Football: Culbreath to sit out against Columbia

Princeton opens its Ivy League season this Saturday at home against Columbia. The Tigers (1-1) opened the season with a 38-7 loss at home to The Citadel and picked up their first win last weekend at Lehigh, when they beat the Mountain Hawks, 17-14.

“We really felt like [in] a couple of places we took some steps forward,” head coach Roger Hughes said of the Lehigh game. “The return of [junior inside linebacker] Steve Cody was a great help, and [senior strong safety and co-captain Wilson Cates] had a very good game. We thought we played much better defense than we did in the Citadel game, and I thought we did a much better job on special teams.”

The Tigers’ defensive effort was highlighted by Cody’s 77-yard interception return for a touchdown. On the offensive side of the ball, Princeton was somewhat anemic: Aside from sophomore quarterback Tommy Wornham’s 68-yard touchdown run, Princeton couldn’t get much of a rhythm going.

“Offensively, we did not produce like we should,” Hughes said. “We have to be more consistent running and throwing the ball. That’s what we’ve done as a back-to-basics approach this week to get ourselves offensively where we want to be.”

Columbia enters the game having beaten Fordham, 40-28, in its first game before being brought back down to earth by Central Connecticut State, 22-13. The Tigers have won 15 of their last 16 at home against Columbia, and the last time the two teams matched up in Princeton Stadium, the Tigers took a wild 42-32 decision.

The big story entering the game is the absence of injured senior All-Ivy running back Jordan Culbreath. Culbreath sprained his ankle early in last week’s Lehigh game and was sidelined for the rest of the contest. Subsequent blood tests revealed that Culbreath suffers from anemia.

“Jordan has not recovered at the level that we thought he would,” Hughes said. “We’ve been running some tests, and we’ve found that he’s a bit anemic. He’s in the hospital getting some tests to find out exactly why that’s occurring.”

Junior running back Meko McCray filled in for Culbreath last week. He will likely be joined in the rotation this week by junior running back Kenny Gunter and freshman running back Akil Sharp.

Without its workhorse in the lineup, the offense will look to new faces for production.

The performance of Princeton’s senior-laden offensive line will crucial this week, with Culbreath on the shelf and Wornham making only his third start.

“For us, it’s getting back to the fundamentals of the game,” offensive line coach Adam Hollis said. “We worked hard yesterday on staying on double teams, coming off the ball and just technique things during practice. It’s not about scheme … It’s really more about what we can start to do up front with our offensive line and our tight ends.”

“Obviously we love Jordan. Jordan’s one of our teammates. he’s one of our best friends,” senior offensive tackle and co-captain Mark Paski said. “But at the same time … we have to get the job done. Whether it’s Jordan in the backfield, whether it’s Akil in the backfield, whether it’s Meko in the backfield, we’re not letting up on plays.”

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Columbia is led defensively by free safety Adam Mehrer, linebacker Marc Holloway and strong safety Andy Shalbrack. Mehrer leads the team with 30 tackles, while Halloway has 23 tackles and two tackles for loss. Shalbrack has notched 19 tackles and an interception.

On the other side of the ball, Columbia’s offense will pose a serious test, as the Lions average 26.5 points per game this season. Wide receiver Austin Knowlin is closing in on Columbia’s all-time receptions and receiving yards records and was named a preseason All-American by The Sports Network. M.A. Olawale is a threat from the quarterback position, and senior running back Ray Rangel is averaging 124 yards per game and 6.9 yards per carry through two games.

“They have a three-headed monster going there that’s really going to create a lot of stress for us this week,” linebackers coach Don Dobes said. “You have the quarterback, who is a special type of runner. He’s [six foot, one inch tall]. He looks like he’s about 230 pounds. He’s got thick legs and a great lower half of the body — loves to carry the ball in any situation. Austin Knowlin in our mind is the best, most explosive receiver there is in the league. He hurt us two years ago on a couple big plays. Then they’ve got a running back, Rangel, who’s had two 100-yard games in a row.”

Princeton has been led defensively by senior inside linebacker and co-captain Scott Britton. Britton has notched a team-leading 16 tackles and a tackle for loss. Sophomore safety Matt Wakulchik has also made 16 tackles. Cody tallied 11 tackles and the aforementioned interception in his first game back.

In past seasons, the Columbia game has been a challenging one, but the Tigers have regularly gotten the best of the Lions. This season’s matchup will prove all the more interesting, as the Tigers offense will be forced to prove its adaptability and balance against a team that could very well score into the 20s or 30s.