Football: Tigers hope to rebound vs. Big Red

The Tigers are coming off what was a competitive game against Harvard until the last half of the fourth quarter when the Crimson was able to pull away. Princeton looked much improved on offense, scoring 39 points after having scored zero the previous week. The team looks to improve week after week, which it hopes will result in another win this Saturday.

“Dedication to the fundamentals,” senior defensive lineman Mike Catapano said, explaining how the team is able to keep improving. “The individual one-on-one battles that we practice every day are where the game is won or lost. It is our goal to win more of those one-on-one battles in every game that we play, and that is how this team, or any team, ultimately improves.”

“It all goes back to practice,” freshman tailback Chuck Dibilio said. “We continue to have better and better practices, which lead to better performances in the games.”

Dibilio is the biggest reason for the Tigers’ offensive improvement, as he has been able to learn quickly in his first year with the team and be a major offensive weapon. His efforts have been noticed as he has won the Ivy League Rookie of the Week Award three times, a record for a Princeton athlete, with four weeks still remaining in the season.

“I have just ran as hard as I can,” Dibilio said. “I would have to give the credit of that to the coaches. They make sure they get every ounce of effort out of you in practice, so that when the game comes it is easy. They make sure I am going hard all week so that I will in the game as well.”

Unlike the Princeton offense, the defense did not look so strong against Harvard, allowing 56 points and two late touchdown drives that allowed the Crimson to stave off a comeback attempt. If the team wants to win more games, it must improve on defense.

“Bottom line is that we have to execute better in order for our team to win, because 56 points is unacceptable,” Catapano said. “I thought we brought good energy against Harvard, but there were crucial plays that we could have made that would have really helped our team. The plays are there to be made; now we have to step up and make them to give our team a shot at winning.”

Though the defense has looked better than last year’s injury-plagued unit, it has still struggled on balance, as the Tigers have allowed the most points in the Ivy League. The importance of the defense can best be shown by the fact that the team’s best defensive performance of the season resulted in the team’s only win thus far, a 24-21 victory over Columbia.

The team has worked on many things in practice and a win against Cornell is far from unlikely. Stopping quarterback Jeff Mathews, who threw for 402 yards in a 35-24 loss to Brown last week, will be the hosts’ top priority.

“Cornell is a very good team that specializes in its aerial attack. They have a great quarterback who can definitely hurt us if we give him comfort in the pocket, and he is able to execute how he wants to,” Catapano said. “Defensively, we must be able to pressure him all game long and make him make some bad decisions. The offense showed its true colors against Harvard last weekend, and if the defense can make more plays this time, we should have a great chance to get another Ivy League win this weekend.”

The fact that Princeton plays at home this week should help the team notch its second win.

“I think home field advantage is an important part of the game,” Dibilio said. “If you travel, you have to take the long bus ride, stay in a hotel and stray from your regular pre-game rituals. The home team knows exactly what they are doing, and they are used to their surroundings, so it is definitely an advantage.”

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Cornell and Princeton have had a lot of close contests in recent history, but Princeton has been able to win three of the past four contests, save for only a two-point loss at Cornell last year. Princeton will look to get revenge on Saturday at 1 p.m.