Cornell hands Tigers first loss
By: Justin Feil
Game after game, the Princeton University football team had found a way to win, to overcome any mistake with the plays in the end.
For six straight games, even three in which the Tigers had more turnovers and miscues than their opponents did, they had persevered through errors that might have cost another team. Saturday, they became that team as Cornell capitalized on three Princeton turnovers and handed the Tigers their first defeat of the season, 14-7, in Ithaca, N.Y.
"I think we’ve been living on borrowed time," said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes after his team slipped to 6-1 overall, 3-1 in the Ivy League. "One interception led to their only score in the first half. For a defense to defend one yard, that’s tough."
Cornell’s winning points came when it drove 89 yards on its first possession of the second half. The Big Red took 3:02 off the clock with the drive, another factor in their victory. The Big Red had the ball for almost 32 minute of the game with Luke Siwula doing much of the damage with 25 carries for 98 yards. Princeton’s defense was hurt by the absence of linebacker and captain Luke Steckel, who missed the game with an injury suffered midweek.
"They were able to hold onto the ball," Hughes said. "Their time of possession was better than ours and that’s only the second time that’s happened to us this year. Siwula ran for 98 yards.
"Luke is a good communicator on the field. Not having him hurt us in the long run, but I don’t want to make excuses. We have to make sure we do that better."
With the loss, Princeton fell into second place in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard, who they defeated the week before. Yale, at 4-0, is the lone Ivy unbeaten. The Tigers host Penn 1 p.m. Saturday before taking their shot at Yale the following week.
"You learn one thing, you have to play on the edge," Hughes said. "You have to be physically and mentally prepared. The prep week wasn’t any different. I told the team we have about 24 hours to mourn this and then we have to get ready for next week."
For the first time, the Tigers are in the midst of preparing for a week following a loss. In fact, they have not lost an Ivy game since losing last year at Yale, a loss that cost them a shot at a piece of the Ivy title last season. How they react this week will go a long way toward their Ivy chances this season as they can own at least a share of the crown by winning out.
"It remains to be seen," Hughes said of how the team will react. "We’re in uncharted territory. I told the team everyone has talked about the character of this team. Now we find out how good its character is."
Princeton’s character came out some even as it struggled against Cornell. After falling behind, 14-0, the Tigers, as they have done so many times this season, answered right back. Princeton used an 88-yard drive to pull within a touchdown and ignite hope of a fifth second-half comeback this year. Rob Toresco’s 2-yard run showed the Tigers still had fight after a first half that didn’t even amount to the 88 yards they moved it in that scoring drive.
"Our execution in the first half was the worst it has been all year," Hughes said. "There was no explanation for it. And defensively, we missed making changes to formation adjustments we hadn’t missed all year. We just didn’t play with the same edge.
"We still had a chance with 22 seconds left as bad we executed. But turnovers were the difference in the game."
The first resulted in Cornell’s first score. The second took the ball away from Princeton on a third-down fumble by quarterback Jeff Terrell, and the third ended the Tigers’ final shot when Terrell was intercepted at the Cornell 8-yard line with 22 ticks on the clock.
"Jeff just under-threw the ball," Hughes said, adding, "Clearly, you can’t turn it over that many times and expect to win."
Fixing the turnovers that have plagued the Tigers, but until Saturday had not been costly, is of primary importance to Princeton. Getting the Tigers back to executing and playing on both sides of the ball more like they had in their first six games is another must-do. It’s the only way the Tigers can keep alive their Ivy hopes.
"Our next three games are winnable," Hughes said. "They’re going to be tough. But we still control our own destiny.
"If we had won Saturday, we’d still have to win these next three games. We didn’t make the plays to win the game though. We have to do that next week."

