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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Football Resumes Historic Harvard Rivalry Saturday In Cambridge
October 20, 2009 | Football
The historic Princeton-Harvard football rivalry will resume Saturday at noon in Cambridge, Mass. The Tigers will be looking to break into the Ivy League win column while ending the Crimson's eight-game league win streak.
Princeton (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) at Harvard (3-2, 2-0 Ivy)
Date/Time Oct. 24/12 p.m.
Field Harvard Stadium
Location Cambridge, Mass.
TV none
Radio 103.3 FM/GoPrincetonTigers.com
All-Time Series Princeton leads 52-42-7
Last Year Harvard 24, PRINCETON 20
Last At Site HARVARD 27, Princeton 10
Last Five Years Harvard 3-2
Current Streak Harvard 2
Game Notes • Week 6
Old Friends • The Princeton-Harvard rivalry is the second-oldest in Princeton history and the seventh-oldest in Ivy League history. This will be the 102nd meeting, with Princeton holding a 52-42-7 advantage.
Close Calls • With the exception of a 27-10 score two seasons ago, the Princeton-Harvard rivalry has been especially close when played at Harvard Stadium. Here is a summary of games played between 1997 through 2005:
1997 - Harvard 14, Princeton 12 Tied 5-5 after three quarters, Princeton took a 12-5 lead on a 65-yard pass from Harry Nakielny to Ryan Crowley, but three Harvard field goals, including one that was tipped at the line of scrimmage and still went in, gave the Crimson a two-point win.
1999 - Harvard 13, Princeton 6 After a 52-yard field goal by Princeton's Taylor Northrop evened the score at 6-6 with 3:34 remaining, Harvard drove to the 1-yard-line with few seconds remaining. Quarterback Brad Wilford scored on a keeper to clinch the win with two ticks left on the clock.
2001 - Harvard 28, Princeton 26 Taylor Northrop had a chance to win it with seven seconds remaining, but his 47-yard field goal attempt sailed just wide left.
2003 - Harvard 43, Princeton 40 (ot) Princeton tied the game on a 43-yard touchdown pass from Matt Verbit to Blair Morrison with 3:24 remaining in regulation and could have won it with a 42-yard Derek Javarone field goal with seconds remaining, but the kick was wide left. Javarone put Princeton ahead 40-37 with an OT field goal, but Garrett Schires connected on a four-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Byrnes for the winning score.
2005 - Princeton 27, Harvard 24 Princeton ended a nine-year drought when eventual All-America selection Jay McCareins returned a fourth-quarter kickoff 93 yards for the winning points.
Digging Out • Princeton is in unfamiliar territory heading into the second half of its season. For the first time since 1999, the Tigers started out the Ivy League season with two consecutive losses.
Two Bad • Recent history says that losing two Ivy League games might be too much too overcome. It has been 27 seasons since a 5-2 league record was good enough to earn a share of the Ivy title (1982: Harvard, Penn and Dartmouth).
Rallying Cry • Princeton held a 14-3 lead over Harvard after one quarter last season before falling 27-24 on a late touchdown by Gino Gordon.
Tackling The Issue • Junior linebacker Steven Cody leads the Ivy League and ranks third in the nation with 13.3 tackles per game this season. Cody has recorded double-digit tackles in four straight games, including 16 apiece against Columbia and Colgate.
Great Britton • Senior linebacker Scott Britton ranks 10th nationally and third in the Ivy League with 11.2 tackles per game. Unfortunately for Princeton, Britton suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second quarter against Brown. Britton had already recorded seven tackles in the game and was coming off Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week honors after recording 16 stops, including 2.5 for losses, and a sack against Colgate.
Man In The Middle • Junior Jon Olofsson will move from the outside into the middle linebacker position to replace Scott Britton. John Callahan will take over as the starting nickel linebacker for Olofsson.
Welcome Matt • Sophomore Matt Wakulchik has recorded collegiate firsts in each of the last two weeks. He started his first game against Colgate when Cart Kelly was injured, and he recorded his first career interception last weekend against Brown. Wakulchik currently ranks third on the team with 33 stops.
Wakam Sock 'em • Junior Glenn Wakam has quietly had a strong season as a first-year starter. He leads the team with five pass break-ups, including three against Colgate, and has 22 tackles, including 3.5 for loss. He recovered a fumble last weekend against Brown.
Swinging Cates • Senior Wilson Cates has recorded two interceptions in the last four games and made 10 tackles two weeks ago against Colgate. Cates, a defensive co-captain, ranks fifth on the team with 32 tackles.
