Princeton faces must-win against Yale
By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
There are no playoffs for the Princeton University football team, but the final two weekends might as well be playoff games.
The Tigers will travel to Yale for a 12:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday in New Haven, Conn. The following Saturday, they host Dartmouth in the season finale. Princeton, Yale and Dartmouth all have one loss coming into this weekend with Harvard ahead of them in the Ivy League standings unbeaten thus far, but they will face Yale in their season finale.
”Going into it, you knew there were a lot of teams at a high level,” said PU head coach Bob Surace, “and it would be a competitive league.”
It has played out that way for Princeton, which goes into the game 5-3 overall, 4-1 in the Ivies. Yale is 7-1 overall, 4-1 in the conference. Princeton has followed up a 49-7 loss to Harvard with back-to-back wins that haven’t been as picturesque as some, but they have done the job. Princeton held off Penn, 22-17, last Saturday.
”What we’ve been doing is grinding out things,” Surace said. “Against Cornell and Penn, we really grinded things out and kept the chains moving and when we had opportunities for big plays, we’ve done a good job of that. We’ve struggled to have seven or eight explosive plays a game like last year. If we have three or four, we can move the ball. We have to do a good job with making play to play.”
Princeton returned DiAndre Atwater to the lineup after he was out three weeks due to injury and he gave the rushing attack a boost. On defense, Dorian Williams had 13 tackles, intercepted a pass and returned a fumble 85 yards. Ty Desire also recorded a pair of sacks.
The Tigers will need more plays from its defense and an efficient offense this week to negate the high-octane Yale offense. It’s as though the 2014 Tigers are playing their 2013 record-setting selves.
”Their running back, Tyler Varga, is playing at an extremely high level,” Surace said. “Every game he has multiple touchdowns. He has between 150-200 yards ever game. He’s a workhorse. He has balance, strength, explosive ability. On an exceptional offense, he’s probably the best guy in the league.
”Their quarterback has been tremendously accurate. They have a stable of running backs behind Varga. Deon Randall and Grant Wallace are two of the best receivers in the league. They have a good offensive line. They’re putting up numbers similar to what we put up last year.”
Princeton has some of the same skill position personnel as a year ago, but getting them all on the field at once hasn’t happened often enough.
”In some ways, we’re relatively healthy,” Surace said. “But our top five or six offensive players, the last four games we’ve been really compromised with five of those six guys missing significant action. We’ve had to adjust a little offensively.
”As I’m putting together our travel roster, we have a lot of depth. It’s hard to get down to 62 guys. From 45-90, we’re really deep. We’ve just been down some top end guys. You’d love to have your top end guys be healthy.”
Without some of their A list players, the Tigers haven’t scored on as many big plays as a year ago. They have had to sustain drives and slowly edge away from opponents.
”If we can keep grinding out 3- and 4-yard gains, making good decisions, not having penalties, maybe that’s the style we are now,” Surace said. “Maybe that fits us better. Maybe we’re grinding out wins. If it’s not pretty, we have to just score more points than our opponent and find a way.”
Yale presents a special challenge because of its offense. Last Saturday was the third time in four games in which the Bulldogs have scored 43 or more points in a win. Six times this year, they have at least 43 points.
”Instead of saying, take away one thing, we have to be really great with responsibilities,” Surace said. “The second you’re out of your gap, their running back will go for a long gain. The second you take your eyes off the quarterback, he will throw it down the field.
”The other step is executing and tackling and making plays. It’s not easy. These are all guys that are All-Ivy, All-American type guys.”
The Princeton defense has gotten stingier since allowing 49 points in the loss to Harvard. The Tigers have been tested all year, mostly through the air.
”Brown threw it 71 times, Penn threw it 62 times, Cornell threw it over 50,” Surace said. “We’re seeing a lot of pass happy offenses. On the whole we’ve played better. We haven’t played anybody this good offensively. It’s the most complete offense I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
The Tigers will need its offense to have its best day, and its defense to control and slow down Yale. Surace is hoping Princeton also has a say in the third side of the ball.
”If we have a successful day on special teams, that will help,” Surace said. “And we need to make sure we get points if we’re down in the red zone or near the red zone.”
Princeton scored 59 points in its win over Yale last year. If it can manage half of that output, it will be a good starting point in trying to push itself into position for another share of an Ivy League title with one game to go.
”Our focus has to be on Yale,” Surace said. “You watch the film and just like other weeks, you have to have respect for them. When we don’t play at our best or near our best, we saw the score got ugly a couple weeks ago.
”We have to keep the focus. That was the main thing. If we focus primarily on us, that will at least take care of what we can control and our preparation and everything else. We’re going to be in some really good football games.”