PU football opening league play at Columbia
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Will Thanheiser hopes to have a big impact when the Princeton University football team opens Ivy League play at Columbia 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
He came to the Tigers accustomed to playing a big role on the field. He quarterbacked his Kinkaid team to the conference championship as a junior, then threw for more than 1,600 yards and ran for 1,000 yards as a senior. He came to Princeton, however, as a wide receiver, though he has thrown one pass on a receiver option.
”I threw an interception,” Thanheiser said. “I have a negative-200 passer rating, which is as low as you can go.”
He’d like another chance to up that rating, but his main focus is on catching balls for a Tigers team that is 1-1. He caught nine passes, including a 46-yarder that set up the game-winning kick in Princeton’s 10-7 win over Lehigh on Saturday.
”It definitely helped my confidence a lot,” said Thanheiser, who ranks fifth in reception yards and sixth in receptions per game in the Ivy League. “It’s the most productive game I had in my college career. It really felt good to help the team win, especially that last catch that put us in field goal position to get that last kick to win the game. That’s really the ultimate goal — any time you can help your team win and feel like you played a big part in that, you’re pretty excited.”
Thanheiser is already almost halfway to last year’s total of 27 catches. That came after seasons in which he had one catch apiece. He is having a bigger impact now on the Tigers, though didn’t expect such a jump in catching Brian Anderson’s passes from Week 1 to 2.
”They put me in different positions this week,” Thanheiser said. “I played in the slot more and ran quick routes that Brian could just throw it to me quick. It’s the same plays we’ve been running whole time. To my knowledge, whoever’s open gets the ball. Last week, Trey (Peacock) was open a lot and so he got the ball. This week, it’ll probably be Adam Berry. You never know.”
Princeton will be squaring off against a Columbia team that is 0-2 and has lost its last 10 games overall. The Lions though always seem to play Princeton tough at Wien Stadium. Princeton has won the last five meetings there, but three of those wins have come by three points or less.
”Columbia just plays better at home,” said PU head coach Roger Hughes, who is 7-1 against the Lions, “and the fact it’s a Homecoming and they have a great turnout. Being the first league game, there’s always some more emphasis on that. You say every game counts, and it does, but when you’re in Ivy League play, there seems to be an emotional factor with that.”
The Ivy race is wide open with pre-season co-favorites Yale and Harvard both losing last week. It reinforces to every Ivy team that any team can win on Saturday. Thanheiser knows how crucial it is to win the first Ivy game.
”Last year, we lost our second league game and I felt like we got behind at that point,” he said. “It was a desperation feeling. Then we lost another one and it was kind of a snowball effect. The year before, once you win two, you feel like it’s going.
”Coach talked about it, the league really is about momentum. We’re all very similar skill-wise. The team that gets on a roll, gets feeling good.”
Thanheiser and the Tigers are feeling good after making the plays at the end to top Lehigh. Their only disappointment was in the lack of red-zone offense, which was a point of emphasis coming into the season. Princeton scored just twice in four trips inside Lehigh’s 20.
”We have to make sure when we’re down in those areas — they don’t come easy — you better make sure you get points when you’re down there,” Hughes said. “I don’t think it was a function of scheme. I think it was a function of executing the plays we had called. We’re going to continue to work on that.”
Looking Thanheiser’s way as much as the Tigers did against Lehigh certainly seems to help. He had just three catches in the opening-season loss to The Citadel.
”I feel a little bit culpable for that loss,” Thanheiser said. “I didn’t think I played as well as I should have. The second game, to rebound like that, obviously it helps. I wish we had put more points on the board, which I think we should have.”
Thanheiser made a big enough impact when the game was on the line. Working over the summer with Anderson paid off when they connected to set up the game-winning kick. It’s that sort of impact that has the Tigers confident going into their Ivy opener.
”Starting the Ivy League coming off a win is a good position to be in,” Thanheiser said. “As long as we keep it up, it should be the way I envisioned it.”