Princeton U. football falls short at Colgate
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
The Princeton University football team won its last game against a Patriot League team on a last-second kick.
Saturday, the Tigers lost on a last-second kick at Colgate, 27-24.
”We just didn’t make any plays to ice the game like last two games,” said PU head coach Roger Hughes after his team slipped to 2-2 overall. “It’s a lot tougher on this side of things. We did get better. We have to do a better job of controlling the football. We didn’t do that (Saturday).”
Princeton tied Colgate, 24-24, with 9:23 left on Brian Anderson’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Billy Mitchell followed by a two-point conversion completion to Will Thanheiser. The Tigers had the ball back with under five minute to play, but its drive stalled at midfield after Princeton was forced into a third-and-long situation after Anderson tried to audible out of a play then misfired on third-down to Thanheiser.
”Half the line heard it and half didn’t,” Hughes said of the audible. “It was a miscue at a crucial point. Those are the things we didn’t do previously.”
Colgate took the ball from its own 20 and in 1:08 drove to the Princeton 16. After Princeton called a pair of time outs to make Jacob Stein think about his kick, the Raiders kicker put through a 33-yard field goal with 2 seconds left to improve to 4-2 overall.
”Defensively, we gave up very few explosive plays,” Hughes said. “If you look at the stats, you see how close it was. It could have gone either way. Colgate is a better team than when they played Furman. Their quarterback is better. You could see he’s more confident. Their defense is better. I’m giving Colgate credit for playing that way. Hopefully (playing with them) will give us confidence and something to build on going into the league schedule.”
Princeton returns home — just its second game in its first five on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium — to host Brown 1 p.m. Saturday. Both the Tigers and Bears are unbeaten in the Ivy League at 1-0. The Tigers feel battle-tested after again going on the road to take on a tough opponent, and it was the third game this season in which an opponent has had two weeks to prepare for the Tigers.
”Hopefully we can use that our advantage,” Hughes said. “Four of our next six are at home. Brown is a very good team coming in.
”The nice thing is our kids have hung in there and played relatively good football. I see this team growing closer and closer together.”
There are positives to build on after the Colgate game. The Tigers’ Jordan Culbreath rushed for a career-high 153 yards and one touchdown. Anderson rushed for 77 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown run in which he bulldozed his way into the end zone through three Raider defenders.
”It’s a credit to our offensive line and our wide receivers blocking down field,” Hughes said. “And Brian did a great job when we ran the option. That’s where we improved the most, on the line and tight end. We also did a pretty good job with pass protection.”
The Tigers also continued to prove they can score in a hurry. Princeton took a 16-14 lead into the half when it drove 80 yards in 1:48 before Anderson’s touchdown run with 17 seconds left.
”While the two-minute at the end of the game was disappointing, the two-minute at the end of the first half was incredible,” Hughes said. “We went right down and scored. In each of our games, we’ve been able to score with our two-minute offense. A lot of good things happened on both sides of the ball.”
Princeton’s defense held NCAA leading rusher Jordan Scott to 116 yards, well under his 205-yard average. Colgate answered with quarterback Pat Sullivan rushing for 70 yards and completing 11 passes to Pat Simonds for 152 yards. West Windsor-Plainsboro South product Adrien Schriefer caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Sullivan for Colgate’s first score of the game.
”Our defense played well against Scott,” Hughes said. “But Sullivan had a great day. Pat Simonds had about 15 catches. That’s the nature of going against a team that’s balanced and has good playmakers.”
The Tigers, though, were proud to produce the leading rusher in the game. Culbreath cemented his place as a big-time back by becoming the first rusher to go over 150 yards against Colgate in 17 games. He also became the first Princeton back in five years to score touchdowns in four straight weeks.
”I think it does something for all the team,” Hughes said. “We can give him the ball and they know he’ll make good things happen. While Jordan is the consummate team player, hearing about Jordan Scott, I think he wanted to show he’s not the only Jordan on this field that can run. There were some runs he dragged people.
”And then there’s Brian’s running ability. On his touchdown run, he dragged three guys into the end zone. Both of those things motivate our team to play harder. It motivates our line to open the holes for Jordan. It gives all our team confidence.”
Confidence is something that Hughes does not want waning as the Tigers get into their Ivy League schedule. Princeton has six games left against Ivy opponents in its 2008 season after a last-second loss to Colgate.
”We have to not let this get us down and let it motivate us,” Hughes said. “And we have to keep getting better. We made progress. We went toe to toe and were physical with a big Colgate team. We did some good things. The only thing we didn’t do was end up with more points.”