Football will have its biggest test of the year on Saturday when it travels to Princeton, New Jersey to take on the Tigers. Princeton is undefeated on the season and currently ranked 22nd in the nation. Hanging with the team for 60 minutes on the road will be a challenge.
Princeton (6-0, 3-0 Ivy) is coming off of its best game thus far — a 37-10 beatdown of Harvard in Cambridge. After leading by only four at the half, the Tigers shutout the Crimson in the final 30, while tacking on an additional 23 points.
The team is led by quarterback Blake Stenstrom, who has thrown for more than 1,600 yards on nearly 70 percent passing. He is joined by the duo receiving threat of Andrei Iosivas and Dylan Classi, who each have more than 500 yards receiving on the season.
“They have the NCAA 60 meter indoor sprint champion playing wide receiver,” said head coach David Archer ’05. “If you cover him, they’ll throw it to the second leading receiver in the league. If you cover both of them, they’ll hand it to the kid [Ryan Butler] who’s probably gonna win Rookie of the Year in the league as tailback. Their quarterback is a transfer from Colorado who’s completing 70 percent of his passes… and that’s just their offense.”
In addition to the offensive attack, the Tigers also sport one of the top defenses in the nation. Coming into this weekend, Princeton ranks second in points allowed and first in turnover margin.
The Red (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) is coming off of a nail-biter victory against Brown, 24-21. Cornell racked up 200 rushing yards in the game, a feat that will be difficult to repeat against Princeton’s second ranked rush defense. Further complicating things for the Red is the status of sophomore running back Eddie Tillman, who is questionable to play after suffering an injury in the fourth quarter against Brown.
“Our identity — what we want to be, to execute on offense and to control the ball and create negatives on defense, is a good formula against anybody,” Archer said.
On defense, Cornell clinched the contest against the Bears with a strip sack from fifth year lineman Max Lundeen. It will be on this unit to contain Princeton’s offensive starpower.
“You got to do a great job giving the quarterback different looks,” Archer said. “You got to do a great job making him double clutch the ball. You got to make him uncomfortable with trying to put pressure on him, and you got to change up how you’re going to defend those two guys.”
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Princeton Stadium.
Prediction: Princeton 38 Cornell 17
Princeton appears to be rounding into peak form after dismantling Harvard last Friday. With the number of weapons the Tigers possess on both offense and defense, the Red will be unable to keep up.