Into the Bears' den

One of the most disconcerting experiences a person can have is watching the beginning of a television program without being able to tell if it is a repeat.

And for the football team (3-1 overall, 1-0 Ivy League), which has opened the 2005 campaign the same way it did in 2004 — winning against Lafayette, San Diego and Columbia before losing to Colgate — there is no desire to suffer through a rebroadcast of last season's disappointing finish.

But in preparing for tomorrow afternoon's visit to Brown (3-1, 0-1), the Tigers have to hope that, for just one more game, they can keep the parallelism alive.

Princeton's 34-14 victory over the Bears on Oct. 16 of last year was the team's final win before a streak of four losses shattered any hopes the Tigers had of competing for an Ivy League title. Similar hopes for this season will receive a boost if Princeton can hold off Brown in the rematch.

That outcome is made infinitely more difficult by the fact that a win would presumably entail keeping two of the best players in Division I-AA football in check, one on each side of the ball.

Linebacker Zak DeOssie is the leader of the Bears' defense and among the most feared tacklers in Division I-AA football. Only a junior, he ranks first in the nation with an average of 3.2 tackles for a loss per game.

Despite having missed a game due to a back injury, DeOssie is second in the Ivy League in sacks, with four, and in solo tackles, with 26. Last season, he was the only sophomore to be named to the All-Ivy first-team defense, and no one in the league is more of a lock to receive the same honor at the end of this season.

DeOssie anchors a Brown defense that often stacks the box with eight players to take away the opposing team's ability to run the football. But the Tigers' offensive coordinator, Dave Rackovan, does not plan on letting that strategy dictate how Princeton moves the ball.

"We have to go out and establish the run against those guys to open up our play-action pass game," Rackovan said. "The thing you have to do against a team like Brown is keep them offbalance, and when you get your opportunities you have to score against them."

Indeed, taking advantage of every offensive opportunity is a necessity when the opposing team can rely on an All-American tailback like Nick Hartigan to score points. Having run for seven touchdowns in just four games, Hartigan was recently named by "The Sports Network" as a candidate for the Walter Payton Award, an honor given every year to Division I-AA football's best offensive player.

If Hartigan is able to maintain his astounding average of 145.5 rushing yards per game for the rest of his senior season, he will pass Tiger legend Keith Elias '94 for the third-most career rushing yards in Ivy League history.

Of more immediate concern, however, is the havoc such continued success could pose for the Princeton defense tomorrow.

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"He's a big kid who runs very hard," Tiger head coach Roger Hughes said of Hartigan. "He rarely falls backwards. Any time he gets hit, he's always getting yards after contact. And that's a challenge for our defense to be in the right place and make sure we can tackle him."

And even when the ball isn't in Hartigan's hands, the mere threat of it being there does wonders for the Bears offensively.

The respect opponents bestow on Hartigan opens things up for the Brown passing game, which is formidable enough on its own that it hardly seems to deserve the help. When quarterback Joe DiGiacomo needs to find a receiver open for a big play downfield, he can choose between Lonnie Hill and Jarrett Schreck, who have already combined for 715 receiving yards this season.

"One of Brown's fortes throughout the years, and certainly it is no different this year, is that they have a very strong play-action pass game," Hughes said. "The nice thing is, we feel the secondary is one of the strengths of our team, so if we are going to put the pressure on a certain area of our defense, we feel the secondary and the linebackers can shoulder some of that weight."

If Hughes' confidence is justified, Princeton fans will be able to bask in the joy of an upset and cherish, for a week at least, their Tiger-induced state of déjà-vu.