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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Football Friday Finale: Surace Recaps Yale, Talks Dartmouth, Class Of 2015
November 21, 2014 | Football
In the final installment of our weekly Football Friday series, head coach Bob Surace looks back on the high-scoring loss to Yale and reflects on the big plays that hurt the Tigers in that game. He talks about a strong Dartmouth squad and its potential Ivy Offensive Player of the Year, Dalyn Williams. He also talks about a potential Player of the Year on his own team, and he reflects on the incredible contributions of his Class of 2015.
Prior to Saturday, Princeton hadn't played a game without any potential impact on its own Ivy League championship chase since 2011. This is a new — and certainly unwanted — situation, but that certainly doesn't mean that Princeton won't be ready to play when the Dartmouth Big Green come to Powers Field Saturday at 1 pm (ESPN3/WatchESPN).
First of all, Saturday is Senior Day. For the 27 members of the Class of 2015, this is a final chance to put on the Orange and Black and compete on Powers Field. These seniors are 10-9 in their careers at home — a remarkable stat considering they started 1-5 — and have a chance to go out on a winning note. And the three other classes want nothing more than to help the seniors achieve that mark.
Also, there is the opponent. Members of this Princeton team have at least a .500 mark against every other team in the Ivy League, but they have yet to beat Dartmouth. Depending on the result of the Harvard-Yale game, the Big Green still has a chance at the Ivy League title; the Tigers would love to ruin that opportunity Saturday.
More than anything, though, head coach Bob Surace has recruited a competitive group of guys, and he will rely on that trait alone this week. These guys will go toe-for-toe in the weight room, practice field, basketball court … they'll be ready to go when the whistle blows Saturday.
And they better, because Dartmouth has gone 11-2 dating back to last season, and both losses have come to teams currently ranked in the FCS Top 20. Junior quarterback Dalyn Williams, a potential finalist for Offensive Player of the Year honors, has given the Tigers fits with both his arm and his legs, and the Big Green defense did a better job against Princeton than any other Ivy League team last season.
The ESPN3 cameras will televise Saturday's game to a national audience. Princeton won't end it by hoisting a the Ivy League trophy, which was the goal from Day 1.
But they'll play like those are the stakes. That's just their way.
| Dartmouth Big Green (7-2, 5-1 Ivy) at Princeton Tigers (5-4, 4-2 Ivy) |
| Game Time/Location | 1 pm • Powers Field at Princeton Stadium |
| Game Coverage |
Ivy League Digital Network l WPRB 103.3 FM l Live Stats l @PUTigers_Live |
| All-Time Series | Dartmouth leads 46-43-4 |
| Last Year |
DARTMOUTH 28, Princeton 24 |
| Last At Site | Dartmouth 35, PRINCETON 14 (2012) |
| Last Five Years |
Dartmouth 4-1 |
| Current Streak |
Dartmouth 4 |
| Princeton Links |
Game Notes l Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Dartmouth Links |
Game Notes l Roster l Schedule l Stats |
| Next Week |
season complete |
Follow Along …
The 2014 Princeton season finale will be streamed live on ESPN3/WatchESPN, with Dave Leno and Ken Dunek calling the action. The game will also be streamed on WPRB 103.3 FM with Dan Loney and Dave Giancola; the call will follow the broadcast of the men's basketball home game against Incarnate Word at 11 am.
20-20 Vision
The Class of 2015 began its Princeton careers with a 1-11 mark in its first 12 games. With a victory today against Dartmouth, the senior class would graduate with a 20-20 record, and it would own at least one victory against every Ivy League opponent.
Going Green
The members of the Class of 2015 have at least a .500 record against every other school in the Ivy League, but they are winless against Dartmouth. Princeton's last victory over the Big Green came in the 2009 finale.
End To End
Princeton is looking for its first win in either a season opener or a season finale under head coach Bob Surace. Since 2012, Princeton is 18-6 in Weeks 2-9 and 0-5 in Weeks 1 and 10.
Championship Picture
This will be the first game Princeton has played when it was eliminated from the Ivy League race since the 2011 season finale. Dartmouth, however, can still earn a share of the crown with a victory on Powers Field and a Yale win over Harvard.
Just Quinn
Senior quarterback Quinn Epperly, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, rushed for three touchdowns last weekend at Yale. Heading into the final game of his career, Epperly has 38 rushing touchdowns, second only to Keith Elias (49) in program history,
Epperly also has 35 career passing touchdowns, second-most in program history to Doug Butler (47).
Movin' On Up
Both Connor Kelley and Matt Costello have moved into the Princeton Top 10 in all-time receptions this season. Costello is fourth with 148 catches, and he needs six this weekend to tie Chisom Opara for third on the all-time list. Kelley is tied with Phil Wendler for eighth on the all-time list (124); he needs two to tie Brendan Circle for seventh.
