Football: Tigers look to rebound in week 2

Despite losing its season opener, the football team showed some areas of improvement last week and is optimistic for a successful outing at home against the Bucknell Bison (2-1) on Saturday night.

“The spirits of the team are still very much upbeat,” senior linebacker and co-captain Steve Cody said. “We are not settling for moral victories this season, but we realize that we did some good things against Lehigh and that we can build on those.”

Senior quarterback and co-captain Tommy Wornham, who netted 232 passing yards for Princeton (0-1) in the team’s 34-22 loss to No. 16 Lehigh last week, agreed that there is some positive energy about the team.

“The Lehigh game really taught us a lot as a team because it showed us what areas of the game we really need to work on,” Wornham said. “There has been a good intensity at practice this week because we all know there is still a lot of work to be done in order to beat Bucknell. The team is moving forward in a positive way and taking every opportunity to get better.”

Week-two games have recently been kind to Princeton, which has won its second game in each of the last seven seasons. That trend continued last year, when the Tigers recovered from a similar defeat to Lehigh with a dramatic double-overtime victory over Lafayette, ultimately their only win of the year.

The Tigers’ special teams, expected to be a strength coming into the season, performed to that billing in the season opener. Senior kicker Pat Jacob booted three field goals; Princeton blocked a Lehigh attempt and recovered an onside kick; and senior cornerback Ivan Charbonneau scored a fourth-quarter touchdown with a 92-yard kickoff return.

Jacob said he was more than pleased with his unit’s performance. “It was by far the most complete game on special teams that I have been a part of in my four seasons here,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect and it could have been even better, but it was a great way to start the season.”

The Tigers, however, should expect solid play from Bucknell’s talented return game. Junior Tyler Smith currently ranks fifth in the country in kickoff-return average.

“They are going to make their plays, but we have to limit those and make even more on our side of the ball, be it a big return, a take away or a blocked kick,” Jacob said.

The Tigers’ defense, which struggled to stop Lehigh’s aerial attack, will have its work cut out for it again this week against Bucknell quarterback Brandon Wesley. Wesley, the 2010 Patriot League Rookie of the Year, has recorded three touchdowns and only one interception in three games this season, throwing for 560 yards.

Cody and the defense will look to change this, as he said their primary goal is to have a positive turnover ratio. “I would like to cause some turnovers for our team and, ultimately, do whatever it takes to help us win the game,“ he said.

Wornham said he hopes that the offense will be more productive in the red zone by scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals, which has been a problem for the Tigers dating back to last season. He said that he personally has been working on “executing the game plan more efficiently and managing play better and faster than last week.”

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

This week will mark Bucknell’s second game against an Ivy League foe. Cornell — which was tied with Princeton for seventh place in the preseason media poll — dealt the Bison its first loss of the season, 24-13.

The team expects another exciting week-two home game at 6 p.m. on Saturday. “Bucknell looks like a tough, physical team on film,” Cody said. “They already have two wins despite their loss to Cornell last week, so we realize that we must prepare for them just as hard as we do for any other opponent on our schedule.”