Last night, in Princeton, the defending Ivy co-champs hosted Lehigh for their first game of the season. In the first two and a half quarters, the Tigers proceeded to do the following (and if you wrote this as a part of a script, few would have believed it):
1. Lose a fumble on the first play from scrimmage.
2. Throw two interceptions (one on a tipped ball, the other on a bad throw).
3. Muff a punt (ball was rolling slowly to the Tiger returner, with Lehigh coverage guys right on him, and he pulled a Philadelphia Eagle stunt and muffed the ball), with Lehigh recovering it.
4. Had a punt blocked in their own end zone for a safety (the snap was from about the Tigers' one yard-line, and the punter never had a chance. He made a great play by falling on the ball and preventing a Lehigh TD); and
5. A kick returner failed to run under a short kick, letting it bounce, and, again, Lehigh covered the kick well and recovered it.
The final score was 32-21, Lehigh, but the game wasn't that close. The Tiger team as a whole looked unprepared for the game -- from the coaches to the offense to the special teams. In fairness to the defense, while Lehigh looked quicker, they were on the field so much they had to be exhausted. It was a bad night overall for a team that came into the season with so much promise.
That said, one game doesn't a season make, and the best you can say is that the Tigers got out the rust and cobwebs from the off-season and will leave these mistakes behind and excel in their next nine games. Of course, if the first game is a harbinger of things to come, it could be a long season. It's way too early to pass judgment on the Tiger squad, but last night was a bad game for Princeton.
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Well, I watched the game with my father, who commenced his 74th season of rooting for the Tigers (starting with his freshman year of 1933). The Lehigh game was even uglier watching on channel 69. We'll see what happens next Saturday against Lafayette (on WBPH TV, which is channel 46 on many metro Philly Comcast systems, I believe).
Hopefully, the Tigers found a QB late in the game in the senior Mroz. It reminds me of the 1980 season, when senior Mark Lockenmeyer found himself a QB job and had a pretty good run, as SportsProf no doubt remembers. Bob Holly was the QB the next season (including the big streak-breaking win against Yale) and had a brief NFL career.
Exit question -- why did the Princeton AD agree to have so many late start times for home football games?
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