It began with a quarterback controversy and ended with a coaching controversy. It began with a surprising loss and ended with an even more stunning defeat.
And in between, the football team's 1999 campaign mirrored its start and finish — a season replete with disappointment, frustration and painful defeats.
The Tigers (3-7 overall, 1-6 Ivy League) finished in a tie with Columbia for last place in the Ivy standings, suffering through their worst league season since 1973. On Nov. 23, three days after Princeton blew a seemingly insurmountable 18-0 fourth-quarter lead at Dartmouth in the season's final week, 13th-year head coach Steve Tosches — the second-winningest head coach in Princeton football history — resigned amidst speculation that he was forced to step down.
Ironically, Tosches' successor, Roger Hughes, was most recently Dartmouth's offensive coordinator.
"After everything that's happened this season, nothing really surprises me at this point," linebacker Chuck Hastings '00 said following the Dartmouth loss.
"It's pretty heartbreaking," he said of losing in his final game.
Returning the core of both the Ivy's top defense and one of its most skilled offensive lines, Princeton entered the season with high expectations. The Tigers were confident they could control the line of scrimmage while the team's two inexperienced quarterbacks, Jon Blevins '01 and Tommy Crenshaw '02, vied for the starting role.
Yet opening day at the Tigers' year-old Princeton Stadium was far from the first step toward a championship run that some had envisioned. As the offense sputtered, a young Cornell squad plowed through Princeton's vaunted defensive line and shredded its secondary en route to a surprising 20-3 win.
It was but the first of many tough losses.
Picked apart
In the season's fourth week, the 1-2 Tigers suffered one of their worst defeats ever, a 53-30 shellacking at the hands of Brown on Oct. 9 in Providence, R.I. The 53 points were the most Princeton has ever surrendered against an Ivy League opponent, and Brown quarterback James Perry's 41 completions — on 62 attempts for 424 yards — was an Ivy record.
The Tigers looked to salvage their season with a strong finish, perhaps in the process bringing the traditional bonfire to campus for the first time in five years with victories over rivals Harvard and Yale.
Yet while Princeton played well against the Crimson and the Elis — giving perhaps its two most complete efforts of the season — the heartbreak would only continue.
On Oct. 23, placekicker Taylor Northrop '02 booted a 52-yard field goal with the wind at his back late in the game at Harvard Stadium to even the score at 6-6. With seven seconds remaining, however, Harvard quarterback Brad Wilford dove forward on a sneak from one yard out, inching his way across the goal line and giving the Crimson a 13-6 win.
Three weeks later, on Nov. 13, the emerging Crenshaw nearly rallied Princeton from a 14-point second-half deficit, hitting second-team All-Ivy wide receiver Phil Wendler '00 in the back of the end zone with just over two minutes to play to draw Princeton to within 23-21 of eventual league co-champion Yale.
Yet two missed extra points by Northrop earlier in the game forced the Tigers to attempt a two-point conversion, which landed incomplete and dashed Princeton's hopes of a vindicating win.
"We play a great game and end up losing on account of little one-point kicks," running back Kyle Brandt '01 said of the Yale loss. "It's bizarre almost, but I've come to not be surprised by anything."
Earlier in the season, Brandt had been moved from running back to safety. Following the suspension of running back Derek Theisen '00 for an unspecified NCAA rules violation, however, the versatile Brandt found himself in the offensive backfield once more, completing an odd personal journey by shouldering much of the rushing load for the Tigers during the second half of the season.
Flashes of brilliance
While disappointing, the season did have its bright spots. Wendler finished the season with 74 receptions for 822 yards. Despite a rough start, Crenshaw steadily matured, finishing the season with 1,662 yards passing.
Running back Cameron Atkinson '03 led a talented group of first-year players, gaining 791 all-purpose yards, including a 122-yard, two-touchdown rushing effort in a 27-0 win over Fordham on Oct. 2 and another 100-yard rushing performance in a 44-15 win over Columbia on Oct. 30.
Offensive lineman Dennis Norman '01 earned his second straight all-Ivy first team honors, as did defensive lineman David Ferrara '00, Princeton's career sacks leader. Joining Wendler on the second team were offensive linemen Hamin Abdullah '00 and Hastings.
With players like Norman, Atkinson and Crenshaw returning next season and a new coach at the helm, the Tigers will try to put 1999 behind them as quickly as possible.
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