Outplay Columbia in 43-3 victory Saturday
By: Justin Feil
Something had to give.
The Princeton University football team made sure that it wasn’t its defense. In a matchup of the top- and third-ranked Ivy League defenses, the No. 3 ranked Tiger defense would not yield while the Princeton offense was unstoppable in a 43-3 win Saturday at Princeton Stadium.
With the win, Princeton improved to 3-0 overall, 1-0 in the Ivy League. It was their third straight win this season over a previously unbeaten opponent, as the Lions fell to 2-1 overall, 0-1 in the Ivy League.
After the last two meetings between the two hadn’t been decided until the final play, Saturday’s win gave the Tigers their largest margin of victory since the last time they won an Ivy championship, in 1995. The Tigers will host Colgate, 34-20 winners over Cornell on Saturday, in their final non-Ivy game of the season next Saturday before resuming chase of the Ivy crown with all sorts of momentum.
"I was proud of our team’s effort," said Tigers head coach Roger Hughes, whose team is 3-0 for the second straight season. "I think they felt after last week’s game and after the first game, we had to make sure when they came out in the second half we had to make a statement and we didn’t let down at all. I was very pleased with both sides of the ball. Our offensive and defensive lines, I thought, dominated the game. I couldn’t be prouder of our effort."
Princeton scored on nine of its first 10 possessions, the one miss being when they ran out the final 41 seconds of the first-half clock to take a 23-3 lead into the locker room. On defense, the Tigers continued their streak of not allowing a first-half touchdown this year. Columbia’s lone score came when Jon Rochell connected on a 47-yard field goal with 42 seconds left in the second quarter but the Tiger defense pitched a shut out the rest of the way against the Lions, who had outscored their first two opponents, 43-14, in the second half.
Cleo Kirkland rushed for 130 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Kirkland’s 130-yard rushing performance was the first of the year and first for the Tigers since Branden Benson had a 100-yard gain last year against Colgate. Kirkland already had 100 yards with five minutes to go in the third quarter Saturday.
Quarterback Jeff Terrell also rushed for a pair of touchdowns in adding 79 yards on the ground. Terrell was an efficient 14 for 25 for 186 yards. Greg Fields and Brendan Circle both had 57 yards receiving. Derek Javarone tied his own Ivy League record with five field goals and broke the one-week old Ivy record for points by a placekicker with 19. He hit on a career-long 43-yarder in the first half and ended the contest just one shy of Taylor Northrop’s 38 career field goals.
"They beat us in every facet of the game," Columbia coach Bob Shoop said. "Offense, defense and kicking."
The Tigers had 536 yards of offense to Columbia’s 152 yards, 298 more rush yards than the Lions. The Tigers ran 40 more plays than the Lions and did not punt until 5:30 remained in the fourth quarter. Princeton held Columbia, which entered Saturday with the highest third-down efficiency in the league at 41.2 percent, to no successful third-down conversions in 11 attempts to make sure they never got on track.
"They didn’t have a lot of short third downs to make," said Princeton defensive end James Williams, who blocked a field goal and assisted on a tackle for a loss Saturday. "Our linebackers and secondary are exceptional at pass defense. We were getting a little pressure up front and they were in a position where they had to pass the ball to get a first down. They had a ways to go. We’re forcing them into a corner we can keep them in. And then everybody went out and made the plays. I guess all the cogs were clicking, all the machinery was working."
Penalties were the only thing that seemed capable of slowing the Princeton offense. The yellow hankies came out seven times and cost the Tigers 55 yards in the first half, and five more penalties lost 60 yards in the second half.
"As a coach, you always strive for perfection. Before we get too full of ourselves around here, we’ve got a lot of work to do," Hughes said. "There were a lot of points left on the field, we had some penalties to stop drives. The good thing is Derek Javarone has been fairly consistent. He’s been 100 percent scoring points in the red zone. That’s been the difference. As I told the team, be happy but not satisfied. We have a long way to go. The strength of our schedule is ahead of us. We certainly can’t sit back and start feeling too good about ourselves."
There was plenty to be happy about Saturday. Javarone’s 31-yard field goal gave Princeton a 3-0 lead after its first possession. After a 41-yard pass from Terrell to Circle set up the Tigers, Kirkland rumbled in from the 1-yard line for the first touchdown with 3:43 left in the first quarter for a 10-0 lead. Javarone’s career-long came on the first play of the second quarter for a 13-0 advantage. He added a 31-yarder eight minutes later before Terrell gave the Tigers a 23-0 lead when he followed his offensive line’s surge for a 1-yard score. Rochell’s field goal put the Lions on the board, and stirred thoughts of a comeback.
"At halftime, there was no sense of letdown and there was no sense we had the game under control," Hughes said. "While I thought we had been playing well to that point, they’ve been a very good second-half team and we haven’t. I didn’t feel comfortable until the end.
"One of the things we’re striving for as a team is to find the knockout punch. Today we were able to do that."
Princeton’s defense held Columbia to three-and-out on its first second-half possession. Terrell then marched the Tigers 71 yards, capping the drive with a 16-yard run for a 30-3 lead.
"When it got to 30, when we were able to come out and score on the first drive of the second half, I thought it gave our team, one, momentum and two, maybe they felt like maybe we can’t come back on them. We certainly didn’t feel comfortable as a coaching staff and certainly our kids continued to play at a high level, and that’s good."
The Princeton defense gave the offense plenty of chances by holding the Lions to three yards of total offense in the third quarter. Javarone’s fourth field goal of the game, from 31 yards, built a 30-point lead with 3:56 left in the third quarter. Princeton opened the fourth quarter with another score, this time getting a 14-yard touchdown burst from Kirkland for a 40-3 lead. The Tigers capitalized on a fumble recovery by Tim Strickland on the ensuing kickoff and settled for Javarone’s fifth field goal, a 34-yarder with 8:24 to play.
Princeton used Bill Foran, who has rotated with Terrell at quarterback regularly in the first two games, only with 2:54 to go in the third quarter. He still finished with six carries for a hefty 32 yards and completed both of his pass attempts. Third-string quarterback Chris Lee saw action in the fourth quarter as the Tigers got experience for many of their back-ups. Princeton hopes to build on its 3-0 start and Ivy opening success when it hosts its third straight game at Princeton Stadium on Saturday.
"We have not handled success well," Hughes said. "We have not handled prosperity well. So my message to the kids is, listen it’s a 10-round fight and what happened in the third-round today has no bearings on what happens next week. That’s been the mindset, and I think this team has the culture of holding each other accountable so that that doesn’t happen."