After disappointing losses, football tries to salvage season

When Roger Hughes first looked at the Ivy League football schedule for 2004, it is likely that one date jumped out at him. Princeton's head coach probably grabbed a magic marker to circle Nov. 6, 2004. In addition to being the 135th anniversary of the first college football game, this is also the date that the Penn Quakers are set to visit Princeton Stadium. If all had gone well for the Tigers in September and October, the Penn game promised to be the perfect opportunity for Hughes' program to take a gigantic step forward.

Hughes has never beaten Penn during his four-year tenure at Princeton. In fact, the Tigers haven't beaten the Quakers since 1997, and that victory was given to the Tigers as a gift because Penn was sanctioned after the fact for having an illegible player in its lineup during the game. Penn, along with Harvard, has dominated the Ivy League in recent seasons, while Princeton has struggled just to remain in the middle of the pack.

Expectations for 2004, however, were a bit different. If all had gone according to Hughes' preseason plans, the Tigers would be playing the Quakers this weekend with a shot at first place in the Ivy League.

Unfortunately for Hughes and his football team, even the best-laid plans carry no guarantees. Instead of welcoming Penn with their championship hopes alive, the Tigers instead must face the two-time defending league champs with little hope of cracking the Ivy League's top tier. Judging from the words of Hughes as he looked forward to the game, the Tigers are simply looking for a strong effort to help salvage their season.

"We need to get back to playing what we call Princeton football — tough, aggressive, hard-nosed football," Hughes said on Wednesday. "If you look back at the games that we have not performed well in, we've given up big plays on defense. I'm not blaming the defense, I'm just telling you — that's the way you lose football games, is to give big plays up."

Hughes did not stop there in expressing his dismay with the Tigers' situation.

"As you can tell, I'm angry. I'm not happy with where we're at right now," Hughes said. "We're gonna get it straightened out."

The coach has reason to get serious with his team after last weekend's difficult one-point loss to Cornell. The Big Red, traditionally one of the Ivy League's most mediocre members, is one of the teams that the Tigers expected to roll over this season. Instead, it was the Tigers who got rolled by Cornell. The Big Red offense torched the Tiger defense for 400 total yards of offense that included three touchdown passes of 50 yards or more.

The responsibility for those big plays has to lie in the secondary, where Princeton's athletes have failed to live up to expectations. With top talents like junior Jay McCareins and sophomore Tim Strickland and veteran leadership from the likes of seniors Brandon Mueller and Nick Brown, the defensive backfield seemed to be a strength for the Tigers. However, Cornell passed for over 300 yards against the Tigers. Penn head coach Al Bagnoli no doubt has reviewed those numbers and will be looking to attack Princeton through the air again this weekend.

There is no guarantee that Princeton will stop the running game, either — two weeks ago Harvard's Clifton Dawson rushed for 201 yards against the Tigers. Penn has a solid back in Sam Matthews, who has rushed for over 600 yards on the year, with seven touchdowns and an average of 4.4 yards per carry. Matthews and quarterback Pat McDermott, who is averaging over 250 yards per game in the air, form a very formidable one-two punch for the Quaker offense.

On the offensive side of the ball for the Tigers, the receiving corps finally got some good news with the successful return last week of senior wideout Clinton Wu from an ACL injury. Wu's chemistry with senior quarterback Matt Verbit is excellent, and the two will look to put up enough numbers against Penn's defense to counteract the Quakers' firepower on the other side of the ball. It is likely that Princeton will have to score a lot of points if the Tigers want to snap their losing streak this Saturday. If they can't, their coach's disappointment will only grow.