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Princeton University Athletics
No. 22 Football Breaks Into National Poll For First Time Since November, 1993
October 02, 2006 | Football
For the first time in more than 12 years, the Princeton football team broke into the Top 25 in a national I-AA poll. In fact, Princeton almost did it twice in one week, but the Tigers (3-0) will enter next weekend's game at Colgate as the No. 22 team in the College Sporting News (CSN) Coaches Poll and as the No. 26 team in The Sports Network's national I-AA poll.
Princeton, which was projected to finish sixth in its own league this season, won its first three games for the third straight season. Two of the wins, including last week's Ivy League opener, have come on the road. Dating back to last season, Princeton has won five straight road games; the last Tiger teams to win six on the road were the 1964-65 teams, which were led by Hall of Fame head coach Dick Colman.
"It's exciting for our team, our fans and our alumni to be ranked nationally for the first time in so long," head coach Roger Hughes. "However, our players understand that the rankings at the end of the season mean a lot more than the ones during the season."
Princeton and Harvard were the only two Ivy League teams ranked in the CSN poll (Harvard is 18th). Over the last 14 games, dating back to the end of the 2004 season, both Princeton and Harvard have 11 wins apiece, while no other Ivy League school has as many. During that same span, both teams have won seven of nine Ivy League games; they join Brown atop the Ivy League list in that category.
Princeton will travel to Colgate for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Raiders this Saturday. Princeton hasn't won at Colgate since 1997, which is also the last time Princeton swept three Patriot League teams in the same season. The Tigers have already defeated Lehigh (14-10) and Lafayette (26-14) this season.