MURPHY’S LAW: Princeton University football player Dareion Murphy takes a handoff in a game earlier this season. Last Saturday, junior running back Murphy rushed for 21 yards as Princeton fell 45-13 to Harvard. The Tigers, now 2-4 overall and 1-2 Ivy League, host Cornell (2-4 overall, 1-2 Ivy) on November 2. (Photo by Steven Wojtowicz)

By Bill Alden

In its six contests against archrival Harvard between 2017-23, the Princeton University football team went undefeated, outscoring the Crimson by an average of 31.2-17 in those matchups.

As Princeton headed up to New England for its clash at Harvard on Saturday, Tiger head coach Bob Surace was cautiously optimistic that the winning streak would continue.

“Harvard gives you a lot of issues, they have really good players on offense,” said Surace. “I got on the bus Friday feeling good about things. Our guys had practiced hard.”

But it turned out to be a hard afternoon for the Tigers as Harvard jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and never looked back on the way to a 45-13 win before a crowd of 12,244 at Harvard Stadium.

“One of the guys on TV asked me about not having lost to Harvard since November 2016 and I said some of it is we played well and they didn’t and some of it is we got a few breaks,” said Surace, whose team dropped to 2-4 overall and 1-2 Ivy League. “It was just one of those days where not only did they play great, I felt like every bounce went their way. It was tough.”

Still with Princeton trailing 24-13 heading in the fourth quarter, Surace believed that the Tigers could rally. “It is a near even game statistically in time of possession, yards, turnover battle; I thought we are starting to take control of this game,” said Surace. “We have a third and medium and we have free blitzer and we just don’t wrap up well enough. Credit their quarterback (Jaden Craig) for breaking out of it and making a play. Then there is a fourth and five and we execute a great disguise. We have got 10 guys doing really well and a mistake kills us. He breaks out, gets a first down and they score and that makes it 31-13.”

The roof fell in from there for Princeton as the Crimson added 14 unanswered points to turn the game into a rout.

“We are just not doing a great job of being consistent in all four losses,” said Surace, whose team was outgained 492 yards to 223 by the Crimson. “When we get down, we kind of self-destruct in ways. We have to be better organized in what we are calling. I feel like we start squeezing the ball hard. We are not executing as well as we can. We took a really even game and the last 20 minutes were tough.”

The late collapses have become an unfortunate trend for the Tigers.

“I have to fix whatever is going on, I don’t think it is physical fatigue,” said Surace. “Maybe there is some mental fatigue. It is the last 20 minutes in four games that we have lost our way. I have got to figure it out because it is not acceptable to have that mental lapse where we are just enough off. It is not like we are a lot off but we are enough off where we are not playing as well as we can.”

With Princeton hosting a Cornell (2-4 overall, 1-2 Ivy) squad that features star quarterback Jameson Wang this Saturday, the Tigers will need to play very well to earn a victory over the Big Red.

“They spread you out; they have a good coach in Dan Swanstrom, he came from Penn and they do a lot of really good stuff that Penn did in their offensive package,” said Surace. “Wang is a tremendous player, they have other good players too. They have done really well offensively. Defensively they give you the kitchen sink, they throw a lot of different looks. We have to be really good with our play to play.”

Having gone 2-0 this year at Princeton Stadium, the Tigers have three of their last four games at home which may make a difference down the stretch.

“The league has got a lot of parity,” said Surace. “The Brown game was a near even game (a 29-17 win for Princeton on October 5). We made a few more plays. The Harvard game, you start the fourth quarter and we are down 11. We should be able to get the ball back and they make some really good play and they extend it. That is the way the league is, everybody is really tight.”

In his postgame message last Saturday, Surace implored his players to keep the faith.

“I told them it is like writing a book, there are 10 chapters,” said Surace. “You get the chance to write your story and finish it in the way we want to.”