Football kicks off Ivy season at Columbia

Tomorrow at 1:30 in New York City, the football team takes its first step towards what some say could be the most successful Ivy season in several years. The Tigers play Columbia at Lawrence Wien Stadium in the first of seven Ivy games, trying to dethrone Harvard, last year's Ivy champion.

In recent years, Columbia has served more as an Ivy warm-up game than anything else. Princeton has not lost to the Lions since 1997, although the Tigers needed overtime to win at Wein Stadium in 2000. Columbia, which has not beaten Princeton on the road since World War Two, is much tougher at home. Princeton has had a good season thus far, losing by just a touchdown to then-No. 3 Lehigh Sept. 21, and taking care of Lafayette last Saturday, winning by 15.

Regardless, Co-lumbia will not be a walkover. If the Tigers are not careful, tomorrow's first step could turn into a fall in the big city.

Helping the Tigers keep from being distracted is that they lost to Columbia in the preseason. That game does not officially count, but the Lions beat Princeton, 15-14, and Columbia proudly displays the score on the web.

"The first thing about this weekend's game is that we're starting up league play," head coach Roger Hughes said. "It will mean that there is added intensity to the game and we'll have to step it up to be successful. After our scrimmage against Columbia early in the year, our players and staff are hungry to face them again. They kind of took it to us in the scrimmage and we don't want that to happen again."

Since that Sept. 7 meeting, the Lions, like the Tigers, have won one and lost one. Both coaches agree that each team has improved considerably since that game four weeks ago. The question is — which team has improved more?

Princeton has played well in both games since and showed resolve in shutting down Lafayette's second-half comeback attempt.

Columbia was impressive against Fordham, but its running game was very limited by Colgate's rush defense in a blowout loss Saturday. Clearly, the Lions miss All-Ivy running back Jonathan Reese, who carried the team on his shoulders throughout 2001 and graduated in May.

"We played two strong teams early and it was good to come away with a win over a strong Fordham team," Columbia head coach Ray Tellier said.

"We played well in both of our games, but just made too many mistakes against Colgate. Our team plays hard. I have been pleased with our effort and work ethic. We just need to make fewer mistakes."

Unlike other teams that can make up for their mistakes with athleticism, Columbia is somewhat slow on the gridiron.

"We don't have tremendous talent and speed, but we work hard and can move the ball and play physical," Tellier said.

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The Tigers should be able to handle Columbia, but an important part of that will be keeping their defense honest.

"They have a really mobile quarterback and good, strong running backs that all get involved in the play," defensive backs coach Eric Jackson said. "We have to watch for them on swing passes, draws, counters, and traps."

While the Lions' tailbacks get involved in the play and can punish the opposition, they harmed their own team Saturday, playing part in a six-turnover day against Colgate. As Tellier said, Columbia cannot make that many mistakes in a ball game, or a team like Colgate or Princeton will be quick to run up the score.

When Princeton has the ball, the scouting report is that Columbia's linemen will be the biggest obstacle.

"They have a really good defensive line," Hughes said. "They play really hard and have a couple of really big guys up front that we'll have to move. We need to do things with our pass and run to get them to release from the line."

For the Tigers to have as much success with the running game tomorrow as they did last week, they will have to utilize the speed and hands of wide receivers senior Chisom Opara and sophomore B.J. Szymanski. Against Lehigh, each of the two caught at least a 50-yard pass. If they can do that in New York, they should open holes up front for the Tiger running backs.

If all goes well with the Tiger offense, tomorrow's game should be the first of small steps that can create a giant leap for Princeton.