This is the kind of game Princeton gets excited about.
Then again, this is the kind of game Lehigh gets excited about, too.
Most teams like Princeton relish the role of underdog. Lehigh relishes playing an Ivy League squad.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Tiger football team heads for Lehigh to take on the nationally ranked No. 3 Mountain Hawks.
While expected to do better than last season's 34-10 defeat, the Tigers are not expected to pose much of a threat to Lehigh's balanced attack and solid defense.
As must be the case when going for an upset, Princeton has to play flawless football.
"When you play a team of this caliber, your weaknesses will get exposed," head football coach Roger Hughes said. "We will have to be able to correct any mistakes we make and go from there. We have to play above our heads and play error-free football. We can't make mistakes against a team of this caliber."
Adding to the mix, this is Princeton's first game of the season compared to Lehigh's third. In fact, the Tiger's first practice was the day after Lehigh's first game, in which it beat Div. 1 Buffalo 37-26 Aug. 31.
Instead of being nervous about their first game, though, the Tiger players say they are "excited" and "confident" heading into their first game. Also, since few outsiders expect them to win, Princeton is without some of the pressure it could have had otherwise.
Post-season excluded, no Lehigh player has experienced going into a game as the underdog. The Mountain Hawks do not know what it is like to go into that type of win-win situation, where even a loss can be considered a moral victory.
Instead, they just win.
In the last four regular seasons, Lehigh has lost just one game. Last year, it took advantage of Princeton's mistakes, the mistakes the Tigers cannot make tomorrow, and built a comfortable lead at the end of the game to win 34-10 — that game being part of a current 14-game winning streak against Ivy opponents for Lehigh.
On defense, the Tigers will have to deal with the team with the best offensive stats in the country. Lehigh boasts an average of 53 points and 556 yards in its first two games. It is averaging 340 yards in the air and 216 on the ground. Moreover, the Mountain Hawks have a 68 per cent success rate in third down situations, twice as high as Princeton's rate last year.
It will not be easy, but the Tigers need to be the first to figure out a new way to stop Lehigh. Otherwise, it could get ugly.
"Offensively, our concern is the number of weapons they have," Princeton linebacker coach Don Dobes said. "They do a great job of changing formations. In the past, we've not recognized those changes right away. It's critical that the linebackers be on the same page when we make those adjustments. Hopefully, because of our maturity, those mistakes won't happen like they did last year."
The Tigers will have a great deal of maturity on the team, but much less in Dobes' core of linebackers, which will have to replace two — Chris Roser-Jones '02 and Bob Farrell '02 — who were lost last year to graduation. Other than that, though, the Princeton defense should be just as strong as it was a year ago, if not stronger.
On offense, the Tigers are strong at all three main skill positions. Junior quarterback David Splithoff had a good game last year against Lehigh, completing 31 of 39 passes, but for just 228 yards.
The best chance the Tigers have at beating Lehigh may be to get in a few quick Splithoff-senior wide receiver Chisom Opara deep passes into the pay-dirt and then control the clock with Senior Cameron Atkinson carrying the ball.
Extra teams are going to be a big variable in the game. Last year, the Tigers had one of the best extra team players in the country in kicker Taylor Northropp '02. With his graduation, Hughes and co. have been scrambling for a kicker, and the position will likely go to a freshman.
The Mountain Hawks are not much better at that position. They have already missed two extra points and the kicker is one of four with field goals.
"Communication is the key for everyone," senior center Roger Patterson said. "We've got to all play together. We know we have what it takes to win a bunch of games this season. Hopefully it will begin with this one on Saturday."
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