Football Welcomes Harvard For Homecoming Weekend

Saturday, October 21

Princeton, N.J.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

#17 Harvard

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Nic Sanker

Photo by: Brian Foley

October 20, 2023 | Football

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By Craig Sachson
PrincetonTigersFootball.com

Generations of Princeton alumni will make their way to campus this weekend and reminisce about their favorite memories at Old Nassau during Homecoming. Those that make their way to Princeton Stadium will find a team far less concerned about the past and more focused on the present … and hope for the future.

Princeton (2-3, 1-1 Ivy) will host 17th-ranked Harvard (5-0, 2-0) in the 115th edition of one of the Ivy League's greatest rivalries. The Tigers have won each of the last five, the longest Princeton streak in this series since the Dick Kazmaier '52 era, but none of those games felt as necessary as this one. For the first time since the 2011 meeting, Princeton heads into its Week 6 showdown against Harvard with a losing record, which includes a 28-27 overtime loss at Brown last weekend.

Princeton is a play here, a play there, away from being 4-1 or 5-0, but the Tigers don't get to redo any of those plays. The only ones they can focus on are coming against a ranked Harvard team that already has a Top-5 win this season (Holy Cross). The Crimson are the only team in the Ivy League with both a top-three scoring offense and scoring defense.

A Princeton loss would not mathematically eliminate the Tigers from Ivy League contention, but no team has celebrated an Ivy title with two losses in more than four decades, so the odds certainly wouldn't be in their favor. A win, however, would feel like a refresh for the entire league heading into the final four weeks of the season. There would not be any Ivy unbeatens at that point, and there could be a situation where all eight teams have either one or two losses.

All eyes — from the homecoming crowd to fans across the league — will be focused on Powers Field Saturday at noon. Princeton-Harvard doesn't need ramifications to be special.

But when it has ramifications, it can be magical.

WEEK 6 NOTES
History Lesson • Princeton leads the all-time series 59-48-7 over Harvard in a series that dates back to April 28, 1877. The Tigers have won each of the last five meetings, their longest win streak since a seven-game run between 1947-1953.

Over and Over and Over … • The last game between these teams at Princeton Stadium remains one of the most memorable in this series. Jacob Birmelin caught a two-point conversion in the fifth (yes, fifth!) overtime to give the Tigers a lead, and Trevor Forbes knocked away a final pass attempt to clinch the win. Princeton topped the 16th-ranked Crimson 18-16 that day, marking the Tigers' last win over a Top-25 team.

Strength vs Strength • Two of the Ivy's top-ranked units will go head-to-head this weekend. Harvard ranks first in the league in scoring offense (41.2 pts/game), while Princeton ranks second (15.0 pts/game) in scoring defense. The fewest points Harvard has scored in a game through five weeks is 34; the most points Princeton has allowed in regulation over that same stretch is 21.

Grounded • Princeton has the second-ranked rushing defense in all of FCS football, allowing only 73 yards per game and two rushing touchdowns all year. The Tigers will face their toughest test Saturday, as Harvard has the third-ranked rushing offense in the FCS (261.8 yards/game), and the Crimson has the #1 and #2 rushers in the Ivy League (Charles DePrima, 103.4; Shane McLaughlin, 95.5).

Wizard of Oz • Senior linebacker and co-captain Ozzie Nicholas leads the Ivy League and ranks 12th nationally with 10.6 tackles per game this season. He has made double-digit tackles in each of the last four games, including 15 against Bryant. He recorded 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks against Lafayette two weeks ago, and added 10 stops and three quarterback hurries against Brown.

Sixth Sense • Dating back to last season, Ozzie Nicholas has recorded 68 tackles in his last six games. The last Princeton player to match that total was Steven Cody, who did so over that same span during the 2009 season.

Tackling The Issue • Three of the Ivy League's five leading tacklers will be playing Saturday on Powers Field. Besides Nicholas, Harvard's Ty Bartrum ranks fourth with 43 tackles, while Princeton co-captain Liam Johnson is fifth with 41 tackles.

Sack Race • Eleven players in the Ivy League have at least two sacks this season, and six of them come from either Princeton (Bakari Edwards, 4; Ozzie Nicholas, 2.5; Nicholas Sanker, 2; Sekou Roland, 2) or Harvard (Nick Yagodich, 2.5; Tyler Huenemann, 2.5).

Run To Glory • Junior running back John Volker ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 62.2 rushing yards per game, and he has scored four of Princeton's six rushing touchdowns. He has a score in four of Princeton's five games this season, including both Ivy League games.

Fast Carr • Junior Jiggie Carr had the longest rush of his career last weekend, a 53-yard touchdown run at Brown. He entered Week 5 with 51 rushing yards for the season, but carried the ball 13 times for 88 yards and a score in the overtime loss.

Four Score • Senior quarterback and co-captain Blake Stenstrom accounted for a career-best four touchdowns last season in the 37-10 win at Harvard. He threw for three scores, including a 61-yard strike to Andrei Iosivas (more on him shortly), and he added a rushing touchdown. Stenstrom ended the day with 278 passing yards and 60 rushing yards in the victory.

Andrei The Giant • Andrei Iosivas '23 may have dominated the Ivy League last season, but he proved he could compete with the professionals already this fall. A member of the Cincinnati Bengals, Iosivas caught his first career touchdown pass on Sunday, a three-yard strike that helped the Bengals to a 17-13 win over Seattle.

Coming Up Next • Princeton will make the trip to Ithaca, N.Y., next weekend for a 1 pm Saturday matchup against Cornell. The Big Red had one of the surprise wins of the season in Week 2, when they upset Ivy League preseason favorite Yale 23-21 in New Haven. Cornell's lone Ivy League loss came two weeks ago in Cambridge, a 41-23 loss to unbeaten Harvard.