BREAKING OUT: Princeton University football player AJ Barber races upfield last Saturday as Princeton hosted Lafayette. Junior receiver Barber made seven receptions for a career-high 156 yards against the Leopards but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers fell 12-9. Princeton, now 2-2 overall and 1-0 Ivy League, starts its Ivy stretch drive by playing at Brown (2-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy) on October 14. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

AJ Barber got an inspirational message from a gridiron legend before he took the field for the Princeton University football against visiting Lafayette last Saturday.

Barber, the son of former NFL All-Pro and New York Giants star running back Tiki Barber, heard from his father as usual.

“Every single game he texts me saying good luck, I love you and I really appreciate that,” said junior receiver Barber. “I know he believes in me.”

Barber justified that belief against Lafayette, producing a career game, making seven receptions for a personal-best 156 yards in a losing cause as the Tigers fell 12-9 to the Leopards before a crowd of 4,059 at Princeton Stadium.

In reflecting on his big day, Barber attributed it to luck. “We put an emphasis on the pass this week; I could have been any number of seven guys in our room, I just happened to be the guy today,” said the 5’9, 180-pound Barber, who matched his career-high in single-game receptions as the Tigers moved to 2-2.

“There are seven people who could have had the same exact day that I did. I would say that any one of us could be the X receiver on this offense, everyone has an equal role. I just happened to get lucky today.”

Barber, though, was clearly first among equals on Saturday. On Princeton’s first possession, he gathered in a Blake Stenstrom pass for a 43-yard reception to set up 29-yard field goal by Jeffrey Sexton as the Tigers knotted the game at 3-3. Later in the quarter, Barber got loose for a 57-yard catch that got the Tigers to the Lafayette 11-yard line to set up an 11-yard TD pass from Stenstrom to Luke Colella as Princeton took a 9-3 lead.

With Princeton tailing 10-9 early in the fourth quarter, Barber made a 30-yard
reception as the Tigers advanced to the Lafayette 41 but ended up having to punt. On the next Princeton possession, Barber made a 5-yard grab to help the Tigers to get in position for a 37-yard field goal attempt which Sexton missed. Princeton didn’t get back into Lafayette territory after that and the Leopards sacked Stenstrom in the end zone for a safety to get the final margin of 12-9.

“Lafayette is a great team, probably one of the better defenses we will play all year — there is a lot to take away from this game,” said Barber of the Leopards, who improved to 5-1. “We are going to fix what we didn’t do well today. It is the little things. We are not as precise as we should have been in the red zone. It is something that we have to put an emphasis on in practices.”

Barber has emphasized developing a connection with quarterback Stenstrom.

“With the way we practice, we throw the ball a lot, Blake’s connection with me and the rest of the receivers is coming up,” said Barber. “I think that showed today with 310 yards passing.”

With Princeton having gone 35-5 over the last four seasons coming into this fall, the 2-2 start is a bit of a comeuppance for the proud program.

“It is a little depressing being 2-2, but we know that everything that happened on that field is very fixable so we are looking ahead,” said Barber. “We are not going to dwell on the two losses this year, we are going keep looking forward. We are excited for Ivy League play.”

Princeton head coach Bob Surace saw positives despite the disappointing result.

“Every year is new, I told the guys that is a really good team,” said Surace. “They were down 14-7 to Duke with a minute to go in the second quarter and they have pretty much blown everybody else out. To watch the play by play, it is so encouraging. We are doing so many good things and we just got some self-inflicted wounds, penalties that really hurt us, and a couple of special teams mistakes.”

Going back to the last two contests of 2022, the Tigers have found themselves in a series of nail-biters.

“The last six games have been really nip and tuck, tight games,” said Surace. “The games where we have been a little bit tighter with what we are doing with less mistakes we come out in top. We saw it Friday night last week (a 10-7 win over Columbia). Games where we are not, you are holding your breath. It shouldn’t come down to luck, it shouldn’t come down to one play. They are a really good team and that is probably the best game we have played. That is encouraging. It is discouraging that we didn’t get the outcome. We are shooting ourselves in the foot just a little bit.”

Surace was encouraged by the play of Barber on Saturday. “I feel like it has been receiver by committee, it has been different guys who have had a little bit of a breakout,” said Surace of Barber, who now has 15 catches for 240 yards this season and has returned 10 punts for 67 yards. “It was really fun to see him get the ball in space. You see him on returns, he does such a good job.”

The Tiger defense did a very good job Saturday, holding Lafayette to 265 yards total offense but did fail to force any turnovers.

“It is crazy how well our defense is playing, we are doing everything right but one thing,” said Surace. “We can talk about it, we can practice it, but until we get the ball back, the field position has been really tough. We are playing uphill on some field position. I know they are working at it. We are punching it out, I thought we had one on the quarterback sack. They looked at and said he was down. We just have to get to the ball more We have four games and zero interceptions. With the pressure that we are getting, that is a hard stat.”

On the other side of the ball, Princeton has piled up yards but not points, having scored just 32 points in its last three games.

“We have got to finish drives, I felt like we have got control,” said Surace. “My wife played soccer here and sometimes you have everything going and the goalie stops the penalty kick or the play. That is what it felt like. We are executing so well and then we stub our toe and they stop us. That is a really,
really good team and a really good defense and they stop us. We get the ball back and we did it again. We have to finish those drives.”

With Princeton heading into the Ivy stretch drive over the next six games starting with a contest at Brown (2-2 overall, 0-1 Ivy) on October 14, the Tigers will have to sharpen up to produce a big finish.

“I feel like the majority of the games have been like this,” said Surace. “We are going to have some happy moments like last week (the win over Columbia). You play 50/50 games and you aren’t going to win them all. So if we don’t clean it up and we can’t get out of own way, it is going to be a tough stretch. We are going to have to because we are only going to play better teams.”

Barber, for his part, will have special inspiration when he takes the field this Saturday.

“I am very motivated for Brown,” said Barber. “My brother (wide receiver Chason) plays on that team, so I will be looking forward to that.”