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Princeton University Athletics
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Football Friday: Surace Talks LBs & DL, Looks At Columbia And Last 40 Games
October 03, 2014 | Football
FOOTBALL FRIDAY WITH BOB SURACE
On the eve of his team's Ivy League opener, head coach Bob Surace holds his third installment of the Football Friday interview. He discusses the play of his linebackers and defensive line, looks at the strong play Columbia has gotten from the defensive line and quarterback positions, and gives some thoughts on a wild 40-game stretch, which Princeton started 1-19 and followed with a 14-6 run.
The Week 3 preview is below, including all the pertinent information for you to follow all of Saturday's action.
When you train in the earliest hours of the winter through the longesy evenings of the summer for a mere 600 minutes of football, they all matter to you. From the first minute of the San Diego game through the final minute of the Dartmouth one is an opportunity for greatness for both yourself and your teammates.
But of those 600, only 420 of them can affect your opportunity to win an Ivy League championship. And those start this weekend.
Princeton begins its quest for a second straight — and 11th overall — Ivy League championship this Saturday at 12:30 when it heads to Wien Stadium in New York City to face the Columbia Lions. It's a short road trip — far shorter than the last one — but it's a critical one for a Princeton team with the highest of aspirations this season.
| Princeton Tigers (1-1, 0-0 Ivy) at Columbia Lions (0-2, 0-0) |
| Game Time/Location | 12:30 pm • Kraft Field at Wien Stadium • New York City, N.Y. |
| Game Coverage |
Ivy League Digital Network l WPRB 103.3 FM l Live Stats l @PUTigers_Live |
| All-Time Series | Princeton leads 67-15-1 |
| Last Meeting |
Oct. 5, 2013: PRINCETON 53, Columbia 7 |
| Last At Site | Sept. 29, 2012: Princeton 33, COLUMBIA 6 |
| Last Five Years |
Princeton 3-2 |
| Current Streak |
Princeton 3 |
| Princeton Links |
Game Notes l Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Columbia Links |
Game Notes l Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Next Week |
Oct. 11, 1 pm, Princeton at Colgate |
The Journey Begins
Princeton's quest for a second straight Ivy League championship will begin Saturday on Robert Kraft Field at Wien Stadium when the Tigers open Ivy play at Columbia. You can purchase tickets by calling 888-LIONS-11, or you can buy them online at GoColumbiaLions.com.
If you can't make the game, you can watch it online through the Ivy League Digital Network, or you can listen to it over the radio (WPRB 103.3 FM) or online (wprb.com). This is one of three Princeton games remaining on the Ivy Digital Network; the Brown game will be streamed online, as well as available on NBC Sports Regional networks, and the Yale game will be exclusively on the Ivy Digital Network.
20/20 Vision
Prior to the Sept. 29, 2012 Princeton-Columbia game at Wien Stadium, the Tigers had a 1-19 record in its previous 20 games. In the 20 games since, starting with a 33-6 win over the Lions, Princeton has gone 14-6, won the 2013 Ivy League championship and broke both the Ivy League records for scoring offense and total offense.
Magic In The Middle
Princeton has now won 11 straight games that didn't either begin or end a season.
Elite Eight
Princeton has won eight of its last nine games at Columbia, including a 33-6 win there in 2012. The lone loss came in the Ivy League debut for head coach Bob Surace (2010), when Columbia scored 35 unanswered points in a 42-14 victory.
Overall, Princeton holds a 67-15-1 edge over Columbia, and has won 75% (33 of 44) of the road games in this series.
Grounded
In last season's 53-7 win over Columbia, Princeton had 12 players combine to rush for 315 yards and three touchdowns, including a career-high 98 yards for Dré Nelson, who is coming off a two-touchdown game against Davidson. On the flip side, the Tiger defense limited the Lions to -6 yards rushing on 19 attempts.
Poll Position
For the first time since 1992, Princeton was picked first in the annual Ivy League preseason poll. The reigning Ivy League champion Tigers received nine of 17 first-place votes and topped fellow co-champion Harvard (which received the other eight) by one point in the preseason poll. Dartmouth, Penn and Yale held the next three spots.
Princeton would love to break a recent trend in the voting, as no preseason favorite has won the outright Ivy League title in a decade.
Out Of The Gates
While neither team will win the Ivy League today, one team will likely lose all margin for error the rest of the season. It has been more than 30 years, specifically the 1982 season, that a team earned a share of the Ivy League title with two losses.
The First Step
Over the last 20 years, only two teams won the Ivy League title after losing their first league game. Harvard shared the 2008 title with Brown despite losing to the Bears, while Brown won the 2005 outright title despite losing its opener to the Crimson.
