Football looks to push winning streak to four against struggling Brown

Everybody on the football team knows that the Ivy League season is all that matters.

Even though Princeton has had its best non-Ivy record in seven years, it does not mean anything going into Saturday, as it plays Brown in the first of six-straight Ivy games.

Princeton (3-1 overall) is currently 1-0 in league play, and Brown, having lost by two points to Harvard, is 0-1. Nothing of too great a magnitude will be decided 1 p.m. tomorrow at Princeton Stadium. But in a short seven-game season, one does not want to fall far behind the leaders.

"We're back in the league, and like it or not, everyone seems to play harder in league games," football head coach Roger Hughes said.

Despite its 0-4 overall record, Brown will not lay down. Well, at least its offense won't.

The Bears have given up an average of 37 points per game on defense, but on the other side of the ball, the team has earned the reputation of having one of the best passing games in the country. By air alone, the team has averaged 344 yards per contest. Only two weekends ago, wide receiver Chas Gessner and quarterback Kyle Slager broke a slew of records in its 38-28 loss to Rhode Island.

"They are a very smart team, and they run a lot of different offensive plays," Hughes said. "Their skill players are very good and dangerous." The team has also been dangerous to its own self. Slager has thrown seven interceptions already, an average of one every 23 passes. The Brown defense has picked off just one of the 89 passes thrown by opposing quarterbacks.

College teams do not win games with many turnovers — except for ones based in Norman, Okla., with a running back named Griffin while playing Texas.

Brown does not have the Sooner's Quentin Griffin, and turnovers could lead to its demise.

Pressuring Brown to turn the ball over will be junior linebacker Zak Keasey, coming off a three-sack performance against Colgate.

He has been a menace to quarterbacks this season, and forced the Red Raider quarterback into several quick throws. Similar pressure tomorrow could force the already interception-prone Slager to put a few more floaters up for grabs. Perhaps this is a chance for sophomore defensive back Jay McCareins to expand upon his two interceptions and six pass deflections — both marks are second in the league. Also, since Brown lost running back Michael Malan — who ran for 208 yards and two touchdowns against Princeton last year — to graduation, the Bears have become an even more one-dimensional passing team. Brown has been creative with its offense thus far, but, after all, Gessner can only catch the ball a mere couple dozen times per game. The Slager-Gessner combination is very effective, but teams will figure it out and, perhaps, begin to contain it.

Going by statistics, the Brown defense is about as bad as its passing game is good, and Princeton should be able to have its way. The Tigers should have senior wide receiver Chisom Opara back from injury, and with junior quarterback David Splithoff seemingly suffering no lasting damage from a series of tough hits on Saturday, the team should be healthy enough to put up the best numbers of the year.

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Last year, the Tigers relied on the ground attack against the Bears. Both Splithoff and now senior running back Cameron Atkinson rushed for over one hundred yards, although six sacks on Splithoff brought his totals back down.

Expect more of a mix this year, as sophomore wide receiver B.J. Szymanski has joined Opara in the role of being a constant playmaker at wide receiver.

One variable that needs to be brought into the equation is the weather. The Brown passing game has been great in all but one game, that being the windy, blistery meeting with Fordham.

It is common knowledge that strong winds can play havoc with a passing game, moving the ball around just enough to be an incompletion.

Tomorrow's weather is expected to be sunny with a high around 60. If conditions change, though, and become worse, Princeton may have a new sort of home field advantage.

While this game is not for the Ivy championship, it is just as important in the standings as one played five weeks from now. The Tigers have shown that they can put several good games in a row. Of course, though, nothing up to now really matters.