After the first three minutes, it looked like more of the same for football: a quick start, a turnover, a score for the opposition.
After 60 minutes, however, Princeton headed to the showers as a winner.
The Tigers (1-4 overall, 1-1 Ivy League) rode a defensive score, a 99-yard touchdown, a huge game from their tailback, and a 21-point fourth quarter to victory, topping Brown (1-4 overall, 0-2 Ivy League) at Brown Stadium in Providence, R.I., 34-14, on Saturday afternoon.
Princeton stole the momentum from the Bears' homecoming festivities right away. Sophomore tailback Greg Fields took the opening kickoff 49 yards to Brown's 49-yard line to set up an excellent opportunity. Junior tailback Branden Benson then rushed for 12 yards on the first play, and Princeton was rolling not even one minute into the game.
Short-lived success
But the early success was short-lived. Junior quarterback Matt Verbit attempted a screen pass to the right side on the next play, but his throw hit sophomore offensive lineman Dave Szelingowski's helmet and bounced away, apparently incomplete. The officials, though, ruled that Verbit's throw was angled backwards, resulting in a fumble. Brown recovered and returned the ball down to the Princeton 28-yard line.
The Tiger defense could not respond. Brown running back Nick Hartigan, who had 40 carries for 156 yards, ran the ball five times on the ensuing drive and scored the first touchdown of the game on a two-yard dash.
Down 7-0, Princeton did not capitalize on its next drive, going three-and-out. After a Brown turnover on downs and a Benson fumble, the Bears again had good field position. The Tiger defense held, and on fourth-and-12 for Brown, just inside Princeton territory, quarterback Kyle Slager dropped back to pass but did not see sophomore linebacker Abi Fadeyi rushing from the right side. Fadeyi crushed Slager, the ball came loose, and senior cornerback Blake Perry picked up the ball, and ran it 58 yards for a touchdown. Freshman kicker Elliot Bishop missed the extra point, and the Tigers trailed, 7-6.
Defenses on both sides locked down, and Brown still held this one-point lead at halftime.
In the third quarter the defenses continued to dominate. The Bears downed a punt at the Princeton three-yard line late in the quarter, and the Tigers were in trouble.
Record-breaking play
Benson was stuffed for a two-yard loss on the first play — nearly a safety — and Verbit's pass on second down was incomplete down the field. Third-and-12. Backed up to the one-yard line. Down by one.
No problem.
Verbit dropped back to pass and found junior wide receiver Clinton Wu streaking upfield on a slant route. Wu caught the pass, charged through a seam in the defense, and went 99 yards down the sideline for a Princeton touchdown and the longest play from scrimmage in Ivy League history.
"Once we got a little confidence, our team took off," Hughes said of the big plays by Perry and Wu.
Brown was not ready to roll over. The Bears marched 70 yards on six plays on the following drive to take the lead back, 14-13, less than a minute into the fourth quarter.
Benson took over from there. The junior rushed 22 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth, and even threw a two-point conversion pass as the Tigers scored 21 points on their final three drives to send the Bears into hibernation.
"We know what we're capable of," Benson said. "We had a great practice this week, and we know we can move the ball. We just keep on playing through adversity."
Junior wide receiver B.J. Szymanski, who had a quiet first half, finished the game with six catches for 76 yards as the offense opened up in the second half.
"The run complements the pass, and vice versa," Benson said. "Once we broke that 99-yard touchdown it opened up worlds of run for us. The offensive line did a great job taking advantage of that. They opened up huge holes. I was loving it."
Verbit had several passes deflected at the line and, as a result, completed two passes to himself for negative nine yards.
The defense came up clutch for Princeton, stopping Brown on 17 of 22 third downs and six of nine fourth downs.
"The thing that you saw from our defense today was more guys in place," Hughes said. "You saw a lot more tipped balls. You saw a lot more people flying around the football. You didn't see as many blown coverages. And that comes with experience. Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want."
The Tigers got exactly what they wanted, and needed, Saturday.
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