Football: Injuries prove too much for Tigers

Last week’s 23-11 victory over Dartmouth wrapped up the football team’s third consecutive 4-6 season. But there was more to the season than the record. While the 2007 and 2008 seasons panned out nearly identically, with Princeton winning and losing games against the exact same opponents, the 2009 season had a much more complicated plotline.

The season started in nearly the same manner that it did a year ago, with a thumping from The Citadel. Many remember the incident last year in which the Princeton University Band got roughed up the morning of the game. This time around, the game was quite similar: The final score of 38-7 looked terrible, but it was largely because of two late touchdowns set up by interceptions. Princeton had trailed, 17-7, heading into the fourth quarter before things got out of hand.

The Tigers appeared to get back on track the next week, defeating Lehigh, 17-14, on the road. But once again, the score was somewhat misleading. The Tigers struggled mightily on offense, especially after senior running back and co-captain Jordan Culbreath went down with a sprained ankle. The Tigers’ first touchdown came on a 77-yard interception return from junior inside linebacker Steve Cody. The second came on Princeton’s only notable offensive play of the game, a 68-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Tommy Wornham. The Tigers totaled only 163 yards and managed only 23 minutes, 57 seconds of possession. If it weren’t for two Princeton interceptions, Lehigh could well have won the game.

The next game began Princeton’s four-game march to mediocrity. Princeton hosted Columbia, a team it had never lost to in Princeton Stadium. This time around, things were a little different. The news that Culbreath had been diagnosed with aplastic anemia had hit the team hard. He was undoubtedly the team’s best offensive player and a potential Ivy League Player of the Year.

His loss left the team reeling. Princeton kept things close early on, trailing only 9-0 heading into halftime. But Wornham threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the third quarter, and the Lions added three more touchdowns in the fourth to finish with a 38-0 win. Though the Tigers finished with 209 rushing yards, 99 of those came from Wornham. Princeton struggled to get production from its running backs, one of the themes of the season.

The Tigers faced nationally ranked Colgate the following Thursday in a game televised on ESPNU. Princeton did not disappoint, holding Colgate’s vaunted offense to seven points in regulation. Princeton’s offense was shut out for much of the game, but it broke through when Wornham hit junior wide receiver Trey Peacock for a 31-yard score in the fourth quarter. The game went to overtime, and both teams scored touchdowns in the first overtime. In the second extra period, the Tigers surrendered another touchdown before being stopped on their own possession.

The showing was an impressive one for the Tigers, and it was a breakthrough performance for Wornham, who finished with 215 yards and two touchdowns. Nevertheless, it ended in another loss.

The Tigers then embarked on a two-game road trip against perennial Ivy powers Brown and Harvard. Princeton kept it close through a half against Brown, but the Tigers lost their second captain for the season when senior inside linebacker Scott Britton went down with a torn ACL. A 20-17 halftime score turned into a 34-17 loss, and the Tigers found themselves out of the Ivy League title race before the season was even half over.

Princeton hit what seemed like rock bottom the following week with a 37-3 loss to Harvard. The Tigers rushed for 38 yards on 25 carries, a far cry from the Harvard game a season ago that Princeton nearly won behind Culbreath’s more than 150 yards on the ground. Princeton played well against the pass, holding Harvard quarterback Collier Winters to 190 yards and intercepting him twice, but the Tigers surrendered 267 rushing yards and three rushing touchdowns. The loss of Britton loomed large.

At 1-5 overall, it appeared the Tigers could finish at the bottom of the Ivy League standings. Princeton was resilient, however, winning its next game, 17-13 over Cornell. Peacock put the game away late in the fourth quarter with a 78-yard touchdown reception.

Princeton hit true rock bottom the next week, at Penn. The Tigers fell, 42-7, to the eventual Ivy League champions, making an average offense look sensational in the process. Princeton rushed for only 25 yards in the game, 12 of which came on a carry from junior fullback Matt Zimmerman.

Following the Penn game, the Tigers turned the corner. The season was obviously lost. The ugly losses had piled up. The injuries were as brutal as ever. Recognizing all of this, the Tigers turned the page and played their hearts out in the last two games of the season. The result was two victories, one of which came over rival Yale, which the Tigers had not defeated since 2006.

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The key to Princeton’s two victories was junior running back Kenny Gunter. Injured for much of his career as a Tiger, Gunter rushed for 119 yards against Yale and 173 yards against Dartmouth. His production took an enormous amount of pressure off Wornham and the passing game, and it dramatically improved the offense. Wornham did not throw a touchdown in either of the Tigers’ last two games, but he did not throw an interception, either. Instead, he functioned as a game manager, completing passes when he needed to and handing the ball to Gunter otherwise.

It was bittersweet to watch this offense. Gunter has exhausted his four years of NCAA eligibility, as has Culbreath. The games against Yale and Dartmouth gave Tiger fans a glimpse of what Princeton might have looked like had Culbreath not gone down early in the season. It was a ball-control offense that ran the ball hard, mixing in passes when necessary. Unfortunately, a glimpse didn’t come until it was too late.

Shortly after the last game of the season, head coach Roger Hughes, the 10-year veteran at the helm of the football program, was fired. Hughes’ replacement has yet to be announced, but whoever it is will surely be happy with some of the players he brought into the program. Cody was perhaps the best player on the team this season, finishing fourth in the nation in tackles per game. He could well be one of the best defensive players in the league next season.

Then there is Wornham, the rising junior quarterback who showed significant signs of improvement through the year. He will be playing behind a brand-new offensive line next season, with four of this year’s starters graduating. But the Tigers do return both starting wide receivers, the starting tight end and the starting fullback.

While the head coaching situation remains uncertain, the 2010 Tigers certainly have the pieces to improve upon the 4-6 record of the past three years.