FAST CARR: Princeton University running back Jiggie Carr, right, looks for daylight in a 2022 game. Last Saturday at Brown, junior Carr rushed for 88 yards in 13 carries, including a 53-yard TD run, but it wasn’t enough as Princeton fell 28-27 in overtime to the Bears. The Tigers, now 2-3 overall and 1-1 Ivy League, host No. 17 Harvard (5-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy) on October 21. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Parity has been the story of the Ivy League football so far this season. Of the eight Ivy games played in 2023, seven have been decided by one score.

Two weeks ago, Princeton was on the right side of that trend, edging Columbia 10-7. Last Saturday, though, the Tigers came up short in latest league nail-biter, falling 28-27 in overtime at Brown, moving to 2-3 overall and 1-1 Ivy.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace knows that his squad has to be more precise to thrive in a league where things are on a razor’s edge.

“We miss a third and one when we miss an assignment; they have fourth and one and they get it by six inches,” said Surace. “The margin for error is that we have three more inches more push and we are celebrating. This is a league filled with parity. I feel like every week we are playing a better team and part if it is that those teams that are growing. We get Brown in week five and they are a better team than they were in week one or two.”

For much of the afternoon, it looked like the Tigers were destined to get the better of the Bears as they built a 14-point lead heading into the fourth quarter. Princeton got on the board with a 53-yard touchdown jaunt by Jiggie Carr late in the first quarter to tie Brown 7-7. Minutes later, the Tigers went ahead 14-7 on a 45-yard TD pass from Blake Stenstrom to AJ Barber. The Tigers increased their lead to 21-7 late in the third quarter on a one-yard TD run by John Volker.

But the Bears, coached by former Tiger offensive coordinator James Perry, battled back. Early in the fourth quarter, they narrowed the gap to 21-14 on a one-yard TD run by Stockton Owen. In the last minute of regulation, they knotted the game on a juggling catch by Mark Mahoney that resulted in a 50-yard touchdown pass and forced overtime.

In the first possession of OT, the Tigers scored on a 21-yard TD pass from Stenstrom to tight end Tyler Picinic to go up 27-21 but the extra point was blocked. Seizing opportunity, Brown converted a fourth and one on their possession and went on to score on a TD reception by Graham Walker and then converted the point after to prevail 28-27 and snap a six-game losing streak against Princeton.

The early heroics by Carr and Barber were encouraging to Surace. “We have more explosive runs right now though the first five games this year,” said Surace. “We are getting more explosive plays there. We have to be a little more consistent play to play in the run game. Our running backs are running hard. That was a tremendous effort by Jiggie. AJ has been rock solid, he had a good year last year. With some of the weather we have had, we weren’t able to get him the ball as much in those early games. It has cleared up a little bit that past few weeks.”

Forcing three turnovers on two interceptions and a fumble recovery was another positive on a tough afternoon.

“Our guys work so hard and drill this into their heads,” said Surace who got interceptions from Liam Johnson and Jackson Fischer with Evan Haynie making the fumble recovery. “That is one of the top offenses in the country. I felt we had a really good plan We executed a lot of things in the plan very well. One interception was doing a good job of putting the quarterback under duress getting him to throw on a read he might want back. The other one we got in a tip, just flying to the ball. That is how those things happen sometimes when you are running and doing that against a really good offense. That was really good to see.”

Overall, Surace saw some good things from the Tigers. “You watch the film and even in the second half, 80 percent of it is encouraging,” said Surace. “It is the key moments. We have a short yardage and there are a few minutes to go in the game and if we get that first down it is going to leave them without timeouts or you end the game with another first down. That has kind of been what has happened; we stub our toe and we are not good enough to overcome some of these things.”

Despite having lost two straight games, the Princeton players are not hanging their heads.

“I think our attitude has been terrific coming off a tough loss (12-9 to Lafayette on October 7), it is a tough pill to swallow,” said Surace. “Our seniors have been amazing leadership-wise.
We only have 17 seniors, three are walk-ons, and only 11 were healthy Saturday. We traveled 17 freshmen to put it in perspective. With the freshmen we have to keep building. I said it earlier in the year, it is a junior-senior league and we are trying to do some things that haven’t been done. Hopefully a couple of the guys will come off the injury list soon. We are not that far off but we are far enough off that we are making mistakes that hurt us.”

With Princeton hosting No. 17 Harvard (5-0 overall, 2-0 Ivy) this Saturday, the Tigers will need to cut down on mistakes to overcome the high-powered Crimson who have been sparked by dual-threat quarterback Charles DePrima.

“They have speed and explosion, they have a terrific O-line,” said Surace. “Having played them so many times, he is certainly the fastest quarterback I can recall. They have receivers who just challenge you with the width of the field and down the field. He is hitting those receivers down the field. He has played terrific football. You give them a small window and it is off to the races. Defensively, they are strong. Their line is always good and this is another great line. They are just a faster team. They are faster on the back end, they are just rallying to things. They have always been physical and they have always been strong on both sides of the line.”

Attention to detail will be an emphasis this week as the Tigers gird for Harvard.

“We had 13 series on Saturday, we didn’t have a negative play and scored touchdowns on four of them,” said Surace. “We had two series where we punted and didn’t have a negative play but we had seven series where whether it was a penalty or a loss of yardage, there were negative plays. We just weren’t efficient, we have to be rock solid. The best teams don’t go penalty free, the best teams don’t have zero negative plays. You can’t have the number of negative plays that we have against that type of team. Some of it is experience and some of it is things we have to clean up.”