Hail, Columbia

Before last Saturday's game against Lafayette, the Columbia players gathered for a most unusual team meeting. "With all the success we're having, we just needed to remind ourselves that now is not the time to get complacent," senior linebacker Rory Wilfork said later. Columbia? Complacent?

"We were saying, All the reporters and the pro scouts are coming around now, but it'll be a ghost town here if we stop winning," added senior defensive end-tailback Marcellus Wiley. Reporters? Pro scouts!

These are intoxicating times on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. After nipping Lafayette 3-0 in a rainstorm, the Lions are 5-0, the school's best start since 1945. Yes, this is the Columbia that went 5-88-3, including a then NCAA record 44 straight losses, during a stretch that spanned most of the 1980s.

However, expanded recruiting, upgraded facilities and, most important, a major attitude adjustment have made Columbia one of the season's stunning success stories. "The goal since we started here has been to reverse the tradition of losing and make it a tradition of winning," says eighth-year coach Ray Tellier, who has outfitted his team with T-shirts that read THINK BIG, MAKE HISTORY. "It takes time, but it's starting."

Playing in wind and rain that stripped umbrellas to their ribs and sent ponchos wafting toward the heavens, the Lions' quick and nasty defense forced five turnovers, giving Columbia a plus-11 margin in takeaways-giveaways on the season. Matt Linit was the hero with a 24-yard field goal with 5:06 left. And the Lions once again displayed the cool confidence and flinty desire that have carried them to Ivy League victories this season over Harvard and Penn. "We're learning to find ways to win, while in the past we were looking for ways to lose," says Tellier. "It's as simple as that."

Tellier arrived at Columbia in January 1989, just months after the 44-game free fall ended. He needed six seasons to turn the Lions into winners: Their 5-4-1 record in 1994 was the school's first above-.500 finish in 23 years. His success can be traced to his can-do approach and his emphasis on football fundamentals. But with typical self-effacement he says of the turnaround, "We haven't gotten any smarter around here. We've gotten better football players."

Rather than just battle the other Ivy schools for players in the Northeast, Columbia also scours Florida, Texas and, especially, California; 29 of the 93 players on the roster, including 11 starters, hail from California. These Lions are bigger, faster and more precocious than their predecessors because many have come from top high school programs in cutthroat football regions. "We used to see the recruits come in, and we'd say, 'Hey, look at all the new punters.' But the thing was, they weren't punters, they were linebackers!" says Wiley, whom Tellier lured from Los Angeles. "We're bringing in studs now."

Wiley is a 6'5", 270-pound warhorse who wreaks havoc on both sides of the ball. His future in the NFL is on defense, as he showed against Lafayette with 10 solo tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery. On offense Wiley is a short-yardage wrecking ball, scoring seven touchdowns in only 41 carries as a junior and four more TDs in just 16 carries this season. "They call me Glory Boy," he says, sheepishly, of his offensive teammates.

"There's a lot of love on this team," says sticky-fingered wideout David Ramirez. "We play for each other and nothing else. There are no personal agendas, it's just about the team. You can see it every week when someone different steps up."

That sounds a lot like the credo of last year's up-from-the-ashes darling, Northwestern. It's no accident. Tellier and his staff spent a few days with Northwestern's coaches last spring, and they have imported some of the Wildcats' drills and much of their philosophy. Tellier even showed his team Northwestern's highlight video before this season. "It sounds corny," says Ramirez, "but that really did give us the idea that anything is possible."