Tigers win big, top Ivy League standings

After being named the Sports Network FCS National Offensive Player of the Week and Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week following his record-breaking performance in Princeton’s triple-overtime 51-48 win over Harvard last weekend, junior quarterback Quinn Epperly continued to break records. Epperly completed 29 consecutive passes to start Princeton’s 53-20 victory over Cornell on Saturday, setting a new FCS record. With this win and Penn’s loss to Brown, the Tigers (6-1 overall, 4-0 Ivy League) now stand alone atop the Ivy League standings.

The previous record had been held by Richie Williams of Appalachian State, who threw 28 consecutive passes in 2004. Epperly completed a shovel pass to sophomore running back DiAndre Atwater to tie the record midway through the third quarter, and then he completed an eight-yard pass to junior receiver Seth DeValve on the next play to cement his name alone atop the record books. When his streak was stopped four plays later with an incompletion to DeValve, he had completed 31 straight passes in total, including the final two from last week’s game at Harvard (6-1, 3-1).

“I didn’t even know we didn’t have an incompletion, to be honest,” Epperly said. “And then they said it over the loudspeaker in the middle of a drive, and I was like, ‘All right, I can’t think about this; we got to get a score here.’ ”

Epperly was a perfect 18 for 18 in the first half, with one passing touchdown and three rushing, leading the Tigers into the locker room at halftime with a 29-13 lead. With his 18th passing touchdown of the season, he moved one ahead of 2006 Bushnell Cup recipient Jeff Terrell ’06 and into second place on Princeton’s all-time list.

“Most of the plays have options for him,” head Coach Bob Surace ’90 said. “One of the things so amazing about him is that he’s just so efficient, such a great decision maker. He doesn’t get greedy.”

Sophomore tailback Dre Nelson added to Epperly’s 69 rushing yards with 55 of his own. Freshman tailback Joe Rhattigan saw time and scored his first career touchdown, and junior receiver Roman Wilson caught two Epperly passes for touchdowns.

Epperly was not the quarterback expected to be on show during the game. The NFL scouts in Princeton Stadium Saturday were there to see the quarterback on the other side of the ball, Cornell’s Jeff Mathews, as well as Princeton’s senior defensive lineman Caraun Reid.

Reid intercepted Mathews on the first drive of the day off a tip by freshman defensive back Dorian Williams, and the Tiger defense was able to hold the Big Red offense to just 292 total yards, well below the 376.4 yards they had been averaging this season. Mathews was sacked seven times.

“I think we really got after them up front today, put on great pressure and made him uncomfortable,” senior defensive lineman Matt Landry said.

Freshman defensive lineman Tyler Desire led the team with two sacks for 14 yards, while Landry and senior defensive back Elijah Mitchell added 1.5 sacks apiece. Sophomore defensive back Matt Arends led the defense with 10 tackles.

Since they lost the first game of the season to Lehigh, the Tigers have scored over 40 points in every game except for the Brown game, in which they scored 39 points. The Tigers had not scored over 40 points in five games since 1907.

The Tigers face Penn (4-3, 3-1) on Saturday at 12 p.m. in Philadelphia and now control their own destiny — winning out would guarantee them the Ivy League title.