Here’s a piece on John Skelton in New York Magazine.

The timing of this article - essentially John Skelton in his own words - isn’t great. Fordham is 0-3, not where the senior quarterback, or his team, expected to be.

But Skelton’s a standup guy on and off the field, and we all know how talented he is. He deserves recognition like this, and the piece does have a nice Fordham flavor to it.

You can be sure that Skelton’s focus is on Old Dominion.

CC

Still trying to make sense of the conclusion to Saturday night’s game at Colgate. In terms of what happened in the game’s final seconds (or beyond), Fordham SID Joe DiBari provides the best account of what took place:

The game ended on an odd play as Fordham quarterback John Skelton was sacked with under ten seconds left on the Colgate 28 and the Rams out of time outs. Fordham rushed to the line and appeared to have gotten the snap off in time but the players were confused. Some stopped playing, assuming the game was over while others started running the play. Skelton himself took a few steps back and stopped before rolling out to his right and finding David Moore in the end zone but there was no touchdown signal from the officials. The referee gathered with some of the other officials and, after a few minutes, signaled that the snap did not happen before the game ended.

Read the rest of DiBari’s game recap here. Though the final moments drew the most attention and criticism, keep in mind that the Rams missed two field goals and two extra-point attempts. Those eight points are the difference in a 20-12 loss.

Fordham drops to 0-3, while Colgate, the defending Patriot League champions, is 4-0. It was the Patriot League opener for both teams.

BY CHARLES COSTELLO

It is not the way Fordham head coach Tom Masella envisioned his season would start. And it’s not the place where quarterback John Skelton imagined his team would be after the first two games. Nonetheless, the Rams find themselves at 0-2 - with a trip to Colgate up next - after falling to the Columbia Lions, 40-28, in front of an energized crowd of 6,449 in the home opener at Jack Coffey Field.

“I thought our kids played hard,” Masella said after it was all over. ”We played well in spots and in other spots we didn’t make plays. We came up on the short end. We didn’t make enough plays at the end and Columbia did. That’s football.

“We had 500-plus yards of offense. When it was all said and done we just didn’t make enough plays. It’s hard to play from behind all the time.”

John Skelton threw four touchdown passes but was intercepted three times in Saturday night's loss to Columbia. (fordhamsports.com)

Unlike two weeks ago at Rhode Island, Fordham didn’t trail from start to finish. After the Rams won the toss and deferred to the Lions, Colombia held onto the ball for 5:30, but two key penalties pushed them back to the Fordham 26-yard line where kicker Gregory Guttas missed a 43-yard field goal attempt. Then the Fordham offense took the field and delivered quickly. On third-and-six, John Skelton connected with Asa Lucas for a 70-yard touchdown reception that gave Fordham their first lead of the season.

Quickly, though, the Lions began to assert themselves on offense. Late in the first quarter Columbia would tie the game at 7-7 on a three-yard run by quarterback M.A. Olawale. Ray Rangel would add a rushing touchdown early in the second quarter to give the Lions their first lead, though the extra point was no good.

But Fordham would strike quickly, regaining the lead on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Skelton to his brother, Stephen Skelton. With the touchdown pass, John Skelton became Fordham’s all-time leader in touchdown passes (48 by the end of the game). Unfortunately for the Rams, the Lions would add two more scores before halftime.

Fordham cut into Columbia’s 27-13 lead late in the second quarter with a drive that started at their own 45 after a strong kickoff return by Jason Caldwell. A 27-yard reception by Xavier Martin set up David Moore’s 12-yard touchdown catch to cut the lead to 27-21. With 32 seconds left in the half, Fordham had another chance to cut into the lead or, even better, take the lead going into halftime. A roughing the passer penalty on Columbia put the ball on the Lions’ 13-yard line with three seconds to go. But Kevin Heinowitz’s 30-yard field goal attempt was no good and the Columbia bench celebrated as they headed to halftime with the lead.

After the Lions scored a touchdown on their first possession of the second half, Fordham had trouble getting things going on offense, unable to take advantage of two consecutive drives that started at their own 40 after the kickoffs went out of bounds. Finally, later in the quarter, Fordham would strike with their most impressive drive of the season, a 10-play, 93-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard touchdown pass from Skelton to Caldwell. Skelton threw for 77 yards on the drive, connecting with three different receivers. With 1:24 left in the third quarter, the Rams had cut Columbia’s lead to 34-28.

