HANOVER – For the second week in a row the old guys show up at their meeting place at exactly the same time. That’s a little out of the ordinary. Usually the happy one comes through the door and finds their table first.
The Optimist: Kind of like coach, I’m not into moral victories, but for a first game against a seasoned, undefeated and nationally ranked team, that was a pretty good day.
The Pessimist: You were right there with them, but I have to remind you that you lost to a team whose starting quarterback was out with injury. Their starter was a kid who had never started a college game.
The Optimist: He was 10-of-13 throwing the ball and ran for 35 yards. He looked pretty good to me.
The Pessimist: Exactly. You don’t want first-time starters looking pretty good against you.
The Optimist: I probably should have mentioned that those 10 completions only accounted to 75 yards. That’s not much of a passing attack.
The Pessimist: Apparently they didn’t need much of a passing attack with their star tailback rushing for 150 yards and two touchdowns. For the record, they ran for 218 yards as a team, which is more than you gave up all last season.
The Optimist: I’ll remind you, we didn’t face a back anything like that Lehigh kid last year.
The Pessimist: Since we’re talking about run games, you guys managed just 62 yards on the ground. You averaged 163.3 yards per game rushing last year.
The Optimist: Coach said getting the run game going would be a priority in practice this week and that should pay off this weekend. Monmouth gave up 217 yards to Sacred Heart in Week Two and let Albany run for 148 last week.
The Pessimist: Yes they did. And they won both games.
The Optimist: Last I checked, Monmouth is just a .500 team.
The Pessimist: That’s true. They are 2-2 but one loss was at No. 10/12 Tennessee Tech and one was at FBS Western Michigan.
The Optimist: After we take care of the Hawks this week we have Penn next week and they didn’t exactly look like world beaters last week against sad-sack Bucknell. I mean, it was a 14-7 game last in the third quarter. The Quakers tacked on a final touchdown to win , 20-7, but there was nothing impressive in the way they beat a team whose only win was against VMI.
The Pessimist: I beg to differ. Bucknell was held to six first downs with two coming by penalty. They had 40 yards rushing and 124 yards of total offense. Those are all impressive numbers.
The Optimist: Whatever. After Penn were at Yale and Bulldogs quarterback Dante Reno had to throw for 454 yards and five touchdowns to allow his team to survive winless Holy Cross. I mean, the Crusaders led in the fourth quarter and the game was tied in the final four minutes. If Reno regressed to the mean and Yale can’t top the 70 rush yards it had against oh-fer Holy Cross, it’s going to be a long year in New Haven.
The Pessimist: Say what you will, 454 yards and five touchdowns will win a lot of games. And you might have pointed out that Yale won that game on the road in front of 17,623 hostile fans.
The Pessimist: I’m going to guess there were a bunch of Yalies there but I agree there were probably hostile fans there as well. Hostile to their own team, which has won just three of its last 13 games.
The Optimist: We’ve got our own cupcake after Yale. Merrimack is 1-3 and has been outscored 121-34 in those three losses.
The Pessimist: : You probably should have mentioned that the losses were to FBS Delaware, No. 3/4 Delaware and to No. 19/21 Rhode Island. While I’m at it, if the subject is being outscored, you conveniently left out the fact that Merrimack outscored the University of Maine, 23-14.
The Optimist: Talking italics again huh? After sinking the Merrimacks, we’re at Columbia. Nuff said.
The Pessimist: Didn’t the Lions knock off Lafayette in overtime while you guys were losing at Lehigh?
The Optimist: Was it Lloyd Bentsen in a debate who told Dan Quayle, “I knew Jack Kennedy. You are not Jack Kennedy.” We know Lehigh after last week. Lafayette is no Lehigh.
The Pessimist: Maybe not, but overlook Columbia at your risk. You had trouble stopping the run and I think the Lions may have the best running attack in the Ivy League.
The Optimist: So why were they outgunned on the ground by Lafayette, 211 yards to 155?
The Pessimist: I couldn’t help but notice you continued talking about Columbia instead of your next game, Harvard. Criticized for years for playing an easy schedule, they stepped up and blew out New Hampshire in their opener, 31-7, on the road, mind you.
The Optimist: It’s not a vintage Harvard team, that for sure. I mean, their old quarterback was kryptonite for Dartmouth and he’s off somewhere in Texas as a grad transfer. The new starter managed just 71 yards passing and his long run was, lemme see, oh yeah. One yard.
The Pessimist: They had seven sacks and limited New Hampshire to 13 first downs and 235 yards of total offense. That’s impressive.
The Optimist: After Harvard we’re down at Princeton and apparently the rumors of a transfer quarterback turning the Tigers around were greatly exaggerated. Yes, they have a transfer QB from Utah but he was barely above the Mendoza line in accuracy, completing 15-of-29 passes, with two interceptions in a loss to Bryant. I mean, Bryant?
The Pessimist: I guess the Mendoza line in football is 50 percent completions, huh? For the record, Bryant was the home team and needed a touchdown with 8:25 left to hold off Princeton, 21-14. So you know, Bryant is 3-1.
The Optimist: Yeah, with wins over Stonehill, Hampton and Princeton. Not exactly a killer schedule.
The Pessimist: Then you’ve got a second long road trip in as many weeks. That will take a toll. So will Cornell quarterback Garrett Bass-Sulpizio, who completed 37-of-45 passes for 328 yards against you last year.
The Optimist: I notice you didn’t mention what he did last week. He was under the Mendoza Line going 18-for-37 for 132 yards, no touchdowns and three interceptions in a 20-7 loss at Colgate.
The Pessimist: I’ll refer you to last year’s game against you guys. And while I’m at is, I’ll also refer you to what happened the last time you guys played at Schoellkopf when you are 8-0 and ranked No. 24 in the nation. It was 39-22 Cornell.
The Optimist: Finally, we finish up with The Tussle against Brown. I can’t say the Bears distinguished themselves in a 17-10 at Division II New Haven.
The Pessimist: OK, first things first. New Haven is in the midst of a transition to FCS and Division I. Brown outgunned the Chargers, 422 yards to 278 and ran out to a 17-0 lead. It would have been more but for a couple of interceptions and a lost fumble. So we can agree to disagree about whether that game told us much about Brown. What we can agree on is making the game The Tussle in honor of Tuss McLaughry, who coached both teams.
The Optimist: Glad we can agree on something.
The Pessimist: I think we’ll agree we’re done for the day. See you next week.