A year after football wrecked Brown in New Jersey, the Bears are hungry for revenge

This time last season, the football team was in a bind. It was going into its second Ivy League game against Brown after losing yet another quarterback in a loss to Colgate.

In only the fifth game of the season, Princeton was going against a team that had scored 53 points against them the last time, and the focus of the offense rested on the shoulders of a freshman fourth-string quarterback, the first-ever freshman to start under center in Princeton history.

That freshman fourth-stringer, Dave Splithoff, led the Tigers to a 55-28 win over the Bears, earning Ivy League and ECAC Offensive Player of the Week honors. He went 13-for-17 with three touchdowns.

When asked how much his team had talked about what happened last year, Brown head coach Phil Estes quickly responded that his team was out for a little redemption of its own against a Princeton team that embarrassed them last year.

"Never forgotten it and burned in our memory," he said. "It was a humiliating loss last year, they took it to us and celebrated on top of us."

This season, Princeton finds itself in a similar situation. In their fourth game, it faces the reality of injuries again. Against Colgate last week, three players left the game with injuries, joining the other two already side-lined because of injuries sustained during practice.

Of these five players (senior linebacker Chris Roser-Jones, junior wide receiver Chisom Opara, sophomore free safety Brandon Mueller, sophomore defensive end Joe Weiss, and Splithoff) only one has already made his full return—with only a shoulder stinger holding him out, Splithoff returns to lead the offense again.

With four important positions not being filled by full-strength first-stringers, there is opportunity for players to step into the limelight as Splithoff did last season. After last week's devastating defeat at the hands of Colgate, head coach Roger Hughes sees his entire team hungry to do what it takes.

"We want redemption, not that we're making Brown a revenge game," he said. "We feel we can play better than what we have, and I think the kids in this program are used to having success in everything they do, and they're not willing to accept anything but their best effort."

Brown is certainly going to stand in the way of Princeton's redemption. It brings to the field an offense similar to Columbia's, and a powerhouse tailback in Michael Malan.

"Defensively we have a great challenge because of their skilled positions," Hughes said.

In its game last week against Fordham, Brown relied heavily on Malan, going to him 32 times for 267 yards, scoring five times. With Weiss out for the entire season, the young defensive line has a challenge ahead of it, but one it has already experienced against Columbia's John Reese.

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For Brown, last season's loss was a game that they have not forgotten, and with Princeton not running at full capacity, Brown looks to send the Tigers home with their tails between their legs.

"Last year, I think the players read the newspapers and the write-ups that here's a fourth-string quarterback, and no freshman had ever started at Princeton before. I think they were thinking it may be an easy game," Estes said.

In order to redeem themselves after a disappointing loss to Colgate, the Tigers have had to rededicate themselves to their work and to the game of football. Because so many players were embarrassed with what transpired last Saturday, the team held a meeting earlier this week in which the players voiced their concerns and frustrations with their performance.

"My understanding was that they had a team meeting on their own this week and discussed some things, and if [Tuesday] night's practice is an indication of how we're going to play, I'm going to sleep a lot better the next few nights," Hughes said.