FAST START: Princeton University football player Dre Nelson speeds upfield in a 2014 game. Last Saturday, senior running back Nelson rushed for 116 yards on eight carries with one touchdown to help Princeton roll to a 40-7 win at Lafayette in its season opener. It was the Tigers’ first opening day win since 2006 when it edged Lehigh 14-10. Princeton hosts Lehigh (2-1) on September 26. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Locked in a scoreless tie at Lafayette after the first quarter last Saturday, it looked like the Princeton University football team could be facing another rocky opening night as it kicked off its 2015 campaign.

Having lost eight straight openers, Princeton has struggled coming out of the gate, fighting an uphill battle as it takes on teams like Lafayette, who had two games under its belt.

But in the second quarter, Princeton exploded for 23 unanswered points and never looked back on the way to a 40-7 rout of the Leopards before 9,173 at Fisher Field in Easton, Pa.

For Princeton head coach Bob Surace, the game film from the win Saturday made for pleasant viewing.

“You give a message before every game and my message was that tomorrow we are going to come in and watch this video and the thing we can control is our effort,” said Surace, whose team outgained Lafayette 573 yards to 278.

“I said let’s have great technique, great assignments, let’s come in and watch 11 guys make a great effort on every play. I just got done watching it and I was really encouraged for us to sustain an effort like we did.”

The Tigers sent a message with a dominant rushing attack that saw Dre Nelson run for 116 yards on eight carries, DiAndre Atwater gain 93 yards on 14 carries, and Joe Rhattigan chip in 66 yards on nine attempts as Princeton rumbled for 308 yards on the ground.

“They were terrific between the tackles, finishing runs,” said Surace, referring to seniors Nelson and Atwater.

“I thought we did a really good job with space, that was a really rock solid job by our backs, our line, and our receivers with the way they blocked. There were some really good blocks down the field.”

Princeton got a really good debut from junior quarterback Chad Kanoff, as he competed 20-of-31 passes for 256 yards and one touchdown in his first career start.

“Chad threw it really accurately but like anything else in 70 plays over the first three quarters, there are a few that you want to take back,” said Surace.

“He will learn from the experience. He is really poised and he managed the pocket well. His reads and decisions were good. His ball handling was good, he finishes fakes. He has a really good way about him. He is going to learn the longer he plays that sometimes an incompletion is a good play. I saw him do that once and there were probably two or three other times where he forced it. He had a really good game.”

Sophomore back-up QB John Lovett proved to be a force in goal-line situations, throwing for one touchdown and running for another.

“John is one of those guys we can utilize in so many ways, there will be games where maybe he doesn’t score but he will have more yards,” added Surace.

“He is just such a good athlete and does so many things so well. We throw it to him in the flat and he runs guys over. On one play, he is blocking their 260 pound defensive end like he was an offensive lineman. Those things are enjoyable to see, it really inspires the team.”

The Tiger defense played some inspired football, holding the Leopards to 58 yards rushing and not yielding any points until Lafayette tacked on a fourth quarter TD long after the game was decided.

“I felt we really tackled well, we pursued the ball well,” said Surace, who got a team-high seven tackles from junior linebacker R.J. Paige with sophomore defensive lineman Kurt Holuba getting six stops and a sack.

“I liked our coverage in the secondary. Guys like Anthony Gaffney and Khamal Brown were really looking forward to rebounding this year. They played extremely well and that was encouraging.”

Surace was also encouraged by Princeton’s sharpness in the kicking game,

“I thought our special teams did well, we had only one punt for 53 yards,” added Surace.

“Nolan Bieck’s kickoffs were terrific, he crushed those field goals. Max Lescano did a really good job of punt retuning, he averaged over 11 yards a return and he had one that went for a touchdown called back on a borderline call. Dre almost had a touchdown on a kickoff return, he went in instead of out.”

While Princeton did a terrific job in all phases against Lafayette, Surace knows that his squad can’t rest on its laurels.

“This is the week that we have to make a big jump,” said Surace. “The people on the outside all see the scoreboard. The coaches and the guys in the room, we need to see the process and the errors that we made. We have got to celebrate the effort and we will celebrate that but we also have to point out that if we don’t change some of our bad habits, it is going to come back and haunt us. The league and the teams we play are just too good.”

Princeton will be facing a very good team this Saturday as it hosts Lehigh (2-1), which is coming off a 42-21 win over Penn.

“We have faced them four times since I have been here and every year, they are a well coached team,” said Surace.

“They play hard, they have terrific players. They scored a lot of points against Penn but they had a good defensive effort as well. It was an all-around good win for them. We know that just because we played well against Lafayette doesn’t mean that we have the greatest team ever.”