Weakness in red zone proves fatal

Up 13 in the locker room at halftime, head coach Roger Hughes told the football team to put its foot on Hampton's throat and close the Pirates out.

Instead, the Tigers ran back onto the field and rolled over, failing to convert on a pair of crucial red-zone chances as No. 21 Hampton posted 34 unanswered points in the second half to win 48-27.

"We've got to find that killer instinct," Hughes said.

In last week's 42-32 win over Columbia, it seemed like the Tigers had found the naked desire to win, executing on six-of-six chances in the red zone. Saturday's outing saw that red-zone rate fall to 56 percent, with no successful trips inside Hampton's 25-yard line in the second half.

"Our red-zone production has been outstanding until this game," Hughes said. "When you score in the red zone, we're not having the conversation about what happened."

The Tigers stepped out for the third quarter looking ready to continue their first half success, pushing their way deep into Hampton territory on their opening drive. A 35-yard kickoff return by sophomore tailback Kenny Gunter meant great field position for senior quarterback Greg Mroz, who brought Princeton into the red zone with a 12-yard pass to senior fullback Rob Toresco.

Three plays later, however, Mroz's pass was tipped by the Pirates' Kevin Burke and snatched by teammate Charles Robinson, who out paced the Tigers chasing him on his 80-yard touchdown run. Just like that, the Tigers established a pattern where they put themselves in position to kill the Pirates' hopes but could not capitalize.

Hughes was asked after the game whether he thought this red-zone failure marked a turning point in the game.

"There's no question," Hughes said, "especially when you don't give your defense a chance to defend. We didn't make them work for it at all. Boomerangs do that."

The most crippling drive of the game, however, was Princeton's eight-minute, 16-play, 77-yard effort, which ended at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

After sophomore running back Jordan Culbreath brought Princeton within one yard of the goal line on the first carry of his Tiger career, Princeton had four chances to move the ball 12 inches for a 34-21 lead. On the first try, senior quarterback Bill Foran could not make it past the line of scrimmage, fumbling the ball in his effort but recovering it for no gain.

On second-and-goal, Foran rushed for a loss of two yards, and on third down Gunter managed to grab those two yards back to set up fourth-and-inches.

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Up by six and thinking his team could potentially put Hampton away with a touchdown, Hughes decided to go for it. But Gunter's option run was stuffed at the Hampton four-yard line, putting the ball back in Hampton's hands and setting the table for a demoralizing collapse.

Princeton's red-zone struggles were not new in the second half, they were simply more pronounced. The final downs of that fateful fourth-quarter drive neatly mirrored an earlier Tiger effort, which resulted in a field goal during the second quarter.

With Princeton trailing 14-10 and 10 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in the second quarter, a fumble recovered by junior linebacker Collin McCarthy put Princeton in the enviable position of being seven yards away from a go-ahead touchdown.

A false start penalty on second down, however, pushed the goal line five yards farther away. While Foran used his speed to run the ball back to the four-yard line, an incomplete pass on third down brought the kicking team onto the field, and the Tigers had to settle for a 21-yard field goal by junior placekicker Connor Louden.

Louden had missed his first field-goal attempt of the game, from just 24 yards out, for Princeton's first red-zone failure of the game. Little did the Tigers know at that point just how often the frustration would hound them.

"We lost in a way we shouldn't have," Hughes said. "The two losses we've had this year, we gave away the game, and that has to stop."

The Tigers will attempt to remedy their red-zone struggles next week as they resume their Ivy League season with a Saturday matchup against Brown in Providence, R.I.