Costello is also sixth in career receiving yards (1,659); he needs 50 to tie Trey Peacock for fifth on the all-time list, and he needs 56 to tie Michael Lerch for fourth. Kelley is 12th with 1,356 yards, and he would move to 11th with 29 receiving yards.
Kelley is tied for fifth at Princeton with 10 career touchdown receptions; Costello, who caught a 30-yard touchdown pass last season at Dartmouth, needs two today to get into the Top 5.
Catching On
In the first seven games of the season, sophomore wideout James Frusciante averaged three catches and 24.7 receiving yards per game. Over the last two weeks, Frusciante has averaged seven catches and 78.5 receiving yards per game, and he recorded his first career touchdown reception at Yale last week.
Running Away
Junior running back DiAndre Atwater has suffered through an injury-plagued season, but he has had a dramatic impact in Princeton's run game this season. In the six games he has played, Princeton has averaged 186 rushing yards per game; in the three he missed, the Tigers averaged 100.7.
Atwater is averaging 7.4 yards per carry this season, the most for any starting running back in the Ivy League.
At A Loss
Senior co-captain Mike Zeuli leads all Ivy League players with 14.5 tackles for loss, which is four more than any other player in the league and 6.5 more than any player outside of Princeton. He had three tackles for loss at Yale last weekend.
Zeuli needs nine tackles this weekend to go over the 200-mark for his career.
Slam The Dor-ian
Sophomore Dorian Williams had a career game in Princeton's last home game, a 22-17 win over Penn. Williams recorded 13 tackles, three pass break-ups, an interception and an 85-yard fumble return that set up a score in the victory.
Williams now leads Princeton in tackles (73) and pass breakups (six), and he ranks third in the Ivy League with 8.1 tackles per game.
Hylton Express
Sophomore Rohan Hylton is already showing what kind of impact he can have in this league over the next couple of seasons. Hylton currently ranks second in the league in both sacks (4.5) and tackles for loss (10.5), and he ranks 10th with 7.2 tackles per game.
Welcome Matt
Junior Matt Arends, who has started 25 straight games for Princeton at either cornerback or safety, set up a Tiger touchdown last weekend with his second interception of the season. Arends is fourth on the team with 52 tackles, including 10 last weekend, and he leads all non-seniors on the Princeton roster with 157 career stops.
Ty Score
Sophomore defensive lineman Ty Desiré had two sacks and five tackles in Princeton's victory over Penn two weeks ago. He leads all Princeton defensive linemen with five tackles for loss and three sacks this season.
Junior Ian McGeary leads all Princeton defensive linemen with 22 tackles, while Kurt Holuba leads all Tiger freshmen with 18 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss this season.
Passing Fancy
In Princeton's four losses this season, the Tigers have allowed at least 9.5 yards per pass; in its five wins, the highest yards-per-pass allowed in a single game was 7.2 (Cornell). Over the last five weeks, Princeton has allowed more 400-yard passing games (two) than it did all of last season (one).
In its 28-24 win over Princeton in the 2013 season finale, Dartmouth threw for only 92 yards.
At Stake
Princeton and Dartmouth annually play for two trophies, the Governor's Cup and the Sawhorse Dollar. While the Governor's Cup has been around for decades, the Sawhorse Dollar was introduced in 2004. This dollar was originally presented by Dartmouth alum T.J. Rodgers, Class of 1970, to Princeton's Tad LaFountain '72 after the business associates had a friendly agreement in 2002 to have the one whose alma mater lost send $1 to the one whose alma mater won that year's game. When Princeton rallied to win the game 38-30, Rodgers sent LaFountain a 1917 dollar instead of a modern one. Rodgers, in addition to being the CEO of Cypress Semiconductors in San Jose, is also a currency collector.
I'm Honored
Freshman offensive lineman Richard Bush was named one of the five recipients of the 2014 NFF National High School Scholar-Athlete Awards, which was announced by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. Bush was an all-state lineman at Plant HS in Tampa, Fla.
Though the NFF only hands out five national Scholar-Athlete Awards per year, Bush is the third member of this Princeton team to have earned the honor. The other two are senior Matt Costello and sophomore Nick Peabody. Max Coale'14 received the honor in 2010.
The Crystal Ball
Princeton will have a 42-week bye before opening the 2015 season Sept. 19 at Lafayette. The Tigers are scheduled to play five home games next season, including three in a row following the season opener. Princeton will host Lehigh Sept. 26, and then will open its Ivy League season Oct. 3 against Columbia.
Princeton will also host Colgate Oct. 10, and then Cornell on Halloween Day. The home finale will come Nov. 14 against Yale.
All dates are tentative and could be changed because of TV. Game times will be announced during the summer. Please check out GoPrincetonTigers.com throughout the year for updates on the Princeton football team.