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Princeton University Athletics
Rivals Collide With Winning Record At Stake
November 13, 2002 | Football
Nov. 13, 2002
The Princeton football team will make its final road trip of the season Saturday, as it heads up to New Haven, Conn., to battle Yale (12:30 p.m., WBUD 1260 AM). The winning team is guaranteed both sole possession of third place and a winning season. As much as anything else, the winner has bragging rights in this, the 125th meeting between these old rivals.
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The Facts
The Date Nov. 16, 2002
The Kickoff 12:30 p.m.
The Site Yale Bowl * New Haven, Conn.
The Series Yale leads 66-48-10
Last Year Princeton defeated Yale 34-14
Last Week Penn defeated Princeton 44-13; Yale defeated Brown 31-27
The Coaches P: Roger Hughes (third season, 11-16); Y: Jack Siedlecki (sixth season, 31-26)
TV/Radio The game can be heard live on WBUD AM 1260 and on the Princeton athletics web site.
Game Notes
Milestone Meeting - This will be the 125th meeting between Yale and Princeton in football. The Bulldogs have the edge in the all-time series (66-48-10), but Princeton has won seven of the last 10, including each of the last two meetings under current head coach Roger Hughes.
A Hughes Success - Including his time as offensive coordinator at Dartmouth, Roger Hughes is 9-1 against the Bulldogs since 1992. In those games, Princeton is averaging 24.5 points per game and has scored at least 30 points on four occasions, including last season. Third Time's A Charm - The winner of Saturday's contest will have sole possession of third place in the league. A third-place finish would be Princeton's best in the league since winning the Ivy title in 1995.
B.J.'s Big Day - Wide receiver B.J. Szymanski had the first big game of his career last year against Yale, catching four passes for 120 yards and touchdowns of 53 and 39 yards.
Atkins(on) Diet - Tailback Cameron Atkinson rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns in Princeton's 34-14 victory over Yale last season.
More Atkinson - Princeton is 5-0 this season when Cameron Atkinson rushes for at least 100 yards, and 0-3 when he does not.
Grand Slam - Cameron Atkinson needs to rush for 136.5 yards per game over the final two weeks to become the sixth player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season.
Grand Company - The other Princeton runners to reach the 1,000-yard mark in a season are Keith Elias (1,731/1993; 1,575/1992), Judd Garrett (1,347/1989), Henry Bjorklund (1,081/1970); Walter Snickenberger (1,041/1974) and Ralph Ferraro (1,021/1983).
Bouncing Back - Dating back to last year's Penn game, Princeton has followed every loss with a victory the next weekend. The average margin of victory in those wins is 14 points.
Peaks And Valleys - In the last two weeks, Princeton has overcome its biggest deficit in the Roger Hughes' era to win one game and lost another by the largest margin in that same time period. Two weeks ago, Princeton overcame a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Cornell 32-25 in overtime. Last weekend, Penn ended Princeton's championship hopes with a 44-13 victory at Princeton Stadium.
Seventh Heaven - Princeton has won seven of its last 10 games. The last time Princeton won that many games over a ten-game stretch was a 7-3 record from the second game of the 1997 season until the first game of the 1998 season.
Zak Attack - Princeton linebacker Zak Keasey, who leads the team in total tackles (70) and unassisted tackles (41), made a team-best 10 tackles and nine solo stops in the 34-14 win at Yale last season.
Senior Citizen - Senior wide receiver/punt returner Andy Bryant, who has been returning punts since his freshman season, is among the Ivy League leaders this season with an average of 8.2 yards per return. Bryant had two of Princeton's biggest plays this season - the game-opening 62-yard touchdown reception against Colgate and a third-down conversion in overtime in Princeton's 32-25 comeback victory over Cornell.
Three Amigos - Princeton has had three receivers with 100-yard games this season, Chisom Opara (three), B.J. Szymanski (two) and Blair Morrison.
First And Goal - Sophomore tailback Branden Benson scored his first career touchdown against Penn, scoring from one yard out in the fourth quarter.
Van Morrison - Junior wideout Blair Morrison set career marks with eight receptions for 107 yards against Cornell, but his most memorable catch was his 11-yard fade for a touchdown in overtime.
Not Bad, For Starters - Princeton has started the same 11 defensive players in each game this season. Three of them, defensive backs Jay McCareins and Blake Perry and defensive end Joe Weiss, have earned Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors.
More Starters - Princeton started eight of the same defensive players in the victory over Yale last season. Only defensive end Joe Weiss, linebacker J.R. Sauder and defensive back Blake Perry didn't start in the contest.
Last Starters - Eight of the 11 players who have started each game this season will return next season. The lone seniors from the Princeton defense are linebackers Drew Babinecz and J.R. Sauder and defensive back Kevin Kongslie.
Quarterly Report - Princeton is averaging more points in both the second quarter (7.3) and the fourth quarter (8.6) per game than it has scored all season in the third quarter (seven).
