Football Begins 2023 Home Campaign Vs. Bryant

Saturday, September 23

Princeton, N.J.

12:00 PM

Princeton University

Bryant

Tickets

Blake Stenstrom

Photo by: David Frerker

September 22, 2023 | Football

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By Craig Sachson
PrincetonTigersFootball.com

When you play in the Ivy League, it's a long wait for that first sprint out of your home tunnel. By the time Princeton players step on Powers Field for its first actual gameday of the 2023 season, Purdue will have already played three home games. Most teams will be playing their third one that day.

Princeton (1-0) has made the wait worthwhile for the better part of a decade, though. The Tigers have won their last eight home openers, including a 29-17 victory over Lehigh last season. They will look for a ninth straight successful home opener when they welcome the Bryant Bulldogs (2-1) to Powers Field this weekend.

Mother Nature made sure they won't wait as long as anticipated. Due to projected inclement weather later in the day, kickoff has been moved up three hours to 12 pm. After a successful start to the 2023 season in San Diego last weekend, the Tigers likely wouldn't mind it starting even earlier than that, but they can be patient.

The coaching staff won't rush it, though. Head coach Bob Surace has often noted the significant improvements that can be made between Week 1 and Week 2. He was thrilled with the work put in during the preseason, but there is still nothing like actual gameday competition. After losing a deep and talented group of seniors from last season, Surace needed to see how a new set of starters would handle the bright lights.

Was it perfect? No. Was it more than good enough? Absolutely.

Does Surace expect it to be better this weekend? You better believe it.

WEEK 2 NOTES

Home Sweet Home • Princeton enters Saturday having won 18 of its last 20 home games, as well as eight straight home openers. The Tigers' average margin of victory in those eight wins has been 28.6 points per game.

Counting To 100 • If Princeton defeats Bryant Saturday, it will have gone 73-27 over its last 100 games, dating back to a 33-6 road win at Columbia in Week 3 of the 2012 season. In the previous 100 games from that point, the Tigers had gone 44-56. The last time Princeton won as many as 73 games out of 100 came prior to the Great Depression.

New Faces • The oldest program in college football, Princeton has played the likes of Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, Army and Navy in its history. It will add a new team to its history this weekend, as Princeton and Bryant have never played against each other.

Grounded • How did the revamped Princeton defense look in its 2023 season opener? The Tigers held San Diego to -14 yards rushing in thee 23-12 win. Princeton had four sacks and two other tackles for loss in the win, including the first two sacks in the career of Bakari Edwards.

Tackling The Issue • Twelve Princeton players recorded multiple tackles against the Toreros. Nasir Hill and Ozzie Nicholas combined for a team-high six stops, while Jack DelGarbino made four in his first start at nose tackle.

Playing The Percentages • Senior quarterback Blake Stenstrom completed 23 of 38 passes for 240 yards and two touchdowns in the win over San Diego last weekend. He has a career completion percentage of 68.2%, which would break the Princeton record by more than 1.5% (Cole Smith, 66.7%).

Spreading The Love • It was natural to ask about the Princeton receiving options following the graduation of NFL-bound Andrei Iosivas and Dylan Classi, but the Tigers showed they had multiple threats last weekend. Princeton had 11 different players catch at least one pass at San Diego, including three (JoJo Hawkins, AJ Barber and Tyler Picnic) who shared a game high of four apiece.

Run Around • John Volker saw plenty of the Princeton offense when his older brother, Charlie, helped lead the Tigers to the 2016 and 2018 Ivy League titles. Now he is ready to lead the ground game, and he started with 91 yards and a touchdown last weekend at San Diego. He had a 51-yard run to set up Princeton's first score of the second half and extend the lead to 21-9.

I'm Honored • Freshman punter Brady Clark was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week after he averaging over 40.3 yards per punt at San Diego. He pinned San Diego inside the 20-yard line three times and recorded two 50+-yard punts.

O Captain, Our Captains • Princeton football has named four captains for the 2023 season, and each of the four earned either first- or second-team All-Ivy recognition last year: Liam Johnson, Ozzie Nicholas, Blake Stenstrom and Jalen Travis.

Scouting Bryant • The Bryant Bulldogs are 1-2 on the season, though one loss came on the road at UNLV, a FBS program. They are averaging 414 yards per game, including over 255 in the air from quarterback Zevi Eckhaus. Fabrice Mukendi leads Bryant with 227 rushing yards, but Ryan Clark is the player to watch by the goal line. He has seven carries for 10 yards this season — and all four of Bryant's rushing touchdowns.

Junior defensive back Chris Yates leads the team with 21 tackles on the season, while senior end Kenny Dyson Jr. has five of Bryant's eight sacks. The Bulldogs have gotten immediate contributions from freshman linebacker Nicholas Alvarado, who is second on team with 18 tackles, including 12 solo stops.

Bryant played a thriller last weekend against another Ivy League team, Brown. The Bulldogs rallied from an early 16-3 deficit and took the lead on a Clark touchdown with 1:03 remaining in the game, but Brown drove 76 yards in the final minute to grab a 29-25 victory.

In Memoriam • The Princeton football family expresses its condolences to the family of Eugene F. "Buddy" Teevens, the longtime head coach at Dartmouth who died this week following injuries from a bicycle accident in March. Teevens was an Ivy League Player of the Year as quarterback at Dartmouth and later became the football program's winningest coach. He won 117 games at Dartmouth, more than any coach in program history, and he won five Ivy League titles. He was the first to eliminate tackling at practice in-season, a revolutionary move at the time, but something very common now.

"The Princeton Football family sends its condolences and love to the Teevens family, Dartmouth University and the Dartmouth football alumni, team and coaches," head coach Bob Surace said. "Buddy was a friend, a mentor and incredible competitor. He never let the intense competition get in the way of his values. His impact on the game itself will last just as long as his exceptional legacy as a player and coach."

Read more about Buddy Teevens' impact, and a special moment he shared with Surace following a memorable 2018 showdown, in a recent TigerBlog.