Point It Out
Princeton scored 56 points last weekend in its home win over Davidson, marking the sixth time in the last 11 games that Princeton has reached the 50-point mark. Prior to that, Princeton had reached the 50-point mark six times in 478 games, dating back to a 51-14 win over Cornell in Week 5 of the 1963 season.
Return To Sender
Princeton opened its win over Davidson last weekend with an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Dré Nelson. It was Princeton's first game-opening kickoff return touchdown since the Tigers' last trip to Wien Stadium, when then-freshman Anthony Gaffney returned the opening kick 94 yards for a score.
I'm Honored
Sophomore Rohan Hylton became Princeton's first Ivy League individual award winner of the season when he was named the Defensive Player of the Week following the 56-17 win over Davidson. Hylton recorded a career-best 11 tackles, including 1.5 for losses, and he became Princeton's first played with double-digit tackles this season.
30 For 30
Thirty has been the magic number for Princeton recently. In its last 13 games, the Tigers are 9-0 in games they have scored 30 or more points and 0-4 in games they have scored 29 or fewer. Those four losses have either been in season openers or season finales.
Just Quinn, Baby
Senior quarterback Quinn Epperly rushed for four touchdowns in the 56-17 victory over Davidson last week. For his career, Epperly has 31 rushing touchdowns, third-most in Princeton history. He needs one to match Judd Garrett for second on the all-time Princeton list, and he needs 18 to tie Keith Elias for first. His 31 touchdowns also ranks 12th most in Ivy League history.
Multiplication Tables
Senior quarterback Quinn Epperly has now accounted for multiple touchdowns in 12 straight games, dating back to last season. In fact, he has accounted for at least three touchdowns in 11 straight games.
His first career passing touchdown came at Wien Stadium, a 44-yard pass to Roman Wilson in the fourth quarter of a 33-6 victory.
At A Loss
Senior co-captain Mike Zeuli, who moved from strong-side linebacker to weak-side in the offseason, has thrived through two weeks. He leads the Ivy League in both sacks (1.5 per game) and tackles for loss (3.3). In the season opener, he had 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks — both career highs — at San Diego, and he followed with two tackles for loss and a sack last weekend. Zeuli, who has played four different positions in his career, was a second-team All-Ivy selection last year.
Welcome Matt
Senior Matt Costello ranks eighth all-time at Princeton with 115 career receptions. He needs nine more to move into a tie for seventh with Phil Wendler '00. Costello also ranks 11th with 1256 receiving yards, and he needs 129 to move into a tie for 10th with Judd Garrett.
Conversion Chart
Princeton's third-down offense was among the most efficient in the nation last season, and it led the Ivy League with a 44.7% success rate. Through two games this season, the offense is only converting at a 25% rate.
The defense has been very stingy on third downs, though. That group leads the Ivy League with a 33.3% success rate.
Working Overtime
Princeton has more overtime victories (nine) all-time than any other team in the Ivy League. The next closest teams (Cornell, Harvard and Penn) each have five. Princeton and Columbia have met once in overtime, a 2000 contest that ended as a 27-24 Princeton win.
On The Mike
Senior offensive lineman Mike Ramos is one of two players in the Ivy League to be nominated for the 2014 Allstate American Football Coaches Association Good Works Team. The 182 nominees throughout all divisions of college football represent those who stand out both on and off the field.
Ramos started all 10 games last season at right tackle and helped Princeton break the Ivy League record for total and scoring offense.
National Audience
Starting with the Week 5 game against Brown, Princeton will play five of six games that will be shown to a national audience. The Brown game will be televised on multiple NBC Sports Regional Networks (SNY, TCN Philadelphia, CSN New England, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN Bay Area, and CSN California), as well as the Ivy Digital Network. Both the Harvard and Dartmouth home games will be streamed live on ESPN3, while the home game against Penn will be on the NBC Sports Network. Princeton's game at Cornell will be on FOX College Sports.
The Crystal Ball
Princeton will play its final non-league game of the season next Saturday at 1 pm when it takes on Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y. The all-time series is tied 25-25-1, though Colgate has won eight of the last 10 meetings.
Princeton is 3-4 all-time at Andy Kerr Stadium; in two of the seasons the Tigers won there (1995, 2006), they went on to win the Ivy League championship.
Back In Town
Following next week's game in Columbia, Princeton will begin a stretch of four home games over the final six weeks when it takes on Brown Oct. 18 at 3:30 pm on Powers Field. Princeton rallied from a 16-0 deficit in Providence to win 38-16 last year, and it shut out Brown 19-0 in the last meeting in Princeton.
The game will be shown locally on both SNY and on The Comcast Network. Tickets are available by calling 609-258-4TIX.