SPECIAL EFFORT: Princeton University kicker Nolan Bieck boots the ball in recent action. Last Saturday, junior Bieck hit three field goals, including a career-long 46-yarder, to help Princeton top Penn 22-17. Bieck was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance as the Tigers improved to 5-3 overall and 4-1 Ivy. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

As the calendar headed into the second week of November, it was Survival Saturday around the world of college football.

On the national scene, there were four top-20 clashes that had directly impacted the race to make the final four in the inaugural season of the College Football Playoff.

Closer to home, the Princeton University football team was playing to stay alive in the Ivy League when it hosted Penn as the Tigers were locked in a three-way tie for second in the league standings with Dartmouth and Yale, one game behind undefeated frontrunner Harvard.

While it wasn’t a thing of beauty, Princeton kept pace atop the Ivies as it pounded out a 22-17 win over the Quakers before a crowd of 9,486 at Princeton Stadium.

The win left Princeton at 5-3 overall and 4-1 Ivy as the Tigers remained tied with Yale and Dartmouth for second with Harvard still one game in front.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace, for his part, saw beauty in winning ugly. “We played with such great heart and how we finished that game with a stop on defense and running out the clock is how we had to play today,” said Surace.

“I just loved how physical we played, we finished things terrifically on both sides of the ball. We came up with some huge stops on defense as they got inside the 50 a number of times throughout the day. Offensively, we just continue to finish runs.”

Senior quarterback and co-captain Quinn Epperly, who ran for one touchdown and passed for another, liked the grit displayed by the Tigers.

“We want to score more than we did tonight,” said Epperly. “I think the games that you grind out, that are tough, physical games, almost taste a little better to you. You are proud that everyone manned up and at the end of the day, got done what we needed to do. That was a good win.”

It was good for Epperly to get back in action after having been sidelined due to injury for two of Princeton’s last three games.

“I try to come out and practice every day I can, regardless of what is going on with my body,” said Epperly.

“It is extremely important to me and especially to the seniors. We have put so much work into it. The only thing we are striving for right now is to come out next week and get another win.”

Junior DiAndre Atwater made a nice return from a three-game hiatus due to injury, rushing for a game-high 98 yards.

“It was a great feeling, I miss being out there with the guys,” said Atwater. “Just going out there everyday, I saw how hard they were working. I knew I wanted to get back out there with them and I wanted to contribute today.”

On the other side of the ball, sophomore defensive back Dorian Williams made a big contribution, returning a recovered fumble for 85 yards, getting an interception, and making a career-high 13 tackles.

“My job on the play is to stay outside contain; I saw the fumble so I bit on it,” said Williams, recalling his fumble return which gave Princeton the ball at the Penn 9 and set up a field goal.

“I am not sure who made the tackle but coach [Jim Salgado] stresses scoop and score so I just got it. I had blockers in front of me so I just ran with it.”

In the first half, Princeton ran out to an early 6-0 lead, courtesy of two field goals by junior kicker Nolan Bieck. He hit a career-long 46-yarder to put the Tigers up 3-0 with 10:40 left in the first quarter. He added a 21-yard boot two minutes later.

Epperly doubled the Princeton advantage to 12-0 as he scored on a one-yard plunge with 5:33 left in the quarter. Penn responded with a five-yard TD pass from Alek Torgersen to Connor Scott to make it a 12-7 game.

Princeton regained its 12-point cushion when Epperly found Connor Kelley on a one-yard TD pass as the Tigers went up 19-7. Penn added a field goal in the waning seconds of the quarter to narrow the gap to 19-10 at halftime.

The only scoring in the third quarter came on a  22-yard scoring strike from Torgersen to Justin Watson as the Quakers pulled to within 19-17.

Early in the fourth quarter, Bieck, who was later named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week, hit a 20-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 22-17 lead.

The Quakers responded by marching to the Princeton 27 where they were stopped on downs. The Tigers took over with 5:23 remaining and were able to run out the clock. The big play on the possession came when senior running back Will Powers bulled eight yards for a first down on a third and four at the Penn 47.

Powers, for his part, gave his all to gut out the first down. “The line got a good push and there was one guy in the hole and I knew we needed four or five yards,” said Powers.

“I just did what I had to do to get the first. I broke off the guy to get a few more yards.”

In Surace’s view, Powers’ effort exemplified the team’s battling spirit. “I think our team is a little more of an ugly team right now, we have to win that way where we are fighting each play,” said Surace.

“We want to score every drive. There is no doubt in my mind when we start a drive, that is the emphasis on offense. But the way we are doing it, we are struggling to get the explosive plays. We need to get those ugly first downs and keep the drives going. I thought we played the game the way we needed to.”

While Epperly likes the way Princeton has bounced back in winning two straight games since its 49-7 loss to Harvard on October 25, he believes the team’s ultimate legacy will be determined by how it does in its last two games as it plays at Yale on November 15 before hosting Dartmouth on November 22.

“We’ll see how we come out and finish the season and I think that will show how well we recovered,” said Epperly.

“When you go back and look at this year, these next two games are going to be a lot of how this season goes down in the books.”