PU’s special season still sinking in

Football team garners post-season awards

By: Justin Feil
   The last Ivy League championship team that Roger Hughes was a part of was Dartmouth’s unbeaten 1996 squad.
   It took six seasons as head coach of the Princeton University football team, six seasons that came with some ups and some downs, for Hughes to recapture the dynamics necessary to win a title again. Even in the afterglow of the title, he hadn’t been able to get a full night’s sleep.
   "It’s still sinking in," Hughes said Tuesday, three days after the Tigers wrapped up a 9-1 season, 6-1 in the Ivies to equal Yale. "What this team accomplished based on the predictions and expectations, I haven’t had time to digest it all. When you get in the season, it’s one more week, one more week. . . I haven’t really had a chance to reflect on how special this team was."
   The Tigers are the sixth different Ivy League team since 1996 to claim the conference crown. All but Columbia and Cornell have tasted the peak of the league. Having been in the league for more than 15 years and being a part of Ivy title teams at two different schools gives Hughes a perspective on what it takes to be champion.
   "I think it’s chemistry," he said. "Generally the team that has the best players and has the most seniors playing has a great chance of winning. Clearly, we had the Player of the Year in Jeff Terrell, something that nobody expected when the season started. The team chemistry and character our team had (are keys). It’s kind of cliché, but these guys really played as team and played together. We were lucky to not have injuries. It was a key that we got some confidence early. We got on a roll and that carried over into our league games. Usually if that happens and you remain pretty healthy, you should fair pretty well."
   Princeton stayed healthy throughout the year and developed into a team that Monday was recognized for its talent and hard work. The All-Ivy selections came out with Terrell being named the Asa S. Bushnell Cup winner as the conference’s top player. He was one of five first-team All-Ivy selections. The others were cornerback J.J. Artis, punter Colin McDonough, safety Tim Strickland and receiver Brendan Circle. Jake Marshall, Kyle Vellutato and Brig Walker were all second-team picks and Peter Buchignani was an honorable mention winner.
   "I’m very pleased that one of the greatest compliments is when peers single you out as a good player," Hughes said. "The combination of All-Ivy picks and Jeff Terrell becoming Ivy Player so the Year, maybe it means we’re finally getting the recognition and respect that previous teams have not gotten. There’s an added respectability how individuals played this year."
   They helped make the Tigers quite a team, one that steadily grew week by week. Princeton opened the season with a comeback win, 14-10, at Lehigh, a place where it traditionally had struggled in the last decade. The outcome, and the fashion of the rally, was a sign that things could be different this year. Wins continued with a fourth-quarter rally over eventual Patriot League champion Lafayette, a defensive gem at Columbia and a stirring rally and overtime win at Colgate, another difficult road venue. By the time the Tigers got into the main Ivy schedule, they were 4-0 and feeling good.
   "The job that the assistant coaches did in getting us prepared was remarkable," Hughes said. "This team was ready to go every week with the exception of one week. That’s hard to do. The other thing they were good at understanding was our weaknesses and strengths. I thought our assistant coaches did a phenomenal job understanding what the kids could do and giving them things they could be successful with and staying away from our weaknesses and formulating a game plan around that."
   By the time it stared the main league play, a youthful offensive line had four games experience, as did a rotation of new linebackers. They had helped shore up two huge question marks coming into the year.
   "I didn’t know how the chemistry on the offensive line would come along and at linebacker," Hughes said. "But the places we had experience, those kids helped bring along the kids with inexperience. We were able to get by on the run."
   Princeton broke away from Brown in the second half and broke a decade-long streak with a home win over Harvard with the go-ahead touchdown in the final five minutes of the fourth quarter. Princeton lost on the road at Cornell after coming out of midterms, the only test of the season it did not pass. The Tigers bounced right back with a double overtime win over Penn. Then, they went on the road and pulled out a comeback from a 14-point halftime hole at Yale to tie the Ivy race up. They won their share of the crown with a victory, won in the fourth quarter of course, over Dartmouth.
   "They were a lot different by the end," Hughes said. "They were a lot more confidence. When we stepped on the field at the end, we expected to win. There was belief we’d find a way no matter what the situation was. There was a heightened level of commitment to each other. The kids grew closer and closer together as they got closer to the title. When they saw the chance to realize that dream, they kicked it into high gear."
   As the Tigers grew closer to their first championship in 11 years, they showed that hunger they had kept since last year’s near miss. Princeton was second in 2005 after losing in the final minutes to Yale. Hughes found out the 2006 team was still pained by it and had that extra intangible early in this year’s preparations.
   "I think I had a hint of it when we met before the spring game," Hughes said. "I knew we were a close team from that. I knew the players really cared for each other. And they were still hungry. The seniors came in with a 2-8 season. It gave them a bad taste. And they still talked about 1:14, that was the time left when we were leading Yale last year and lost that chance at the Ivy title. So I came away knowing this team had pretty good chemistry and was still hungry."
   When the season began, Hughes still found surprises in the team’s performances. The Tigers were even keel no matter what the situation. They found ways to win while bringing along the unknowns, like the inexperienced offensive line that had no starters back, on the team.
   "We tried to get the ball in the hands of the people that could win games for us," Hughes said. "Any time with an experienced quarterback, you have a chance especially with the discipline Jeff Terrell had. He went through his progressions every time and put the ball in the right people’s hands.
   "We tried to factor the offensive line out of the game plan. We wanted to get the ball to the perimeter. The other thing Jeff did was make it easier for the offensive line, he controlled what way we slid the protection. That way if blitzes were coming, he always had time to give it up. Who would have guessed that with our inexperience on the offensive line, we’d lead the league in total offense and give up the fewest sacks we’ve ever had? That just shows the kids hung in there and fought their tails off.
   He added: "We threw the ball much more effectively than I ever thought we could. Defensively, we played well as a team. We had the lowest number of sacks, the lowest number of takeaways. But we still ended up with No. 2 in total defense and No. 1 in third-down efficiency. We made good plays, not great plays. The fact that none of our players were in the top 20 in the league in tackles is a tribute to the team play."
   That ultimately could be the calling card for the 2006 Tigers team that will graduate 18 seniors, most of whom saw regular action. Their example will be the one to follow, though that could be difficult as the Tigers begin preparation for next year with recruiting and planning.
   "Success makes you slow to learn and quick to forget," Hughes said. "I know two years ago, we rode our kids hard. This last year, our kids had developed a culture of really working hard from that. We didn’t have to get on them as much. We have to figure out the personality of the team. We just have to find a little of their personality.
   "I’m going to another school this Thanksgiving to see another team play, to see if we can pick up some things. We have to remain contemporary. Because we are league champs, we have a target on our backs. People will work that much harder to knock us off."
   The legacy of this year’s Princeton team will remain. It’s what others will strive for as they seek the formula for Ivy titles. It’s something that Hughes knows can be a rare find in an Ivy League that has been marked by a decade of parity. To win, it has to be a special collection of players. This year’s certainly left their mark.
   "More than anything else we were a team," Hughes said. "The team played with a lot of passion and had a lot of fun. The other part would be the cardiac kid deal. We were down in five games and we found a way to win things. It made the season frankly so exciting. People could identify with that, that the kids never stopped fighting. We weren’t dominant. We were dominant when it counted. When we had to make plays, we did. The kids never gave up. People can identify with a feel-good story like that."