Columbia coach Norries Wilson rarely hides his feelings. His Lions were shut out by Penn last year, prompting him to rail on the media, the Penn administration, the officials, the other Ivy League schools and even his own employer for six surreal minutes afterward.
Fast forward to August of this year, and Wilson could be found hamming it up with local reporters he had just met at Media Day in Connecticut, joking about being overweight when asked if he had a refrigerator in his office.
Wilson, who in photographs appears to have lost weight, may be a metaphor for the Lions as they look to reverse a losing tradition. They last won the Ivy League title in 1961.
But for a team that scored 66 points in seven league games last year - none in that whitewash at Penn and only 23 in their first five Ivy games - there's still a lot of fat to be cut out.
Most of it will have to come on offense, where the Lions desperately need to improve on their anemic rushing attack. It was 35 yards per game clear of the field in the wrong direction last year. Tailback Jordan Davis returns, but has never cracked 100 rushing yards in a game.
If that's concern No. 1 for Wilson, a close second is a steady presence under center. And there may be three options there at quarterback, but steady is hardly the way to describe any of them.
Senior Craig Hormann fought through last season and did his part by throwing for an average of 200 yards. He would likely be the starter, but a bum leg that he has been rehabbing since the offseason leaves his status for the first few games in doubt. He has two quicker, less experienced competitors: Shane Kelly, a transfer from Temple who can play immediately, and M.A. Olawale, who before Kelly's transfer was considered Hormann's successor.
Ironing out that situation may determine whether Wilson is in a joking mood a few months from now, and whether Columbia shakes off its decades-old mystique of losing.
