Football doomed against Brown by nonexistent passing attack

Princeton trailed Brown 35-24 with about eight minutes left to play and faced a fourth-and-10 from the Bear 34-yard line. The situation called for a medium-range pass to pick up the first down.

But sophomore quarterback David Splithoff threw a swing pass to junior running back Cameron Atkinson, who caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and gained four yards before being gang-tackled. The play illustrated the Tigers' inability to effectively throw the ball downfield.

Splithoff threw for just 82 yards and was sacked five times for a loss of 46 yards, so Princeton netted just 36 yards in the air. Most of those yards, furthermore, came on shovel passes to Atkinson, dumpoffs, and wide-receiver screens.

The Tigers' longest pass play all afternoon was a 22-yard strike from Splithoff to junior wide receiver Nate Lindell. Besides that play, Princeton failed to stretch the Brown defense via the passing game.

Of course, the fact that junior wide receiver Chisom Opara missed the game with a neck injury sustained against Colgate last week hurt the Tigers. Opara leads the team in catches and yards and had averaged over 70 receiving yards a game.

"Certainly Chisom's a playmaker and we miss him," head coach Roger Hughes said. "But certainly having a threat outside makes people defend you differently. I'm not taking anything away from the receivers that we had — they played hard and blocked well — but we didn't have a big-play capability out there."

Princeton's offense managed to score 24 points and amass 328 yards of total offense, but that was almost completely due to the efforts of the running game. Atkinson rushed 18 times for 148 yards and two touchdowns, while Splithoff picked up 77 yards on the ground.

Overall, the Tigers averaged a solid 6.8 yards per carry, which should have forced the Bears to cluster their defenders near the line of scrimmage and open up medium-range passing lanes. Princeton, however, never could use its running game to set up the pass.

Part of the reason why the Tigers were ineffective at throwing the ball was Brown's fierce pass rush. Led by defensive end Uwa Airhiavbere, who had three sacks, the Bear defensive line continually forced Splithoff to hurry his throws or be sacked outright.

"We need to get our pass protection straightened out if we want to throw the ball deep," Hughes said.

Princeton's inability to throw the ball efficiently kept it from being effective near Brown's end zone. The Tigers reached the Bear 30-yard line five times but came away with just one touchdown. If Princeton could have kept Brown off-balance with a mix of the run and the pass, perhaps it would have converted more of its scoring opportunities.

The Tigers were also ineffective on third down, largely because they had problems stretching the field with the passing game. They converted just two of 13 opportunities, killing a number of promising drives and forcing the defense back onto the field to face Brown's menacing rushing attack. Princeton was zero for seven on third downs in the first half, and in the second half its tired defense surrendered 201 yards on the ground.

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Brown's success running the ball dug Princeton a 35-24 deficit with 8:42 left in the game. The Tigers got the ball back twice with chances to cut into the Bear lead, but failed to do so. Princeton again was handcuffed by its lack of offensive balance. The Tigers needed to run a hurry-up, quick-strike offense to score points quickly, but were unable to establish any sort of rhythm getting the ball downfield.

On Princeton's first possession after Brown took an 11-point lead, Splithoff attempted four straight passes from the Bear 34-yard line. The first three were incomplete and the fourth picked up just four yards, so the Tigers lost the ball on downs. The Princeton defense forced Brown to punt on its next possession. The Tigers got the ball on their 30-yard line and drove to the Bear 37, but the pass once again failed them, and they turned the ball over on downs.

Princeton expects Opara and his ability to stretch the field to return soon, perhaps by the Harvard game next Saturday. But if he cannot, the Tigers will have a difficult task finding a way to throw the ball.