DESIRE TO SUCCEED: Princeton University defensive lineman Ty Desire is wreaking havoc in recent action. Last Saturday, junior defensive end Desire made two tackles as Princeton rolled to a 31-3 win at Yale. The Tigers, now 7-2 overall and 5-1 Ivy League, host Dartmouth (4-5 overall, 1-5 Ivy) on November 19 in its finale. Princeton will be playing for the Ivy title as it is currently locked in a three-way tie for first place in the league standings with Harvard (7-2 overall, 5-1 Ivy) and Penn (6-3 overall, 5-1 Ivy). (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

About 12 hours prior to its game at Yale last Saturday, the Princeton University football team got a major boost in its quest for an Ivy League title.

On Friday evening in Philadelphia, Penn defeated Harvard, handing the Crimson its first loss in league play this season. As a result, the Quakers, Harvard, and Princeton were even in the loss column with one in the three-team fight for the crown.

While Princeton head coach Bob Surace knew that his players would be aware of the good news from Franklin Field, he warned them to take Yale seriously.

“I said when you wake up in the morning, no matter what happened, our focus is on Yale,” said Surace.

“It is 9 at night and you guys might have been huddled in a room having a good time and had that game on but when it is 8 in the morning we have to flip a switch and we have got to be in the proper mindset to play Yale. They are young but they are mature guys and I think they understood the magnitude it is to play against Yale.”

Princeton didn’t waste any time showing its focus, putting together a scoring drive of 82 yards in six plays on its opening possession, taking a 7-0 lead after a 46-yard touchdown jaunt by senior running back A.J. Glass.

“It was terrific to go down the field right away,” said Surace. “That was a really good way to start it off.”

In the second quarter, the Princeton defense took charge and the Tigers capitalized with 10 unanswered points to take a 17-3 lead at halftime.

“Our defense really started playing well; we got some good field positions and some opportunities,” said Surace.

The Tigers cruised from there, rolling to a 31-3 win, improving to 7-2 overall and 5-1 Ivy. Heading into the final week of the season, Princeton is locked in a three-way tie for first place in the Ivy standings with Harvard (7-2 overall, 5-1 Ivy) and Penn (6-3 overall, 5-1 Ivy).

Surace tipped his hat to the Princeton defense, which has been suffocating opponents in the last seven games, yielding just 70 points in that span after giving up 73 points in its first two games.

“I think they were 3-for-17 on third down with a number of sacks and pressures,” said Surace, whose defensive unit forced five sacks and a recovered fumble and limited Yale to 36 yards rushing.

“It wasn’t just the sacks, there were other times where we hurried the throw. That was really instrumental to getting us some good positions.”

As good as the Princeton defense has played recently, Surace sees room for improvement.

“I watched the film, there are plays in there that we are not happy about, somebody is out of gap or didn’t play their responsibility,” noted Surace of the defense which has allowed a total of just 10 points in the last three games.

“When we played Lafayette and Lehigh, there were 75 snaps and there were 25 of those plays. We are getting that number down to single digits, we have got to keep that number low. These offenses are good, they put you on an island on a lot of these plays. You are not going to play perfect but you have to strive for that.”

While the Princeton offense was far from perfect in the win over Yale, it showed good balance, with 157 yards rushing and 175 yards passing. Junior quarterback John Lovett ran for three touchdowns, to move him within one of Keith Elias’s single-season record of 19. Glass rushed for 64 yards with sophomore Charlie Volker gaining 53. Senior quarterback Chad Kanoff passed for 128 yards with Lovett throwing for 47 yards. Sophomore receiver Jesper Horsted had a career game with six catches for 95 yards.

“We wanted to be balanced in a lot of ways,” said Surace. “When you look at Charlie Volker, A.J., and then Ryan Quigley comes in and John Lovett did an exceptional job on all of those short yardage goal line runs. In the pass game, Jesper obviously stood out but there are a number of guys who had some key catches through there. Scott Carpenter had a huge first down that was really important.”

Ending the season by hosting Dartmouth this Saturday with a chance to win its first Ivy title since earning a share of the crown along with Harvard in 2013 is a huge deal for Princeton.

“That is the excitement, you go through this journey, you work as coaches and a support staff but especially the players, who work so hard,” said Surace.

“Nobody sees them at 6 a.m. on a Wednesday morning in the summer working out with Jason Gallucci; nobody else in the world is even up. Everybody sees what happens on Saturdays. You work to get to this opportunity. I remember Gary Walters told me when I got hired that you have to understand how hard it is to win one of these things. That has always stuck in my memory. It is a lot of hard work and a lot of people are part of our team, not just coaches or players.”

While Dartmouth, which tied for the Ivy crown in 2015 along with Harvard and Penn, hasn’t produced a banner season this fall, going 4-5 overall and 1-5 Ivy, Surace knows the Big Green are a dangerous foe.

“This is a team that beat the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and Towson; they have the two best non-league wins in our league this year,” said Surace.

“They have lost some close games in conference and they have won some tough games out of conference. If you have beaten UNH, who is going to the playoffs again this year, you are a good team.”

Over the years, Dartmouth has been a thorn in Princeton’s side and it is the only Ivy team that Surace hasn’t posted a win against in his seven seasons at the helm of the program.

“Since 2010 they have been finding ways to win and outfighting us,” said Surace.

“I need to figure out a way; this is going to be a dogfight. You have to find a way to make enough plays and then we can celebrate.”