Princeton Football Begins The 2021 Season at Lehigh Saturday

WATCH
LISTEN
LIVE STATS
GAME NOTES
Offense Preview
Defense/Specialists Preview

665 days.

Nov. 23, 2019 was the last time the Princeton football team played a game. The Tigers wrapped up the 2019 season with a three-touchdown victory over Penn to secure an 8-2 record.

Much has changed for the football squad since then, but expectations have hardly wavered.

The Tigers were named the preseason league favorite in a vote of Ivy media members, receiving eight of 16 first-place votes and 113 total points. Yale, with six first-place votes and 104 points, was second, followed by Dartmouth with 88 points and one first-place vote. After a year off due to the COVID pandemic, the league will feature a ton of new faces across the board. To give a sense of just how uncertain things are heading into the season, Columbia was picked to finish seventh – but received the other first-place vote.

Princeton has the most All-Ivy selections from 2019 returning with nine. Those include Jeremiah Tyler, Delan Stallworth, Henry Byrd, Collin Eaddy, Jacob Birmelin, Carson Bobo, Samuel Wright, Will Powers, James Johnson. Birmelin earned All-Ivy honors at wide receiver and punt return.

Eaddy, Tyler, and Johnson will join Trevor Forbes, Nikola Ivanisevic and Cole Smith as the captains for this year's team. You can read more about the six captains here.

As Bob Surace walked off the field following the win over Penn in Nov. of 2019, he finished up his 100th career game as the Charles W. Caldwell Jr. '25 Head Coach of Football. His .560 winning percentage is more than respectful along with his three Ivy League titles. However, if you dig a little deeper, the numbers are even more outstanding. Surace was 1-9 in each of first two seasons and dropped the first two games of the 2012 season to fall to 2-20. Since then, he has posted a record of 54-24, a winning percentage of .692. His team have amassed at least 10 All-Ivy players a year from 2013 to now.

Princeton heads to Bethlehem, Pa. on Saturday for a showdown with Lehigh (12 p.m.). The Mountain Hawks are 0-2 this season, having dropped contests to No. 15 Villanova and No. 22 Richmond. They have been outscored 78-6 in those contests against top-25 foes.

Lehigh has not been very efficient on offense, producing just 181.5 yards in the two games, while also turning the ball over eight times. The Mountain Hawks have used mostly two quarterbacks in Cross Wilkinson and Alec Beesmer. Wilkinson has added 172 yards passing while Beesmer is more of a running threat, tying the team lead with 60 yards rushing. John Foley has been the top receiver for Lehigh with 72 yards on seven receptions. Defensively, the Mountain Hawks have seven players with at least 10 tackles and one with nine.

Princeton and Lehigh last faced off in October of 2018, a memorable season that ended with a perfect 10-0 record.

Lehigh scored with 6:50 left in the first quarter to tie the game at 7-all. The Mountain Hawks didn't score again. Princeton scored quite often. The Tigers posted 24 points in the second quarter, 21 more in the third stanza and finished with a 66-7 victory. Some top players still on Princeton in that contest include Dylan Classi, who collected three catches for 65 yards and a touchdown while Trey Gray added 44 yards rushing.

The Tigers lead all-time series, 41-17-2. The first meeting between these two teams was in 1887, a game won by Princeton, 80-0. Since 1996, Lehigh is 13-5 against Princeton including a stretch of four straight from 2010-13. Princeton has not won at Goodman Stadium since 2009, having lost three straight battles. The Tigers are 9-7 all-time on the road against the Mountain Hawks. Princeton head coach Bob Surace is 2-5 in his career vs. Lehigh with victories coming in 2015 and 2018.

Some other news and notes ….

Jeremiah Tyler was named to the Buchanan Award watchlist and a Stats Perform third-team preseason All-American. The Buchanan Award is given to the top defensive player in the FCS, and Tyler is one of only 35 players to be named to the list.

Jacob Birmelin finished with 60 receptions, good for third in the Ivy League. He earned second-team All-Ivy honors. His 60 catches are the 13th-highest in Princeton history for a single-season.

Birmelin is the second player in Princeton football history to go from fewer than 10 career receptions to a season of at least 55 receptions. The other is Stephen Carlson, who had two career receptions before having 71 in the 2017 season.

Collin Eaddy is one of only 14 Princeton players ever to rush for 10 or more touchdowns in a season (and one of five to do so this century). Eaddy led the Ivy League in rushing touchdowns with 12 and total scoring with 84 points in 2019. He placed third in the conference in rushing yards with 799.

Princeton had three players ranked in the Ivy League's top 10 in tackles per game in Delan Stallworth (7.5, T-3rd), James Johnson (6.7, T-6), and Jeremiah Tyler (6.2). Each of those players had at least 60 tackles. Tyler was one of three players to lead the squad with five sacks.

James Johnson led the team with 68 tackles in 2019, securing Ivy League honorable mention. He is not the only Johnson to play linebacker at Princeton as his brother, Liam is also on the team. His older brother, Tom '19, was a two-time first-team All-Ivy while helping Princeton earn an undefeated regular season in 2018.

Jacob Birmelin and Dylan Classi had at least one catch in every game in 2019. Carson Bobo had at least one catch in all but one game during that campaign.

Princeton has recorded a .500 record in eight consecutive years. The last time Princeton did that was 1960-67.

Princeton had five alumni in NFL training camps this summer in Kevin Davidson, Stephen Carlson, Jesper Horsted, John Lovett and Caraun Reid. Horsted made the Chicago Bears' roster following a three-touchdown performance in the preseason finale. He was inactive for the team's first week contest vs. Los Angeles Rams.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results