CATCHING ON: Princeton University football player Josh Robinson heads upfield in a game this fall. Last Saturday, freshman wide receiver Robinson made five receptions for 68 yards in a losing cause as Princeton fell 17-6 at Penn in its season finale. Robinson, who set program freshman records with 46 catches for 569 yards, has been named as one of 25 finalists for the Stats Perform 2025 Jerry Rice Award, which honors the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) freshman player of the year. The Tigers ended the fall at 3-7 overall and 2-5 Ivy League. (Photo by Frank Jacobs III)

By Bill Alden

Halfway through this season, the Princeton University football league team was on track for a stellar campaign.

Heading into its October 25 game with Harvard, Princeton stood at 3-2 overall and 2-0 Ivy League.

But things started to go off track for the Tigers as they fell 35-14 to Harvard and then suffered three straight three-point losses to Cornell (20-17 on November 1), Dartmouth (20-17 on November 8), and Yale
(13-10 on November 15).

Last Saturday in its season finale at Penn, the squad’s second half skid culminated with a frustrating 17-6 loss to the Quakers as the Tigers ended with a final record of 3-7 overall and 2-5 Ivy for the second straight season.

Princeton head coach Bob Surace was disappointed to see his team come up short in another tight contest.

“It was a great game; we played Yale down to the last play last week and they played Harvard down to the last play,” said Surace. “These games are one-two play games. We had to tighten some things up but our guys came out fighting.
We just couldn’t get it over the hump.”

Playing without starting quarterback Kai Colon who was sidelined by a foot injury, the setback for the Tigers followed a familiar script. They took the opening kickoff and marched to the Penn nine-yard line but got hampered by a holding penalty and ultimately had to settle for a field goal.

“That was tough, Blaine [Hipa] scrambles and gets it to the nine,” said Surace. “In our losses, we struggled a little bit in the red zone and that was an example of an unfortunate deal on that. It was a good drive, it was
an 11-play drive. We just didn’t finish, we left meat on the bone.”

The Quakers responded with a 75-yard scoring drive that ended with a Liam O’Brien touchdown pass to take a 7-3 lead early into the second quarter. Princeton got back in the board with a 30-yard field goal by Esteban Nunez Perez late in the second quarter to make it a 7-6 game at halftime.

In the second half, the Tigers were held scoreless as Penn got another TD pass from O’Brien in the third quarter and a field goal in the fourth quarter to seal the deal in its 17-6 win.

While the loss in the finale stung, Surace credited the team’s senior group with leaving a positive legacy.

“There are 25 seniors, seven of whom couldn’t play because of injury,” said Surace. “They poured their heart into the program. They are great on the field, supporting their teammates. It is the last time some of them will play football. The message was just gratefulness of what they mean to me and to our program. They are just good people.”

In assessing the program’s second straight 3-7 season, Surace acknowledged that preventing injury is
a big point of emphasis
going forward.

“I have got to figure out ways to improve our health; it was hard for us to practice the last five weeks,” said Surace. “We didn’t practice full speed on defense the last five games. We were very limited on offense. We have to look at where and how the injuries occurred and what we can do to help prevent that. The year before we didn’t have as many injuries but we had a lot of shoulder issues. With the help of our medical and strength staff, we limited the shoulder injuries to one shoulder injury the entire year. A torn ACL is a football injury, an ankle sprain or a hamstring, they made up the large majority if it this year. So it is what are we doing from a practice plan, what are we doing to strategize to keep our guys in better football positions where those things don’t happen as often.”

Another key to getting back on the winning track is being better in the red zone and on third down.

“The biggest of two things is situational football, the red zone on both sides and the third and longs on defense,” said Surace. “We should be at 15 percent of them getting first downs and teams are operating at 40 percent. In each one of our losses, there are two of those where we aren’t off the field and the opponent got points. The league doesn’t get easier. I have to fix our level of detail in situations. I have to come up with some different strategies.”

Although going with a number of young players by necessity due to injury led the Tigers to take their lumps this fall, Surace believes that could pay dividends in the future.

“We traveled 30 plus freshmen and sophomores and played almost every one for them; a few of them started and a number of sophomores were playing meaningful minutes,” said Surace. “They are very talented players, some of them blossomed. There are 18 guys that started on Saturday that are returners. At three of the positions, the backups played over 200 snaps on the year. There are numerous guys returning who played over 250 snaps, probably about 30. That is the most we have had. This season we the least number of seniors we have started, a lot of it was due to injury.”

Next year, the Tiger offense should be more potent as a lot of the returning talent is on that side of the ball.

“Our entire offensive line is back; there is a grading system that grades every football player in Division I and we were the highest rated offensive line in the Ivy League and the third-highest in the nation,”
said Surace.

“We literally have six guys who started returning. At quarterback, we have West Smith and some freshmen. We have a good quarterback room. It is like anything else, you have to develop them. They are going to get all of the reps and we will get them up to speed. They will be handing it off and throwing to some really good players. In our receiving room there are six or seven guys that caught more that 10 passes. Josh [Robinson] had 40 plus (46 catches for 569 yards).”