PU football never recovers from 13-0 deficit
By: Justin Feil
The Princeton University football team did not trail for a minute in winning its first three games of the season.
The Tigers trailed from the very first minute and never could claw all the way back in a 16-10 loss to Colgate at soggy Princeton Stadium on Saturday. The loss dropped the Tigers to 3-1 with six Ivy League games remaining. Colgate improved to 3-2.
"All the things that we focus on, that we’ve been pretty good at, we let our guard down and were not very good at today," said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes, whose team plays at Brown 1 p.m. next Saturday.
The Red Raiders established early control after Geoff Bean returned the opening kickoff 60 yards to the Princeton 28-yard line. One rush by Jordan Scott put the ball at the Tiger 1. Two plays later, Scott pushed up the middle for the touchdown. A missed extra point left Colgate with a 6-0 lead 59 seconds into the contest.
Colgate struck again quickly when J.J. Bennett stripped Princeton’s Jay McCareins on the ensuing kick and the Red Raiders’ Cody Williams recovered, again at the PU 28. It took four plays with Mike Saraceno connecting with Kenny Parker, who broke two tackles to reach the end zone from 12 yards out. Mike Rava was true on the extra point and the Tigers were behind, 13-0, only 2:55 into the contest.
"I don’t know how you start a game worse than the way we started – giving up a long kickoff return and a quick touchdown and fumbling the subsequent kick return for us. We just tried to claw our way back," Hughes said. "It seemed like every time we did something good, we shot ourselves in the foot. Execution-wise, we had too many penalties offensively, we had too many mental errors offensively, we turned the ball over too many times and you can’t do that against an elite team."
Following the first two scores, the Tigers defense kept the team in the game, allowing just three points in the final 57 minutes. Princeton’s offense chipped away but its final three possessions ended as the rain increased but their offensive execution did not.
"When you get down early," Hughes said, "and you’re playing catch-up, clearly being able to throw the ball effectively all the time, especially toward the end of the game, the weather’s not very conducive to that."
Princeton, which struggled to 82 rush yards for the game, scored its first points of the day on Derek Javarone’s 38th career field goal, a 27-yarder with 9:01 left in the second quarter that made it 13-3. The kick tied Taylor Northrop’s record for field goals in a PU career. The score was set up by the fifth interception of the season by McCareins.
"We had a couple missed communications on those first two (Colgate) drives," said PU linebacker Rob Holuba, who had a career-high 10 tackles, "but after that, as soon as we got our calls down, if we just executed what we have to do, and we more or less shut them down."
Princeton’s offense didn’t step into gear until the second half. The first half resulted in just 72 yards of total offense and three first downs for the Tigers. They punted five times in the first half after punting once all game in last week’s 43-3 win over Columbia. A consistent rain Saturday that made for loose footing and a slippery pigskin didn’t help.
"Footing was pretty hard, but I don’t want to make excuses," said PU quarterback Jeff Terrell, who threw for 161 yards. "Yes, it was hard to throw in the rain. But I didn’t put the ball where I needed to be a lot of the time. And we didn’t move the chains like we have (been) when we’re winning."
The Tigers got off to a slow start in the second half as Jeff Terrell’s pass for Greg Fields on their first possession was intercepted by Colgate’s Williams, who returned it to the Princeton 36. After surrendering one fourth-down conversion, the Tiger defense stiffened inside the red zone and Rava’s 25-yard field goal attempt hit the right post and bounced out.
Princeton was in the midst of its best drive of the game when Terrell fumbled the exchange from center after the Tigers had moved 69 yards from their own 9 and Colgate’s Pat Nolan recovered.
The Tigers got it right back, however, when linebacker Justin Stull sacked Saraceno and caused a fumble that fellow linebacker Nate Starrett came up with at the Colgate 34. Terrell hit Greg Fields on the first play for a 34-yard strike down the middle, and Fields made a nifty stutter-step to reach the end zone and cut the PU deficit to 13-10 with 10:38 still to play in the fourth quarter.
"A lot of it was just getting in our rhythm," said Fields, who led Princeton with four catches for 84 yards. "We came out a little sloppy. Maybe it was getting used to playing in the conditions. We had to adjust. I think that’s the main thing."
Colgate immediately answered back with a 22-yard field goal by Rava. His field goal was set up by a 50-yard completion from Saraceno to Erik Burke. The Tigers yielded just three yards and three points following the big play to stay within striking distance at 16-10.
The Tigers had three possessions with a chance to tie it with a touchdown, but they never even crossed midfield. After Terrell began the game 10-for-16, the passing attack stalled to 1-for-12 in the final three possessions.
On the first PU possession after Colgate’s final field goal, Terrell was incomplete twice including a sliding attempt by tight end Jon Dekker and rushed for no gain. The Tigers regained the ball with 3:30 to go, and Terrell completed a third-down pass to Brian Brigham for 12 yards to the PU 40-yard line. Terrell threw behind Brendan Circle. Terrell’s second-down screen pass was dropped by fullback Rob Toresco. His third-down attempt was nearly intercepted by Colgate’s Jared Nepa and his fourth-down pass in Colgate territory was dropped on the sidelines by Circle.
The Tigers’ final chance came when their defense delivered another three-and-out. With 1:09 left, Terrell threw three straight incompletes. His best chance for a completion would have been an incredible juggling catch over the middle by Fields, but a defensive hit jarred the ball loose.
"It looked to me like we had the ball delivered where it was supposed to be," Hughes said. "We had the right patterns called. We didn’t execute and make the catch. The one Greg had towards the end would have been a tough catch; he got hit right away.
"We had a corner ball that we dropped. We had a shallow route that we dropped. We had another route that we dropped as well. When the game was on the line, we talk about who we can count on when the game counts. We didn’t come up with a play to win the game, or at least a play to keep the drive alive."
Princeton’s defense yielded 301 yards of offense, while the Tigers ran up 255 yards of offense. The Tigers fumbled four times and lost two of them. Colgate had the ball for 11 more minutes than did Princeton, and the biggest minutes came in the first quarter when the Tigers had a turnover before their offense came on the field and in the fourth quarter when the offense couldn’t move the ball for a potential tie.
"I think it’s a lesson for us," Fields said. "We went there and made a lot of mistakes on offense, myself included, even when the game is on the line. We’re trying to drive down there and we’re down by six and we’re making mistakes. You can’t have that to beat a good team."