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Princeton University Athletics
Princeton Opens Football Season At Lehigh
September 17, 2001 | Football
Sept. 17, 2001
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The Date * Sept. 22, 2001
The Kickoff *1:07 p.m.
The Site * Goodman Stadium * Bethlehem, Pa.
The Series * Princeton leads 36-8-2
Last Year * Lehigh defeated Princeton 20-18
Last Week * Princeton's game against Lafayette and Lehigh's game against Penn were postponed
The Coaches * Princeton: Roger Hughes (second season, 3-7), Lehigh: Pete Lembo (first season, 1-0)
TV/Radio *The game can be heard live on WHWH AM 1350 in Princeton and the Princeton Web site (www.GoPrincetonTigers.com), as well as on student-run station WPRB FM 103.3. The game can also be seen on RCN, which will televise the game on tape delay Sunday at 9 a.m. and Tuesday at 8 p.m.
History lesson - The Princeton-Lafayette game originally scheduled for last weekend was the first Princeton football game postponed since the 1963 Dartmouth game, after the assassination of President Kennedy, and the second game postponed since records were first kept in 1937.
More history - Princeton is 36-8-2 against Lehigh all-time: 33-2-2 prior to 1935, 0-0 between 1936 and 1984 and 3-6 since 1985.
For what it's worth - Princeton's 20-18 loss to Lehigh last year was the Mountain Hawks' closest game of the regular season.
More worth - Princeton and Lehigh went to overtime in Princeton's previous game at Goodman Stadium (1998) before Lehigh won. What does the media know? - Princeton was picked to finish sixth in the Ivy League's preseason media poll.
More media - Princeton plays away games at the top three teams (Penn, Harvard, Brown) in the Ivy League's preseason media poll.
Change of seasons - Princeton has six players starting against Lehigh who started the season opener against Lafayette last year. The six: WR Chisom Opara, WR Nate Lindell, LB Chris Roser-Jones, CB Paul Simbi, SS Kevin Kongslie, CB Blake Perry.
Close shaves - Of Princeton's 10 games in 2000, six were decided by seven points or fewer. A seventh was tied in the fourth quarter.
More shaves - Nine of Princeton's last 15 games and 27 of Princeton's last 50 games have been decided by seven points or fewer.
Last shaves - Princeton scored a touchdown with 1:18 to play against Lehigh last year to make it a 20-18 game. A two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game was no good.
Young guns - Of the 14 defensive linemen on Princeton's team, 13 are either freshmen or sophomores.
Quarter horses - Princeton had four quarterbacks start at least two games last year due to injuries.
Line 'em up - Princeton has four new starters on the offensive line: OT John Holownia, OT Kevin Manning, C Roger Patterson, OG Lance Baird. Only OG Matt Peluse has been a starter before.
Split decision - David Splithoff completed 31 of 48 passes for 543 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions in nine quarters as a freshman last year before breaking his jaw on the last play against Harvard. He is healthy again and will be Princeton's No. 1 quarterback entering the season.
Picked clean - David Splithoff threw 48 passes last year without an interception. The school record is 114 passes without an interception, held by both Joel Foote (1992) and Brock Harvey (1995).
More picks - Chris Roser-Jones led Division I-AA linebackers with six interceptions a year ago.
Passing fancy - David Splithoff set a Princeton record with 14 consecutive completions a year ago.
Catching on - Chisom Opara caught at least three passes in every game last year.
Welcome back - Nate Lindell, who averaged 31.7 yards per catch on seven receptions last year, is back in the starting lineup after tearing his ACL in Week 5 against Brown.
Not bad, for starters - Blake Perry is the only offensive or defensive player in Princeton history to start every game as a freshman.
Many happy returns - Andy Bryant led the Ivy League in punt returns average (13.2) a year ago.
Getting his kicks - Placekicker Taylor Northrop is a preseason Division I-AA All-America.
More kicks - Taylor Northrop has 25 career field goals. He needs 11 to tie the Princeton record held by Alex Sierk '99 and 16 more to tie the Ivy League's career record of 41, held by Jason Feinberg (Penn '01).
Last kicks - Taylor Northrop is one of three placekickers in Ivy League history with two career 50-yard field goals. The others: Tim Mazzetti (Penn '77) and Mark Hall (Harvard '94). No kicker has had three career 50-yarders in Ivy history.
Hoop dreams - Senior defensive end Phil Jackman never played organized football prior to walking on in midseason a year ago. Jackman played two years of basketball for the Tigers.
'Backer up - Princeton has had a first-team or second-team All-Ivy League linebacker every year since 1991.
More 'backer - Bob Farrell is the fifth Princeton captain in the last seven years to be a linebacker. The other four were all named first-team or second-team All-Ivy League.
Moving up the charts - Chisom Opara ranks 14th on Princeton's career receptions list with 61 with two seasons remaining. Opara needs 14 catches to tie for 10th place.
Getting there - Princeton tripled its Ivy win total from 1999 to 2000, going from one win to three.
Ice pop - Princeton center Roger Patterson is a native of Eagle River, Alaska. His father is an Alaska state trooper.
World Wide Webb - Princeton cornerback Clark Webb, a starter for parts of last season, will miss the 2001 season to study at Oxford.
Welcome back - John Amburgy and Drew Babinecz, both former starters who missed the 2000 season, are back with the team in 2001.
Line of scrimmage - Princeton scrimmaged Ivy rival Penn on Sept. 4, playing into the middle of the second quarter before the game was ended by lightning. Each team had scored one touchdown to that point, Princeton's came on an 85-yard touchdown pass from Brian Danielewicz to B.J. Symanski.
Made to be broken - Blair Morrison set a Princeton freshman record with 17 receptions a year ago, breaking the record set the previous year by Chisom Opara (10).
Two good - Starting tight end Mike Chiusano has never caught a pass in a game, though he did catch a two-point conversion attempt after a fumbled snap against Cornell last year.
Catching on - Princeton's starting tight end and fullback of a year ago (George Citovic, Marty Cheatham) combined to catch 59 passes last year. No current Princeton tight end or fullback has ever caught a pass.
Horse-play - Princeton linebacker Rob Currey was named "Best Cattle Showman" at the 1998 Livingston County Fair in his hometow of Fowlerville, Mich.
The music man - Senior Jon Lee, the No. 2 fullback, was a member of the Harrisburg Youth Symphony as a cello player.
Crossing the line - Sophomore Jeff Micsky, the No. 3 center a year ago, is now a starting defensive tackle.