Princeton Tigers Take on Cornell in Crucial Ivy League Showdown

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By Craig Sachson
PrincetonTigersFootball.com

Five minutes remained in their Homecoming showdown with Harvard last weekend, and the Princeton Tigers stared at two different paths for the rest of their season.

Harvard, which rallied for two touchdowns to even the score at 14-14, had the ball and threatened to all but knock Princeton out of the Ivy League title race. The Tigers needed their best five minutes of the season to avoid that fate, and put together the following sequence:
• force a Crimson punt inside its own 20.
• complete a third-and-9 pass to get inside the red zone
• complete a third-and-5 pass for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:21 remaining
• intercept Harvard on the final drive to secure the win

Princeton chose the path of Ivy League chaos, and it will take its first step Saturday at 1 pm in a first-place showdown against Cornell at Schoellkopf Field (ESPN+). Five teams enter the weekend tied atop the Ivy League standings, and two are assured of being there by the end of the weekend (the winners of Princeton-Cornell and Harvard-Dartmouth). Seven teams could be within one game of each other by the end of the weekend, which would set up the wildest Ivy November in recent history.

November is far from Princeton’s mind, of course. An upstart Cornell team, which routed Brown last weekend to grab a share of first place, is seeking its first Ivy League title since 1990. The Big Red announced itself as a contender with an early-season win at preseason favorite Yale, and they limited Brown to less than 300 yards in the 36-14 win last weekend. The Big Red will enter the weekend both hungry and confident.

Of course, Princeton will do the same. Beating a nationally ranked Harvard team will spark a renewed confidence following three narrow losses in four games. There remains little margin for error, but at least they are in position to have that margin.

There is no better position to be in.

WEEK 7 NOTES

History Lesson • Princeton leads the all-time series with Cornell 65-37-2, and it has won eight of the last nine meetings, including a 35-9 home win last season. Blake Stenstrom threw for two touchdowns and rushed for a third in that game, while Liam Johnson ended the scoring with an 89-yard interception return for a touchdown.

First and Five • Five teams (Princeton, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and Penn) all enter the fourth week of the Ivy League season with matching 2-1 records. Princeton has already beaten Harvard, and will play the remaining three teams over the final four weeks of the season.

Totally Defensive • Princeton leads all of FCS football in total defense this season, allowing only 257.5 yards per game this season. Merrimack ranks second with 258.3 yards allowed, while William & Mary is third (264.4).

Four (No) Score • Princeton also has one of the nation’s top-ranked scoring defenses. The Tigers rank fourth in the FCS, allowing only 14.83 points per game this season. Columbia leads the nation with a 12.3 points per game average. As you might expect, those two teams played a low-scoring game in their 2023 meeting, a 10-7 Princeton win on a rainy Friday night.

Wizard of Oz • Senior co-captain Ozzie Nicholas leads the Ivy League with 63 tackles this season, and he has had double-digit tackle performances in each of the last five games. He is also the only player in the Ivy League Top 25 in tackles to have at least three sacks this season (3.5); only two other players have as many as two.

Johnson & Johnson • Fellow senior co-captain Liam Johnson, the youngest of three Johnson brothers who have captained Princeton football teams, is the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. He ranks fifth in the Ivy League in tackles (48), and he had eight stops and an 89-yard interception return for a touchdown in Princeton’s win over Cornell last season.

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way • Senior Will Perez, who also ranks in the Ivy League Top 25 in tackles this season, clinched Princeton’s win over Harvard last weekend with a game-ending interception with 41 seconds remaining.

Grounded • Princeton has the top-ranked run defense in FCS football, allowing only 2.2 yards per rush and 72.2 rushing yards per game.

Throwing It Around • Senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom had his best game of the 2023 season last weekend when he threw for 244 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in the 21-14 win over Harvard.

Go Fourth • Blake Stenstrom became the seventh quarterback in Princeton history to surpass the 4,000-yard passing mark in his career last weekend, and he has a chance to jump into fourth place on the Tigers all-time passing list this weekend.

Place-Player-Career Yards (What Stenstrom needs to tie)
3rd-Matthew says-5202 (1,108)
4th-Jason Garrett-4274 (180)
5th-Jeff Terrell-4166 (72)
6th-Blake Stenstrom-4094
7th-Tommy Wornham-4012

Catching On • Replacing the NFL-bound Andrei Iosivas and Dylan Classi was never going to be an easy task, but receivers AJ Barber and Luke Colella are making an impact this season. Barber ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 419 receiving yards, and he caught a touchdown pass just before halftime in the Harvard win last weekend. Colella ranks sixth in the Ivy League with 28 receptions, and he had one of the biggest catches of the season last weekend, an 18-yard grab on 3rd-and-9 on Princeton’s game-winning drive.

Fast Carr • Junior tailback Jiggie Carr has rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns in Princeton’s last two games. He opened the scoring against Harvard with a 34-yard touchdown run, and he added a 51-yard run the previous week against Brown.

Making A Memory • Tight end Connor Hulstein had two career catches entering the final drive at Harvard last weekend. His third career grab is one he will never forget, a 10-yard touchdown catch on third down to provide the winning margin over Harvard.

Coming Up Next • Princeton will head to Hanover, N.H., on Friday, Nov. 3, for a 7 pm showdown at Dartmouth on ESPNU. The Tigers will be looking for their first win at Dartmouth since 2009.

2023-10-27 14:07:27
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