Head Of The Class • Senior defensive back Dan Kopolovich was named a semifinalist for the 2009 William V. Campbell Trophy (formerly known as the Draddy Trophy), an honor given by the National Football Foundation to honor the best both on the field and in the classroom.
Tommy Boy • Sophomore Tommy Wornham both ran for a touchdown and threw for a touchdown last weekend against Brown. He has recorded multiple touchdowns in consecutive games after throwing for two scores in the double-overtime loss to Colgate.
Yard Stick • Tommy Wornham is the only full-time starting quarterback to rank in the Ivy League Top 10 in both rushing (ninth, 44.6) and passing (4th, 157.6) yards per game). Cornell's Stephen Liuzza also ranks in the Top 10, although he is a wide receiver who throws mostly out of the “Wildcat” formation.
McCray Of Light • Junior running back Meko McCray had both the best rushing day and the best receiving day of his career over the last two weeks. Against Colgate, he ran the ball eight times for 74 yards, an average of 9.2 yards per carry. Last weekend against Brown, McCray caught seven passes for 57 yards and a touchdown; McCray has two career scores, and both have come against Brown.
Catching On • Junior fullback Matt Zimmerman caught a career-high seven passes for 51 yards last weekend against Brown. Zimmerman ranks second at Princeton with 15 catches; that is one ahead of classmate Andrew Kerr, who caught a 23-yard touchdown pass in overtime against Colgate to give Princeton a temporary 14-7 lead.
Trey Bien • Junior wideout Trey Peacock leads Princeton and ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 27 receptions this season. He recorded a career-best 83 receiving yards two weeks ago against Colgate, including a 31-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter to force overtime against the Raiders.
Just For Kicks • Princeton has had either the first- or second-team All-Ivy punter each of the last six years. This season, the Tigers have two of the top four league leaders in punting average. Sophomore Otavio Fleury, a left-footed punter, leads the league with a 40.6-yard average, while right-footed freshman Joe Cloud ranks fourth with a 38.7-yard average. Both pinned Brown on the 1 once last week, and Cloud added one punt to the 3 as well.
The Crystal Ball • Princeton will return to Powers Field at Princeton Stadium next weekend for a Halloween showdown against Cornell. The Tigers have won two straight against the Big Red, although neither game was decided until the final play. The last two home games against Cornell have been three-point victories, with both having last-second kicks to either win the game in overtime (Princeton, 2005) or force overtime (Cornell, 2007; the kick missed).
Ticket To Ride • Tickets are still available for both the Cornell and Yale (Nov. 14) home games. They can be purchased online at www.GoPrincetonTigers.com/tickets or by calling 609-258-4TIX.
Last Year: Harvard 24, PRINCETON 20
Despite a brilliant 154-yard rushing effort by junior Jordan Culbreath, the Princeton football team failed to capitalize on several opportunities and watched a late lead slip away in a 24-20 home loss to defending Ivy League champion Harvard Saturday on Powers Field. Gino Gordon's last touchdown run gave the Crimson its winning margin with 3:34 to go and left Princeton with a 2-4 record.
Princeton, which led by as much as 14-3 in the first half, grabbed a 20-17 lead with 7:16 remaining when Ben Bologna converted on a 28-yard field goal. The 16-play, 87-yard drive gave the Tigers a late lead, but it also gave Harvard plenty of time to score and go ahead. The Crimson converted on a 4th-and-1 midway through the drive on a short pass from Chris Pizzotti to Jason Miller, and followed it up with a 35-yard pass to Matt Luft, who got the ball to the Princeton 6. Two plays later, Gordon went up the middle for the winning points.
The Tigers' final opportunity started off well, as Meko McCray returned the kickoff 31 yards to the Princeton 42. A five-yard pass from Brian Anderson to Will Thanheiser gave Princeton 2nd-and-5, but an incompletion and a sack left the Tigers with a tough 4th-and-18 situation. Flushed out, Anderson hit fullback Matt Zimmerman well short of the marker; Zimmerman tried to pitch the ball to Culbreath, but the two couldn't connect and Harvard took over at the Princeton 32. One first down later, Harvard was celebrating its second straight win over the Tigers.
That celebration came at the expense of another terrific performance by Culbreath, who came in as the Ivy League leader in rushing and posted his second 150-yard day of the season. The total of 154 yards included touchdown runs of 1 and 10 yards, giving Culbreath six touchdowns in as many games and his second two-touchdown performance in three Ivy League games. He helped Princeton to a 177-88 advantage in team rushing and a 353-335 advantage in total offense, but the Crimson came up with another big passing day. Pizzotti completed 17 of 26 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, and he added a 33-yard touchdown run early in the second half to give the Crimson its first lead of the day.