PU rallies past Yale, inches closer to Ivy title

Terrell enjoys career passing day

By: Justin Feil
   Jeff Terrell’s demons are dead.
   Killed by a 445-yard career passing day for the Princeton University senior quarterback, who threw for three touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Tigers to a comeback 34-31 win at Yale on Saturday.
   One year ago, Terrell also had a then-career high 230 yards passing against Yale, but he also threw five interceptions, four in the second half as the Tigers lost a 14-point lead and their chances of an Ivy League championship.
   "I’m my hardest critic," Terrell said. "I took it personally. So much was at stake. I felt like I let the whole team down. It was definitely something I could let it destroy my career or learn from it. For a while, I had the demons in my head. I tried to put it behind me.
   "Last year was humbling. I was doing well in my first year as a starter. I tried to force too many things and not take what the defense was giving me. This time I was able to find holes in the defense. Now I’m just trying to distribute the ball. When you try to do too much as a quarterback, you make mistakes."
   In front of more than 40,000 fans at the Yale Bowl on Saturday, Terrell helped the Tigers overcome a 28-14 halftime deficit to improve to 8-1 overall, 5-1 in the Ivies, to move into a first-place tie with Yale, which lost for the first time in eight games to fall to 7-2, 5-1.
   The win snapped a four-game losing streak to Yale and gives Princeton the chance to be co-champions with a win over Dartmouth on Saturday or outright champs with a win and a Yale loss at Harvard.
   "I broke down after the game because of last year’s loss, how hard it was and how hard I took it," Terrell said. "This was redemption. I couldn’t have drawn it up any better, to come back the way we did."
   The game Saturday certainly did not start the way the Tigers wanted it to. Princeton fumbled its first play from scrimmage but fortunately Terrell fell on it to retain control of it. The Tigers incurred numerous penalties on both sides of the ball and their defense couldn’t stop Mike McLeod and the Yale offense.
   "I don’t know what happened," said PU head coach Roger Hughes. "Offensively, we’ve been doing OK. We came out overexcited. We fumbled on the first play. We jumped offsides. Then we started to settle down offensively. Defensively, we weren’t playing well up front. At halftime, we got after them pretty good. We just told them to stop thinking and just play. What I think it was, was guys were trying to make too many plays by themselves. They were not trusting their teammates."
   Whatever it was wasn’t working in the first half. McLeod rushed for 151 yards and four touchdowns for a 14-point Bulldog lead. But at halftime, something gave Princeton confidence.
   "Our kids themselves," Hughes said. "Greg Perry walked into our halftime room. He said, our kids were fine. They just said, give us the ball, we’re going to score. You don’t have to rip them. Mentally we’re fine. We just have to play. We were moving the ball pretty well through the air. Jeff was having career type day. We tried to put the ball in his hands.
   "Clearly we’ve had a lot of confidence in Jeff’s ability. All year long, he and our receivers have done a good job taking what defense gives them. I wasn’t looking at the youth (of Yale’s defense) but the scheme and what they’re doing with their defense. They were playing a softer corner so we were able to throw some balls underneath them. And their linebackers were dropping very deep and that gave us the ability to drop the ball underneath on crossing patterns. They haven’t shown a lot of pressure this year and they didn’t pressure us much. That gave us time to protect Jeff."
   Terrell felt things turning in the second quarter even as Yale scored three touchdowns to Princeton’s first two of the game. The Tigers first came when Adam Perry scooped up a fumble by Terrell and scored from 13 yards out. Terrell ran for Princeton’s second touchdown to complete a 67-yard drive.
   "I can only speak for the offense," Terrell said. "I felt we had the momentum from the second quarter on. From our standpoint, it was just a matter of us getting the ball enough and executing. We were able to move the ball. I was confident in our offense.
   "We have confidence in our defense. Although in the first half, it did not look like the defense was holding its own, we had to trust them to shut them down. And after the start of the second quarter, we were able to move the ball well. We were confident if we got the ball back, we were confident we could come back. As soon as we started moving the ball, I felt it was going to come down to the wire. I felt this was a defense we could attack."
