No. 19 Tigers travel to Dartmouth seeking outright Ivy title

The Dartmouth Big Green is all that stands between the No. 19 football team and its first outright Ivy League championship since 1995.

The Tigers (8-1 overall, 6-0 Ivy League) clinched a share of the title last week with their victory over Yale. Having beaten Harvard, the only team that could tie them at the top of the league, the Tigers will have bragging rights regardless of how the Dartmouth game goes, but junior quarterback Quinn Epperly has made it clear that Princeton wants to go 7-0 in the Ivy League.

“We do not want to share this title in any way or form,” he said after last week’s victory.

Saturday’s game will cap off a season of rebirth for the football program. Over the course of the last nine games, Epperly has gone from essentially a backup quarterback to one of the most prolific players in recent Ivy memory, scoring 40 touchdowns while completing 71.8 percent of his passes and throwing only two interceptions.

But that is not all that has gone the Tigers’ way this season. Head coach Bob Surace ’90 and offensive coordinator James Perry have become known for using creative, often bizarre-looking formations —the most famous of which uses three quarterbacks and was recently featured on ESPN.

“To play in this offense, and to engineer it, is just a dream come true,” Epperly said.

The trip to Dartmouth (5-4, 4-2) will be the last college game for several major offensive contributors. Senior wide receiver Roman Wilson will look to end a remarkable career, during which he has recorded 1,556 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns, on a high note, as will senior tight end Des Smith, who has shown off his hands throughout his final season.

Senior nose tackle Caraun Reid, perhaps Princeton’s most talked-about senior, will also be putting on the Orange and Black for the last time. Reid has recorded only 19 tackles and 3.5 sacks this season, but while his stats are not overwhelming, the pressure he puts on a quarterback often is.

Reid and his classmate, linebacker Phillip Bhaya, who has 62 tackles and three interceptions, will look to have one last hurrah against a Big Green offense, which has, somewhat quietly, put up the second-most yards per game of any Ancient Eight team.

Big Green running back Dominick Pierre has dominated defense this season, rushing for 12 touchdowns and over 100 yards per game. Pierre has gotten the spotlight, but fellow tailback Kyle Bramble has proven himself to be an offensive threat as well, running for 81 yards and a touchdown in last week’s 24-21 win over Brown.

Meanwhile, Dalyn Williams will lead the Big Green under center. Though Williams is not known to put up huge numbers, one little number sticks out —he has thrown only three interceptions all season. Not committing turnovers —which the Big Green has done the least in the league —will be key for the team, as many a Princeton opponent has seen a close game become a blowout after coughing up the ball during a crucial drive.

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The Big Green has a chance to play spoiler —of sorts —again this year, as it did last year, when Princeton beat Harvard and Yale but dropped its season finale to Dartmouth. As the school prepares for a second-straight bonfire, the Tigers said their focus is on beating Dartmouth and earning the title outright.

“There’s many ways you can win it clean,” Surace said, referring to the fact that a Harvard loss to Yale would make Princeton the outright champion regardless of the outcome in Hanover. “I want us to play our best game.”

“We were prepared last year,” he added. “We just didn’t win.”

For the seniors, a win would be the perfect way to top off a career that started with consecutive 1-9 seasons.

“We came to this school to win a championship,” Bhaya said.

Whether or not that championship is shared will be determined Saturday. The game kicks off at 1:30 p.m. in front of Dartmouth’s home crowd and any Princetonians who board the alumnus-sponsored buses for the trip up to New Hampshire.