Game 5 - Columbia: The good, the bad and the Ugly

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Another Ivy win and another white-knuckle fourth quarter. The Quakers left New York with a 27-20 victory, courtesy of some heroics yet again from quarterback Billy Ragone.

The Good: Two more crucial and successful two minute drills for Penn. The Quakers marched down the field and tied the game at 10 to end the first half, only to do it again in the fourth quarter to get the decisive touchdown. Billy Ragone did not look like the kind of quarterback who could engineer that kind of win early on — coach Al Bagnoli even put backup QB Ryan Becker in for a few series at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second. But Ragone showed the same gusto with which he beat Dartmouth two weeks ago.

Video of the game winning TD, courtesy of Penn Athletics:

The also Good: The crowd that came out to Smokes to watch the game with the Red and Blue Crew and the DP. Thanks to Penn Athletics for providing some solid giveaways.

The Bad: Somebody has to plug the holes in Penn's secondary because Ragone will not be able to keep bailing the team out, especially against Yale next week and Harvard next month. This was a winless Columbia team, after all. The play that stood out was in the fourth quarter, a fourth-and-10 on the Penn 35 when, after both teams took timeouts, Sean Brackett completed to Kurt Williams for 24 yards to put the Lions on Penn's doorstep. Only thanks to some horrendous penalties on Columbia's part did the Lions only score a field goal.

The Ugly: Columbia's squib kick to set up Penn's final drive. If you're gonna squib it, you can't set the other team up on the 40 in a tie game. Pointless.