   The Princeton defense did its part, limiting McLeod to 30 yards in the second half. A missed field goal was the only Bulldog first-half possession to not score. In the second half, Princeton forced six punts and allowed just three points.
   "We started playing a little more man to man and brought a safety to the box to help," Hughes said. "But there were two guys who really helped, Luke Steckel and Brig Walker. Brig was everywhere. In the back end was Tim Strickland. Those three guys along with Jake Marshall really turned their game on. We were over reacting to certain things. Doori (Song) overran a few plays and that led to some big seams. We just started tackling better."
   Their improved play allowed the Tiger offense to get the ball back quicker. Terrell hit Brendan Circle for a 15-yard touchdown at the end of the third quarter to bring Princeton within eight points. Princeton’s next possession ended, however, when Terrell’s pass was tipped and intercepted and Yale picked up its only points of the second half on a field goal to build an 11-point lead with less than 11 minutes to play.
   "I was proud at the end of this game, when the ball was tipped and the guy made the interception, last year, I would have let that spiral downhill," Terrell said. "Mentally you can let that get to you. You have to have no memory. I was proud of the offense. It showed where we’ve come to put that behind us to drive down the field on the next possession."
   Terrell again found Circle, this time for eight yards. Another missed conversion left Princeton down five points, 31-26. But on its next possession, Terrell found Brian Brigham for a 57-yard strike and a two-point conversion to Circle was successful for the final margin of victory.
   "I felt and I was confident if I could give a good pump and Brian could give a good fake, as a freshman, I knew that was an area I could get him," Terrell said. "Once he bit, I knew it was going to be wide open."
   Princeton’s offense finished off the comeback win by not giving the ball back to the Bulldog offense over the final 4:51 of the game. A fitting ending was a third-down conversion from Terrell to Circle. It was Circle’s 12th catch of the day for 178 yards. Brigham had six catches for 121 yards. It was a career day for the two wide outs.
   "One reason we were in the hurry up offense," Terrell said. "They didn’t have a chance to get off the field. We were going to the two-minute offense. We weren’t rotating other receivers in. Those guys wanted to stay in. They were getting open and finding the zones. I feel I have great chemistry with those guys."
   Terrell had great chemistry with everyone on Saturday. He completed 32 of 47 passes for the 445 yards.
   "I’ve never even thrown for over 300," said the Ohio native. "Even in high school. It’s one of those things. You just feel on. You feel like things are going well for you. You feel confident and comfortable. You feel on target. I knew the yardage would be up there. I had no idea it would be that high.
   "You get to the point where you’re just having fun out there and you don’t want it to stop," he added. "You’re having a blast. You’re in a zone. You’re as confident as you can be. You believe the ball is going to be thrown to the right area. You just trust in your instincts."
   His confidence enabled Princeton to rally from a big halftime deficit. It helped that the Tigers had come back before this season.
   "We’ve had a number of character tests," Hughes said. "This one took it to a new level. It bodes well that we were able to come back. I think it shows their hunger to win. It also shows a belief in each other. Our team really loves each other. I’m not sure they like each other all the time, but they love each other. With that comes a lot of trust in each other. We felt like the way we were moving the ball, if we could get enough possessions we could win. We figured our defense would eventually figure it out."
   The Princeton defense figured it out. The Tigers offense kept moving the ball. And once again, the Tigers made the plays when they needed them most. This time it helped tighten the Ivy race and exorcise Terrell’s demons from last year’s loss.
   "It was one of those things, you have to swallow your pride and look at the film and learn from the experience," Terrell said. "It was hard for me. It’s all people remember from last year. Although I did throw five interceptions, I felt I played my best first half. I needed to learn why I fell apart. I wasn’t poised. I was losing confidence in the second half. I really let it get to me. I focused on my mistakes rather than how to get better. This year, learning from that, thanks to the Lord, allowed me to be comfortable on the field."