The Closer - Sophomore defensive back Jay McCareins made a late interception against Cornell after a tip by Joe Weiss. In Princeton's last six wins, dating back to last season, McCareins has six interceptions.
A Closer Look - In Princeton's last three wins, Jay McCareins has intercepted a total of four passes, each ending potential go-ahead drives in the final four minutes of the game. Each interception occurred within 30 yards of the Princeton end zone.
The First Pick Goes To... - McCareins' first career interception came last season against Yale.
That Winning Feeling - With one more win this season, Princeton would have its first winning season since 1997. Furthermore, it would be the first time Princeton won at least six games on the field since its Ivy League championship season of 1995. Princeton went 6-4 in 1997, but one of its wins was via forfeit after Penn used an ineligible player.
Sending Them Home Happy - A victory over Dartmouth next weekend would ensure Princeton its first winning record at Princeton Stadium since its debut season of 1998. A sweep would give Princeton five home victories for the first time since the 1994 season.
I'm Honored - Cameron Atkinson is one of 14 members of the 2002 National Scholar-Athlete Class. He is one of three Division I-AA members of the class and the lone Ivy League representative. Atkinson, a chemistry major, will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and will be honored at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City on Dec. 8 when the 2002 Hall of Fame class is inducted.
The Crystal Ball - Princeton will conclude its 2002 schedule at home when the Tigers face Dartmouth at 1 p.m. That game will be televised on both the YES Network and on RCN. The YES Network is also available on DirecTV.
Last Weekend
Penn 44, Princeton 13
PRINCETON, N.J. - Penn scored at least one touchdown in each quarter and held the explosive Princeton offense to a pair of fourth-quarter scores in a 44-13 win at Princeton.
Penn's first points came on a safety, which came wehn Travis Belden sacked Matt Verbit in the end zone. The Quakers marched down the field on their next two drives and converted on one-yard scoring runs. The Princeton defense settled after that, but the Quakers were able to add a late touchdown when the Princeton special teams failed to get off a punt inside its own five-yard line.
Fred Plaza put the game out of reach with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown in the third quarter. By the time Branden Benson scored his first collegiate touchdown early in the fourth quarter, Princeton trailed 30-7. Blair Morrison caught a touchdown pass for the second straight weekend for Princeton's other score.
Blake Perry led the Princeton defense with 12 tackles, including nine solo stops.
Yale 31, Brown 27
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Jeff Mroz threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, including a 20 yarder to Ralph Plumb with 1:46 remaining to lead Yale to a 31-27 comeback victory over winless Brown.
In a game that featured 853 yards of total offense by the two teams, it seemed that whichever squad had the last opportunity would win the game. The Yale defense came up big when it needed, though. Harvard's Owen Gilbert broke up a Kyle Slager pass in the endzone on third down, and defensive back Greg Owens defended a pass on fourth down to sew up the win.
Robert Carr, the league's leading rusher, ran the ball 16 times for 42 yards, but Mroz was 21 for 35 for 281 yards and four touchdowns in the win. Plumb, the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, caught nine passes for 107 yards and the game-winning touchdown. Ron Benigno caught five passes for 107 yards.
Last Year
Princeton 34, Yale 14
Princeton, N.J. - B.J. Szymanski caught four passes for 120 yards and touchdowns of 53 and 39 yards to lead Princeton to a 34-14 win over Yale. The teams combined for 841 yards of offense, including 457 passing yards on a total of 22 completions. Princeton had six scoring drives, none of which took longer than 3:52.
Yale led 14-0 after two short touchdown runs by fullback Jay Schulze before the Tigers ripped off 34 straight points. Yale had the ball in Princeton territory with the 14-0 lead before Brandon Mueller intercepted a T.J. Hyland pass to end the threat. Princeton then 68 yards on six plays, with a four-yard Cameron Atkinson TD run set up by a 24-yard David Splithoff pass to Szymanski.
Princeton then held Yale after the kickoff and took over at the Tiger 47 after a punt with two minutes remaining in the half. Szymanski took one play to tie the game, pulling in a deep post from Splithoff at the 10 and taking it for the touchdown. The Tigers took the second half kickoff and went 80 yards on five plays, the touchdown a 39-yard pass from Splithoff to Szymanski.
Yale took the kickoff and drove to the Princeton 22, but Kevin Kongslie intercepted Hyland's pass and returned it 65 yards to set up Taylor Northrop's 19-yard field goal. Northrop would add another field goal in the fourth quarter, giving him 38 for his career and breaking Alex Sierk's school record.
Princeton had trouble in the fourth quarter in its four Ivy losses, but Atkinson ran 40 yards for a touchdown on the first play of the final quarter to break the game wide open. Splithoff, who was 1 for 5 for 13 yards to start the game, completed his final six for 143 yards to finish 7 for 11 for 156 yards and two touchdowns. Atkinson had138 yards on 17 carries.