NEW YORK—Defense wins championships is one of the oldest adages in football, and may ring true for one of the sport's most ancient programs.
 
If Columbia's defense builds on its dominant shutout performance against previously undefeated Dartmouth—which highlighted a season where the defense is ranked among the nation's top-14 FCS teams in five different categories, and No. 22 overall in total defense (yielding 314.5 yards per game)—the Lions should be in contention for an Ivy League Title when the calendar flips to November. 
 
The 19-0 shutout win at Dartmouth (5-1, 2-1 Ivy League) came against a team that was averaging 32.4 points per game as the No. 25 ranked team in FCS Football. Led and managed by Defensive Coordinator Paul Ferraro, the Lions held a Big Green team that was rushing for over 200 yards per game to just 60, 262 yards overall (406.0) and 13 first downs (21.0). Additionally, Columbia (5-1, 2-1 Ivy League) has a six-quarter shutout streak in tact after blanking Penn in the second half of a 23-14 Homecoming win. 
 
During that six-quarter shutout span, the defense has allowed just 2.86 yards per carry and 4.1 yards per pass for an average of 3.64 yards per play, while giving up just 17 first downs. The Lions have yielded third down conversions on only 4-23 attempts (17 percent), and fourth conversions on 0-5 attempts (zero percent). While there's been just one turnover in the game and a half, the opposing offense has completed just 45 percent of their passes. The Lions are making plays when they need to.
 
"Focusing on first down and getting teams behind the sticks has been one essential element of our defense," Columbia senior defensive lineman Paul Akere said. "We know that we have a pretty sick third down package, so whenever we can get behind the sticks on first or second down, that's definitely what our objective is."
 
In FCS national statistics, Columbia's defense ranks among the top-15 teams in scoring defense (No. 12), rushing defense (No. 13), sacks (No. 14) and team passing efficiency defense (No. 12), succeeding at all three levels of the unit.
 
"We have all of our assets covered when in the run game. Our defensive backs do exactly what they need to do. In the run game and pass game they do exactly what they need to do, whether it be filling the right gap filling the right hole," junior linebacker Scott Valentas said. "Usually we don't want to have to rely on the DBs to make tackles. We want to have to rely on them to cover the receivers. They take the pass game away, but when they're on the run, they are there for us and that makes a huge difference in overall defense."
 
One that's looking to pitch more shutouts.
 
 "After the Dartmouth game it hit me that not only did we have a shutout for a whole game, we had a shutout for six quarters in a row. It's something we're trying to build on," safety Ben Mathiasmeier said. "Our game plan is nothing too complex that we're showing offenses that they haven't seen. We're just flying around the football being relentless in our pursuit and making good, big-time plays, putting our offense in position to win games."
 
Which the unit has then gone out and done.
 
Sophomore quarterback Joe Green (892 yards and four touchdowns) is facilitating an offense that is No. 1 in the nation in fewest passes had intercepted (one), and No. 3 in fewest turnovers lost (four). Dante Miller leads the league in rushing yards per carry (6.47 yards per carry, and is No .1 in rushing with 608 yards, while the offense's 185 rushing yards per game is second in the league only to Harvard's 185.3 yards.
 
Special teams round out a strong three phases with an All-Ivy League Kicker (Alex Felkins) and punter (Drew Schmid), All-America returner in Mike Roussos.
 
"It's always great when all three phases of the game kind of complement each other," senior captain Justin Woodley said. "With our running game being as good as it is and the fact that we don't turn the ball over, it's a lot easier to play defense and keep zero points on the board when teams are having to drive the length of the field against us. When we get stops down in the other end, we're then able to return it to put ourselves in good field position on offense."
 
Legendary Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli, who won nine Ivy League titles at Penn, knows a signature win on national television is nice, but there's still a long way to go in the season.
 
"We've established an identity of who we want to be," Bagnoli said. "We have to play to that identity, but at the same time, we have to improve in a lot of areas"
 
Especially if they want to win the 2021 Ivy League title that still hangs in the balance.
 
Following Columbia's three-game win streak including back-to-back wins over Penn and Dartmouth, and a two-game road win streak, the Lions enter Saturday's game at Yale in a four-way tie for second place in the Ivy League standings with Harvard, Dartmouth and Yale with identical 2-1 records. Princeton (3-0) stands in first place as the lone unbeaten team after it defeated Harvard in overtime last Saturday.
 
Four games remain for the Lions, who are chasing their first Ivy League title since 1961.
 
"The momentum we've been playing with, I know defensively, we have players in all positions that can get it done and backups, too," Mathiasmeier said. "So it's just a matter of fact going out there executing our game plans and just playing to our best ability. We have a lot of momentum right now. I think we have rhythm on defense also, which is huge. And that should carry over into Yale."

Matt Sugam has been covering sports in the NYC Metropolitan area for over a decade. He has spent the last eight years covering college and professional sports as a stringer for the Associated Press, while also contributing to The New York Times, USA Today Network, NJ.com, and SNY.tv. He will be covering Lions Athletics for gocolumbialions.com while pursuing an M.S. in Strategic Communication at Columbia's School of Professional Studies. Follow him on Twitter @MattSugam