Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa

I was wrong. The football team was not nearly as bad as I prophesied in my preseason predictions.

Against Lafayette, the wide receivers were surprisingly sure-handed. Matt Verbit held onto the ball, ran judiciously and stayed in the pocket longer than he has in years past. Greg Fields was the X-factor that unexpectedly filled the void at wide receiver as well as at kick returner.

Clint Wu was the big surprise to me. He caught two more passes against Lafayette than he did all last season. Now he's gone for the season with an ACL tear and walks around campus without even bending his knee.

The defense was the most highly touted part of the team coming into the season. I don't think it was as dominant as many predicted, though that was hardly humanly possible. The defenders did their biggest job well, shutting down Joe McCourt at running back. That may be deceptive, though. McCourt only took 15 of his team's 44 carries. But Leopard ballcarriers still combined for 156 yards. I'm just saying, the defense was good, but not Herculean.

The real key to that game was Verbit. And, unlike Wu — the other star that broke through the clouds in the Lafayette game — he'll be back this weekend in San Diego.

My preseason pick in the San Diego game was one of my two most tenuous (along with my pick of a Princeton win over Brown). I predicted that the Toreros would win, mostly because of Princeton's long cross-country trip to California.

San Diego is 1-2 and doesn't look much like the team that went 8-2 last season. They scored over 40 points in seven games.

Two weeks ago the Toreros narrowly beat Holy Cross, a team that would definitely not scare me if it were on Princeton's schedule. They followed it up last week by getting womped 61-18 by Penn. Time to revise my prediction.

Now, Penn is the best team in the Ivy League, but it wouldn't take Princeton to the wood shed like that.

Princeton hasn't won back-to-back games since a string of four straight 'W's near the beginning of the 2002 season. That streak started with a home win over Lafayette. Since then, however, Princeton has lost after a win five straight times.

Don't count on adding another to that list. Roger Hughes won't allow a letdown from this team after his first ever season-opening win as a head coach. The 3,000-mile cross-country flight is too easy an excuse, and he will pound into his players' heads (and no doubt has been doing so this week) that they have to come out inspired.

As far as game strategy goes, Fields is now a known commodity. Using the reverse as a weapon or a decoy will be much less effective than it was against Lafayette. Princeton also won't have the flexibility to use him split wide or in the backfield because of Wu's injury. Fields will be spending most of his time at receiver, alongside Eric Walz.

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Expect Jay McCareins to be exhausted at the end of the game. As probably the best pure athlete on the team, he'll be taking snaps at his usual corner spot, as well as at punt returner and wide receiver.

The defense will still rock. There are more linebackers on this team than the Portland Trailblazers have drug convictions. The secondary is much improved, though not as good as the 2002 version. Nonetheless, Princeton's DBs will frustrate Torero QB Todd Mortensen. The San Diego quarterback was PFL Player of the Week last week against Penn — in a 61-18 loss! How bad must this league be?!

The D line is decent, but its fate really depends on the offense more than anything. If Verbit & Co. can control the ball, the D line won't tire out. They just have to work on their pass rush, since Mortensen can put up some big numbers if he has time.

This game will be tighter than both Princeton's win and San Diego's loss last week. Verbit will lead the offense to a 21-17 win, thanks to a late Mortensen pick.