This Friday, Princeton football (2–0 overall, 0–0 Ivy) heads up the New Jersey Turnpike to New York City to take on Columbia (2–0, 0–0) at 6 p.m. in the Tigers’ first Ivy League game of the season. Since this is the first Ivy League game of the season for both teams, they’ll each be looking to get off to the right start in conference play.
For the Tigers, it’s all about the passing attack led by senior quarterback John Lovett. Lovett, the 2016 Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, was sidelined last year with an injury and has returned this year with a vengeance. Lovett is the College Football Performance Awards’ National Performer of the Week and was last week’s Ivy League Offensive Football Player of the Week, leading Princeton to victory over Monmouth with six total touchdowns — five passing, one rushing — throwing for 332 yards on 21 of 27 passes.
Lovett’s wingman so far this season, who also had a great season last year, is senior wide receiver Jesper Horsted. Last game against Monmouth, Horsted broke the Princeton record for career receiving touchdowns when he caught his third of the game to give him 20 in his career. Horsted will also have a chance at a number of other career records this season, including catches and receiving yards. In order to break these records, he will need to average just fewer than seven catches per game and 106.5 yards per game. Horsted, though, isn’t Princeton’s only weapon, as senior running back Charlie Volker has been a beast in the ground game, rushing for 16 touchdowns in the last nine games and having at least a touchdown in each game so far this season.
The Tigers’ potent offense will be matched by one of the top statistical defenses in the Football Championship Subdivision so far this year in Columbia. Two things that in particular stick out about the Lions’ defense is their rushing defense and their third down conversion defense. Through two games, the Lions have only allowed 70 yards on the ground and have allowed their opponents only to convert on 28.6 percent of third downs. These two statistics have translated well in to keeping opponents off the board, with Columbia giving up an average of 19.5 points per game so far this season.
If you are unable to make the Friday night trip up to New York, there are a plethora of ways for Princeton fans to watch the game across the country. Under the Ivy League’s new television contract with ESPN, the game will be broadcasted live on ESPNU, and for those looking to stream the game it will be available on watchespn.com. Locally, the game will be carried on 103.3 FM, which can also be listened to across the country through the TuneIn App.
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