Tigers cannot pick up blitz, victory

Penn blitzed its way past Princeton's sprint football team, defeating the Tigers, 50-15. Despite the lopsided score, there is a glimmer of hope in the outcome. Unlike last week, the Tigers (0-2) managed to put points on the board.

Besides the two touchdowns, Princeton's offense struggled against the blitz for the second consecutive week.

"Blitzing is like cheating on your taxes: It seems like a good idea until you get caught," head coach Thomas Cocuzza said. "Once our receivers get a better understanding of the offense, people will pay when they blitz."

The Quakers (1-1) got off to a quick start, building a 21-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. This game marks the second straight week that the Tigers have allowed their opponents a monster first quarter — they trailed Cornell by 16 at the end of the first quarter last week.

Penn scored early when Mike Loguidice completed a touchdown pass to Tom Altamirano early in the quarter. J.T. Hutchinson and McConville scored later in the first quarter.

Princeton scored its first points of the year with 2:05 left in the first half after a Penn turnover in its own territory. Junior quarterback Alex Kandabarow ran in for a three-yard touchdown, making the score 28-8 at halftime after a successful two-point conversion.

Kandabarow had another challenging game, completing only 16 of 50 passes for 186 yards and one touchdown. With the Penn defense blitzing nearly every single offensive possession, Kandabarow rarely had enough time to get off a solid pass. To take their game to the next level, Princeton intends to continue working on pass protection.

"If there are any students that run a 4.5 (40-yard dash) that want to catch eight passes for 190 yards they should send me an email," Cocuzza said. "We must make big plays when we pick up the blitz."

Though he was hurried nearly every single play, Kandabarow was only sacked three times. This low number is in part due to the Tigers' "hot route" system, which allows the quarterback to dump the ball to a designated receiver on a short slant.

"As far as the protection, it has gotten better," Cocuzza said. "We have only been sacked five times [in two games]."

The constant blitzing also smothered the Tigers' running game, as they managed only 11 net rushing yards. Freshman Michael Schoder, however, managed just over three yards per carry, leading Princeton with 25 yards rushing on eight attempts.

Junior Lon Johnson turned in an impressive performance for the Tigers, catching five passes for 104 yards. His performance shows that Princeton is starting to settle into its new passing-oriented offense.

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The defense — which had a stellar second half last week — was not quite as impressive this week. The Quakers consistently got extra yards after Tigers did not fully wrap up on tackles.

"I thought the defense took a step back," Cocuzza said. "We need to work on tackling and play recognition."

The Quakers got a remarkable performance from Loguidice, who completed nine of 13 passes for four touchdowns. His success was due in large part to Penn's dominant running game. They managed 190 yards on 42 rushing attempts, led by Matt McConville's 74 yards.

Loguidice threw touchdown passes in the third quarter to take a 43-8 lead. Greg Hollander intercepted a Kandabarow pass and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown, giving Penn its final touchdown of the night.

The Tigers scored on an impressive fourth-quarter drive, going 70 yards in five plays and in 1:26. Johnson caught a 23-yard pass in the right corner of the end zone for the final points of the game.

Princeton takes on Army at West Point Friday at 7 p.m. The team hopes to learn lessons from this game to be more competitive next week.

"The offense scored 15. It was still not a very good performance," Cocuzza said. "I am not, nor will I ever be satisfied with losing a game. Our kids played hard but we have come to expect that. If the players continue to learn and practice hard, 15 points will be a good quarter."