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Princeton Football Thrashed 30-3 by Colgate As It Hits 0-4 for 1st Time In Its Proud History
By Bill Alden
With the Princeton University football team struggling badly last Saturday in the second half against Colgate, tempers started to flare in the coaches' box high above the field.
One of the Tiger assistants bellowed so loudly about a botched offensive formation that he drew glances from curious fans in a nearby section. Minutes later, another coach hollered "tackle, tackle," as Colgate running back Jamaal Branch barrelled through Princeton defenders.
By the end of the 30-3 pasting at the hands of the Raiders before a crowd of 14,096 at a sunsplashed Princeton Stadium, the coaches were rendered speechless as the Tigers fell to 0-4 for the first time in the proud history of the program which started college football with its 1869 game against Rutgers.
Princeton head coach Roger Hughes didn't mince words as he gave his initial impressions of the afternoon. "What you witnessed there fellas was an old-fashioned butt-whipping," said Hughes, whose record at Princeton fell to 12-21 with the defeat.
"I thought that they beat us in every phase of the game. Offensively, I thought our execution was poor. We had some dropped passes and missed reads up front, one of the linemen blocked the wrong way on protection. We have to be more disciplined in those situations."
The game's final statistics certainly supported Hughes' analysis. Colgate, which came into the game ranked No. 17 nationally among 1-AA teams and riding an 11-game winning streak, rolled up 421 yards of total offense compared to the 231 picked up by the Tigers.
Branch nearly outgained Princeton on his own as he rushed for 191 yards on 31 carries and three touchdowns and caught one pass for 14 yards. The Raiders, whose last loss came when they fell 14-10 to Princeton last October, had a decided edge in first downs (21-13) and time of possession (34:08-25:52).
The Tigers trailed 20-3 at the half and never went beyond the Colgate 21 in the second half as they were outscored 10-0 over the final 30 minutes.
One of the few bright spots of the afternoon for Princeton was the fact that it forced four turnovers in the second quarter after having only picked up one takeaway in the first three games. But even that progress resulted in frustration as the Tigers could only score three points on the turnovers.
"We had momentum, we had the ball in their side of the field," said Hughes, referring to the second quarter. "To come away with no points in three of those turnovers hurt. The compounding of those things certainly had an effect."
Hughes acknowledged that his team is fighting to keep from getting discouraged. "I think confidence is a big thing," asserted Hughes. "As you get confident in what you're doing, you expect good things to happen. We're confident in what we're doing but we're not doing it enough of the time in crucial situations."
Sophomore linebacker Justin Stull, who contributed an interception and fumble recovery to the Tigers' collection of turnovers, maintained that the team hasn't lost faith. "I don't think the team lacks confidence," said the 6'1, 225-pound Stull, who has been the team's leading tackler from game one.
"We're taking steps every single week. It's just that we need to stay consistent throughout the entire game. At key points in the game, we're making mental errors."
Stull vowed that the team wouldn't go through the motions the rest of the way. "We've got six games left and we're going to play hard every game," asserted Stull with his voice rising. "The game plan hasn't changed, we're planning to come out and win. Just like everyone else, I need to get better. I'm working on that every practice, every game. I'm doing whatever I can to get better."
As the Tigers look forward to their trip this Saturday to Brown (1-3, 0-1 Ivy) , Hughes thinks there is time to salvage things this fall.
"At some point in time, I believe this team is going to be a pretty good team," said Hughes, who noted that the players have been spending their free time watching additional game film in an effort to right things.
"We're hanging together, we're circling the wagons. You have to stay positive. As I told them afterwards, we're going into the second half of the season and you have to believe that good things are going to happen for you. If you work hard and persist, good things are going to happen."
But if good things don't start happening soon, the Tigers could produce the kind of negative benchmarks that will result in its coaches continuing to see red.
