 1996, 2006 and 2017 (3-0).
 
COLUMBIA LOOKING TO START SEASON AT 2-0
 
A win over Georgetown on Saturday would give Columbia two wins to start a season for the second consecutive year and for the third time since 2006. Since Columbia joined the Ivy League in 1956, the Lions have opened a season with two straight victories only five times: 1978, 1996, 2005, 2006 and 2017.
 
AL BAGNOLI GOES FOR CAREER WIN NO. 250
 
Columbia Head Football Coach Al Bagnoli goes for career football victory No. 250 this weekend at Georgetown. In his fourth season as Columbia's head coach and 36th year overall, Bagnoli has a career record of 249-115. Saturday's game marks Bagnoli's 364th career game as a head coach.
 
COLUMBIA ON THREE-GAME WIN STREAK
 
Following its season opening win at CCSU, Columbia is currently on a three-game win streak after closing out the 2017 season with back-to-back victories at Cornell (18-8) and Brown (24-6).
 
It is the first time since the 2010 season that the Lions enter a new season following back-to-back wins in a previous season.