Princeton Rings Turnover Bell Seven Times In 31-24 Win Over Penn

Saturday, November 18

Philadelphia, Pa.

1:00 PM

Princeton University

5-5 , 4-3

Penn

6-4 , 3-4

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Princeton

Penn

Tahj Owens rerturns an interception in the 31-24 win over Penn.

Photo by: Greg Carroccio

Princeton Rings Turnover Bell Seven Times In 31-24 Win Over Penn

November 18, 2023 | Football

Box Score

The last game of the Princeton football season — and, for that matter, the season itself – ended in very appropriate fashion.

Nasir Hill's second interception came as Penn was threatening to pull off a last minute miracle comeback and sealed the Tigers 31-24 victory at blustery Franklin Field Saturday afternoon. How else should this game have ended other than with a turnover forced by Princeton's defense, which actually had seven of them for the day. That's seven turnovers — four interceptions and three fumble recoveries — that made the sound of the Princeton turnover bell ring early and often.

And how else should this season have ended but with yet another close game for the Tigers? For the 10th time (and that's in 10 games), Princeton played a game that neither team ever led by more than 14 points, and for the sixth time in seven Ivy games, Princeton played a game that was decided either late in the fourth quarter or beyond.

This one looked all the world like it might be an overtime game as well, something Princeton and Penn had each played three of this year, going a combined 1-5 in those games. Had any of those OT losses in Ivy games gone differently, then Princeton and Penn would have been among the three teams (Dartmouth, Harvard, Yale) who celebrated a league title Saturday, marking the first time since 1982 that a two-loss team has won a championship.

Instead, the two teams playing on Franklin Field knew there would be no title in 2023 before the game started, both done in by their most recent crushing defeats, Penn in three OTs to Harvard and Princeton in two OTs to Yale a week ago. All that was left for Princeton was to go out with a win, one that would ensure the program's 11th straight non-losing year.

Hill's second pick (he also had a fumble recovery and four pass breakups) came on the Tiger 18 with 18 seconds remaining, leaving only one Blake Stenstrom kneeldown to end it. The play also came after Penn almost came all the way back from down 14 points in the final two minutes, first with the third TD reception of the day by Jared Richardson, this one with 44 seconds to go and then regaining possession on the most perfectly executed onsides kick you'll ever see, a play that also saw Richardson corral the ball. Aidan Sayen, who threw for 385 yards, completed two passes to get his team to the 36 before Hill stole the last one in front of the Penn bench.

Richardson had gotten Penn on the board with a 37-yard TD catch late in the first quarter, but Jeffrey Sexton drilled a 45-yard field goal and Connor Hulstein hauled in an 11-yard TD reception from Stenstrom late in the second to make it a 10-7 Tiger lead at the break. Penn went up 14-10 on a 59-yard catch-and-run from Sayin to Richardson, but the Tigers answered with a three-yard Jiggie Carr run and a 27-yard strike from Stenstrom to AJ Barber to make it a 24-14 Princeton lead. After a short Penn field goal, Dareion Murphy punched it in from five yards out, making it 31-17 early in the fourth.

Penn outgained Princeton 499-277, had a 27-17 edge in first downs and ran 84 plays to 68 for Princeton. When a team in football is plus-7 in the turnover game, though, it's hard to lose. They came in every way: the two Hill interceptions, one pick for Tahj Owens on a tipped ball near the Tiger goal line, a pass that was tipped by one defensive lineman (Jake DelGarbino) to another (Collin Taylor), fumble recoveries by Hill, Ozzie Nicholas and Ryan Savage.

The Tigers turned those seven turnovers into 24 of their 31 points.

As such, Princeton came away with a 5-5 record and 4-3 Ivy finish. Bob Surace won his 78th game at Princeton, tying Steve Tosches for second all-time for Tiger coaches, 11 away from Bill Roper's all-time record.

The season didn't end with a championship. It did with a bunch of happy Tigers. For the last day of this crazy 2023 season, that was all they could ask.