Fordham couldn’t match that success on their next two possessions, and then disaster struck late in the fourth quarter. On second-and-five from their own 34, Skelton attempted a short pass to Caldwell that was intercepted by Jared Morine and returned 36 yards for a touchdown. Though the two-point conversion failed, the damage had been done. With 4:33 left, Columbia had a 12-point lead, and that was enough for many Fordham fans as the stands began to empty.

“We had the ball and a chance to go up,” Masella said. ”We had our chances down six going into the fourth quarter with the ball twice and didn’t make the plays. We thought we had a chance to win it with 14 or 15 minutes to go down six with the ball.”

Skelton finished 25-of-47 for 383 yards passing and four touchdowns. But it’s the three interceptions that he’ll remember.

“Three turnovers aren’t going to help you win the game and those three turnovers were all on my shoulders,” Skelton said afterward.

Martin had 63 yards on the ground and Skelton gained 62 yards. Lucas, Moore, and Stephen Skelton had four catches apiece and each scored a touchdown. Fordham had 533 yards of total offense. Columbia had 358. However, the Lions controlled the ball for 36:47.

The key stat: Fordham was penalized 14 times for 164 yards. That, along with a number of dropped passes and missed tackles, was too much for the Rams to overcome. 

“We lost our composure a couple times and a couple times I thought we were aggressive,” Masella said about the penalties. ”Some of them were silly penalties on our part.”

For Columbia, Olawale received the game’s Most Valuable Player award and he was certainly deserving of it. He rushed for 95 yards, threw for 167, and played a part in four of Columbia’s touchdowns, running for two and passing for two.

“He made a lot of plays tonight,” Masella said, talking about the Columbia quarterback. ”His rushing total is no indication of how much he controlled the game. He definitely controlled the game with his running ability.”

Though he dropped a sure touchdown in the fourth quarter, Andrew Kennedy was his favorite target, catching four passes for 83 yards.

For Fordham, it’s time to look ahead after a disappointing start to a promising season.

“Our new season starts Saturday at Colgate,” Masella said. ”We’re not a bad football team. We just haven’t played particularly well in two halves. We’re going to have to make the adjustments and change that.”

“Being 0-2 hurts,” Skelton added. ”We still have a whole season in front of us. It’s not too late to turn this ship around. We have a lot of season left.”

Trying to erase the memory of an ugly loss to Rhode Island two weeks ago, the Fordham Rams will open Jack Coffey Field tonight at 6:00 in the 8th annual Liberty Cup battle with the Columbia Lions.

The Liberty Cup honors the alumni of both schools who were lost in the September 11, 2001 attacks, as well as those from city and state agencies, and others, who lost their lives that day.

As fordhamsports.com reports, “the World Trade Center attacks claimed the lives of 43 Columbia alumni and 35 Fordham alumni including two former Fordham football players, Nick Brandemarti, FCO ’00 and Kevin Szocik, FCO ’97.”

“This is a very special game for us,” Fordham coach Tom Masella told fordhamsports.com, the university’s official website. ”The spirit of the Liberty Cup and what it stands for help us to realize how fortunate we are. We’re excited to be involved in such a meaningful cause.”

And then there’s the game.

This is a big one for the Rams following the disappointing season opener that saw Fordham fall to Rhode Island, 41-28. Fordham trailed 34-7 at halftime of that game. Tonight will be the first game of the year for Columbia.

Here’s what you need to know, compliments of Joe DiBari’s game notes:

• Xavier Martin rushed for 155 yards and four touchdowns in Fordham’s win over Columbia last year. Martin rushed for 157 yards and three touchdowns against Columbia in his first college game two years ago, a 27-10 Fordham win. QB John Skelton was 22-of-29 for 285 yards in the 29-22 win a year ago.
• Skelton became Fordham’s all-time leader in pass completions (currently 546) two weeks ago. Last year he set the school record for passing yards(currently 6,517), and he’s one touchdown pass shy of tying that school record.
• Skelton threw for 302 yards in the loss to Rhode Island, while the team rushed for 122 yards. Fordham turned the ball over five times.
• Defensively, Fordham allowed 229 rushing yards and 226 passing yards against Rhode Island.
• Fordham has won four of the first seven Liberty Cup games, including the last two.
• Columbia leads the all-time series, 11-6. The teams first played against each other in 1890.
• The Lions were 2-8 last year, 2-5 in Ivy League play.
• Tonight is the first of six home games for the Rams this year. The only other scheduled night game at Rose Hill is Oct. 10 against Bryant.

Charles Costello 

(NOTE: Fordham SportsNet will be there tonight as the Rams battle Columbia at Jack Coffey Field. Be sure to check http://fordhamsportsnet.com/ after the game for in-depth reports, analysis, and interviews.)