PU, Harvard both in need of a victory

Second Ivy League loss would hurt title hopes

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   History has shown that teams with two losses don’t stand much of a chance for the Ivy League championship.
   The last time it happened was in 1982, when three teams shared the Ivy crown. Neither Harvard nor Princeton is counting on that scenario when they meet at 1 p.m. Saturday on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium.
   ”This is obviously a big game for both teams,” said Princeton head coach Roger Hughes. “It’s difficult to win the league with two losses. Couple that with the fact that it’s become a very heated rivalry, we’re looking forward to getting back on the field and play the kind of football we think we’re capable of playing.”
   Princeton suffered its first Ivy loss at the hands of Brown last weekend. Harvard lost to Cornell in its Ivy opener. Both are 1-1 in the league with their backs against the wall in their third Ivy game.
   ”We don’t believe we played with the intensity at all times last week that we need to to win a game,” Hughes said. “That’s pretty much been our emphasis all week, to play with a lot of intensity and play as physical as we can and make sure we come out prepared and ready to go.”
   Recent history shows it could be anyone’s game. Harvard holds a narrow 3-2 lead in the last five meetings. They handed the Tigers a 27-10 loss last year, but in the last meeting at Princeton Stadium, it was the Tigers who prevailed, 31-28. A win Saturday would be Princeton’s third over Harvard in the last four years.
   The Tigers have spent this week preparing two quarterbacks for action as starter Brian Anderson left last week’s loss to Brown with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder. He will be a game-time decision. The Bears also slowed running back Jordan Culbreath, who still leads the Ivies in rushing at 96.2 yards per game even after being held under 70 yards by Brown. Harvard last year held Princeton to 36 total rushing yards. Princeton turned the ball over as many times against Brown as it had in its first four games combined.
   Princeton’s defense will have to slow Chris Pizzotti. The Crimson quarterback threw for a career-high 365 yards and two touchdowns last year against Princeton. Big completions hurt the Tigers the most.
   The Tigers might want to hold back from starting out too strong Saturday. In all five of their games this year, the team scoring first has lost.
   And Saturday’s game isn’t one that any team with title aspirations can afford to lose.