Football looks to move to 4-0 in game against Colgate

The Princeton Tigers, 3-0 on the season after wins over Lafayette College, Lehigh University and Columbia, now face a determined foe as they take on Colgate Universitythis Saturday.

The Tigers (3-0, 1-0 Ivy League) topped Columbia (0-3, 0-1 Ivy League) this pastFriday, 10-5, in a low-scoring contest marked by grueling weather conditions throughout. Princeton managed only one touchdown and surrendered a safety in the second half, but picks by junior linebacker Andrew Frisby and senior backs John Hill and Khamal Brown, coupled with strong defensive play across the board, allowed the Tigers to emerge victorious.

As they look forward to Colgate (2-3, 1-0 Patriot League), Coach Bob Surace ’90 noted that the team would have to focus on fundamentals and execution.

“Attention to detail, at times, has hurt us,” Surace said. “We have not executed things that we’re prepared for quite as well, and I hope that we get better at that after the experience of seeing three good teams.”

In the Raiders, Princeton will face a stiff opponent. Colgate has performed well against Ivy League opponents thus far, dropping a last-minute heartbreaker to Yale and beating Cornell (0-3, 0-1 Ivy League) 28-21 in previous weeks. Reflecting on this week’s opponent, Coach Bob Surace emphasized Colgate’s offensive capabilities.

“Colgate is a terrific team — they’re favored to win the Patriot League,” Surace said. “They have a really good offense, and their quarterback Jake Mellville is a dual threat, meaning he’s a really good passer and he can also run the ball very effectively, and we saw that last year. They dropped back and did more straight from the pocket drop backs against us than they had coming into our game, so we saw them beat us that way. And we saw them beat Cornell, getting out of the pocket and making unbelievable throws downfield.”

Princeton’s own offense has demonstrated power and explosiveness thus far, averaging 34 points per game, but it will meet a tough challenge in the Raider’s defense. Colgate suffocated Cornell in a mighty goal line stand to win last week’s game and has allowed a scant 377 yards per game thus far. Against this front, Surace noted that the Tigers would have to play with teamwork and focus.

“[Colgate’s]… the kind of epitome of, at least when I played 25 years ago, big, strong, fast guys on defense,” Surace said. “They blitz a lot, so we’re going to have to be really good on our assignments and our communication and our attention to detail, because they’ve played really well on defense.”

However, Surace also spoke highly of Princeton’s offensive capabilities heading into the game.

“We’ve done really well [with] situational football,” Surace said. “I mean, last week [against Columbia] it was hard to throw, the weather wasn’t good, but our third downs had been really good on offense up to that point. Our red zone has been really good up to this point.”

Sophomore quarterback John Lovett also reflected energy and anticipation regarding this week’s opponent.

“Colgate has a great defense and we’re really excited for the challenge,” Lovett said. “We’ve been practicing hard and practicing well, and we’ll go outon Saturdayand execute [our] game plan to the best of our abilities.”

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With a win this weekend, the Tigers would move to 4-0, their best record since 2006. Lovett emphasized diligence and teamwork as key to the squad’s successes thus far.

“We’ve been really working hard as a team all season,” Lovett said. “We’ve had to deal with some adversity, and we’re really coming together as a team.”

When speaking about the strengths of this group, Surace also highlighted the cohesiveness of the unit as a whole.

“Our offense and defense have really complemented each other,” he noted. “When we’ve played in horrible weather conditions, our defense stepped up and we were able to win a low-scoring game. When we played [Lehigh] in beautiful conditions, our offense stepped up. All that’s part of being, hopefully, what will be a good team.”