Even after near-perfect half, PU falls short

Tigers drop football opener at The Citadel

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   All the little details that the Princeton University football team had talked about improving since last season were there.
   There were no turnovers. There were red-zone scores. There were stops on third down defensively and conversions offensively. For one half, they gave the Tigers the lead.
   Then No. 22 The Citadel showed the advantages of having two games of experience under their belts as they responded to Princeton’s fast start with a faster finish to hand the Tigers a 37-24 loss. It is a loss, however, that the Tigers feel they can learn from as they prepare to host Lehigh on Saturday.
   ”We really played flawlessly in the first half,” said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes. “Considering it was our first game and it was on the road, I was very pleased with how we executed on both sides of the ball and special teams. We had no turnovers, no penalties.
   ”In the third quarter, and part of this comes with game experience, but there was no one glaring thing. It was a lot of little things that contributed to the momentum swing. We didn’t have the experience to do something to stop them.”
   Princeton had a 17-7 lead at halftime on a Connor Louden 31-yard field goal, Jordan Culbreath’s 2-yard run and Brian Anderson’s 6-yard pass to Matt Zimmerman, the final score coming with just 18 seconds left in the first half. The Tigers scored on 3-of-4 first-half possessions.
   ”That’s one of the things you can take from this game,” Hughes said. “Why we played so flawlessly was we did all the things we emphasized and talked about going into the season. If we continue to take care of the ball and continue to convert in the red zone, we’ll be able to be in every game. If we can maintain and excel our intensity as the game goes along, we should have the chance to be in every game we play this year.”
   It didn’t take long for things to change in the second half. A blocked punt to start the third quarter opened the door for the Bulldogs. Princeton punted its first five possessions of the second half and turned it over on downs on its sixth possession. The Citadel scored three touchdowns and a field goal in its first four possessions.
   ”Had we had a little more game experience,” Hughes said, “we could have been a little different. Citadel, they increased their intensity and we didn’t match it for a while. It took us eight minutes to get to the point where we could move the ball on offense again and stop them on defense. Hopefully that’s one thing we can take out of this that we learned out of this game. When the other team steps it up, we have to be ready to step up and match the intensity.”
   Princeton didn’t score until 41 seconds remained in the game on a 13-yard pass from Anderson to fellow tri-captain Adam Berry. Anderson finished 20-for-41 with two touchdowns. He threw one interception only when the Tigers were in desperation mode in the final seconds after recovering an onsides kick.
   ”I think he started out and did a masterful job of running the offense and was very efficient,” Hughes said. “One thing he needs to learn is just do what you have to do. You don’t have to make a great play. One thing that happened, I think he felt the momentum change and he wanted to make something happen. He tried to force some things.”
   The Tigers answered another big pre-game question when its untested secondary played well for much of the afternoon. Wilson Cates recorded an interception and the Tigers limited All-America receiver Andre Roberts to four catches, though two went for touchdowns.
   ”Overall, you would say they held up pretty well,” Hughes said. “The first play of the game, we got a sack. Roberts had four catches and 134 all-purpose yards, but overall they did good job for (Glenn) Wakam’s first start, and Wilson’s first time really doing that. That should give us confidence going into the rest of the season.”
   Last year, the Tigers put a lot of effort against a highly ranked Hampton team. Princeton lost that game, and came out of beat up emotionally and physically. The Tigers don’t expect that to happen following a loss to another big-conference team.
   ”After the game, clearly the kids were more grounded,” Hughes said. “I’m proud of the captains and seniors. They talked about what we need to do from here. No one hung their heads. Because of the Hampton game, the emotional response will be different. And we came out pretty healthy out of the game. Mentally and physically we’re clearly better.”
   Getting better is clearly the message coming out of a serious test for the Tigers in their opener. Hughes is hoping that the Tigers will benefit in the long run after a promising first half gave them the lead and plenty to build on going forward from a road loss to a Top-25 team.
   ”They’re clearly top to bottom blessed with more speed than anyone we’ll face,” he said. “Going in at halftime, I didn’t think we were playing the perfect game, but we were playing the way we have to to have the chance to win. I wish I knew why we didn’t play that way the second half. We didn’t get one play to stem the tide. I didn’t feel like we had to play the perfect game. The reason we were in the game was because we did take care of those aspects.”