Tigers, Bears take to air

In the football team's 17-3 win over Brown last season, an aggressive Tiger defense forced the Bears' offense into hibernation, allowing just 41 rushing yards on 26 attempts and tallying three forced fumbles, two interceptions and three sacks.

But when Princeton (2-2 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) visits Brown (1-3, 0-1) in Providence, R.I., tomorrow afternoon, it will encounter a Bear offense that has emphatically come out of hiding.

"It's cliche, and I hate to use cliches," head coach Roger Hughes said, "but records mean nothing, especially in this game. I think Brown, with one loss in the league, is going to be fighting like a caged animal because generally a team with two losses has not won the league very often. They're in a lose-or-leave-town type situation which is going to make them play that much harder."

Hughes' Tigers, meanwhile, will try to do their part in helping tomorrow's game live up to its billing as a battle between explosive offenses. Senior quarterback Bill Foran, who has rushed for two touchdowns in each of his last two games, currently ranks third in the Ivy League with an average of 239 total offensive yards per game.

In the passing game, Foran will look to connect with senior wide receiver Brendan Circle, who currently ranks fifth among Ivy League receivers with an average of 79.8 yards per game. Circle only needs five more catches to become the seventh player in Princeton history to tally at least 100 career receptions.

Brown will counter with its own impressive aerial attack. Named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week after his stellar performance in the Bears' 48-37 loss to Holy Cross last Saturday, Brown quarterback Michael Dougherty is the leading passer in the Football Championship Subdivision, averaging 331.5 yards per game.

The Bears also boast incredible depth in their wide-receiving corps, with four goto receivers all averaging at least five catches per game.

Though Princeton held the Bears to a lone field goal last season — the fewest points Brown has scored in its last 113 games — the Tiger defense, especially the secondary, will have to tighten up this weekend.

"We start every game plan by [figuring out] how do we stop the run and try to make them one dimensional," Hughes said, "but the unique thing about this team is that if you make them one-dimensional, that's their best dimension — throwing the ball."

The Tigers will counter with a sophomore-laden defense that has seesawed between sharp and suspect. Sophomore linebacker John Callahan leads all non-seniors on Princeton's defense with 26 tackles, having recorded nine against Hampton last weekend. Sophomore defensive back Dan Kopolovich had a career game against the Pirates when he tallied 11 tackles and grabbed his first interception of the season. Fellow sophomore defensive back Cart Kelly had two pass breakups last weekend, and his eight unassisted tackles gave him 15 for the season, which leads the team.

Even with these sophomore standouts, the Tigers would greatly miss the dominant presence of junior lineman Tom Methvin, whose status remains doubtful for tomorrow. Last season against the Bears, Methvin recorded three sacks, three pass breakups and six tackles — four of which were for losses.

On special teams, meanwhile, Princeton has made significant improvements since its turnover-plagued opening-week loss to Lehigh. Last week, sophomore tailback Kenny Gunter set a Princeton single-game record when he totaled 206 kickoff-return yards, shattering the previous record of 185 yards, which belonged to Derek Wassink '87. Gunter attributed this achievement to the effort of the special teams unit.

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"Without the other 10 guys on the field blocking for me, I wouldn't have [gained any yards]" Gunter said. "So it's more a testament to how well our return team's doing and the improvements we've made in special teams. Our kick return has to be able to put our offense in position to put points on the board — that's what's important."

The Tigers have had encouraging flashes of play all over the field, but as they enter a six-game Ivy League stretch to end the season, they will need stay focused for the full 60 minutes.

"[We need] consistency on both sides of the ball," Hughes said. "We talked as a staff last week about, when we have a team down, being able to finish them off and put the nail in the coffin."

The Tigers had better learn this lesson fast because the Bears are a dangerous team to let run out in the open.