Welcome To October

It was a bit breezy yesterday morning.

At one point, TigerBlog looked up and saw a large leaf float peacefully on the wind until it settled on the ground, alongside dozens of its brothers and sisters. It was very calm and very picturesque — and also very ominous. 

Summer is over. Winter, it said, is on the way. 

Welcome to October. The end of the month will bring Halloween, which brings with it the annual sprint to Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. 

The last day of September brought temperatures in the 80s to the Princeton area. By the end of the October, those hot days will only be a memory. More leaves will have fallen. Jackets and sweatshirts will be required. 

And crossover season will have begun. In fact, the college women's hockey season actually has begun, and the college men's hockey season faces off this weekend. With real games. 

For now, it's still only fall events at Princeton. This weekend has some intriguing ones. 

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The Princeton and Yale women's volleyball teams have combined to win five Ivy League championships in the last three years. How's that? 

The teams have shared the Ivy League championship twice in the last three years, while Yale has won it outright once. Between them they have 34 all-time Ivy titles of the 58 that have been awarded (Princeton with 20, Yale with 14).

Only twice in the last 15 years has a team other than Princeton or Yale represented the league in the NCAA tournament. 

It's very early in the Ivy season for 2025, obviously. Each team has played just one league opponent, with Princeton, Yale, Harvard and Cornell all at 1-0.

This weekend is the first back-to-back, and Princeton hosts Brown tomorrow (7) and Yale Saturday (5). Obviously any Princeton-Yale matchup is big, even if it is the second weekend. 

First, though, there is Brown. The Bears are the last team other than Princeton or Yale to win the league championships, something they did in 2021. There is no looking past anyone.

If you've never seen volleyball in Dillon Gym, it is electric. Admission is free. 

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There will be a soccer doubleheader on Myslik Field at Princeton Stadium, though with different opponents. 

It starts at 4, when the men's team takes on Brown. The women then play Yale at 7.

The men's team is the top-ranked team in the RPI in Division I. The team also entered the United Soccer Coaches' poll this week at No. 13.

Princeton took down Army-West Point Tuesday night on the road 2-0, improving to 7-1-0 with a sixth-straight win and fifth-straight shutout. Princeton won the Ivy League tournament a year ago, as you recall. 

Brown is one of three teams, along with Princeton and Cornell, who won its league opener a week ago, with a 2-1 win over Dartmouth. The Bears are 5-2-1 overall and 3-0-1 in their last four, with wins over Rhode Island and UMass-Lowell and a tie with Providence. 

The women's race had a week head start on the men, so this will be the third Ivy game for the teams. There's a long way to go, though the Ivy tournament field will be starting to take shape. Hey, three out of seven league games will be a significant barometer of where everyone stands. 

Right now, Princeton is one of four teams at 1-1-0. The only 2-0-0 team is Columbia, while Dartmouth is next at 1-0-1. 

Yale is 0-2-0, 2-7-0 overall.

Admission for all regular season soccer games is free.

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The field hockey team is on the road tomorrow at 5 in New Haven for a big one at Yale. The Tigers are 5-3 and ranked eighth in the country in the coaches' poll and seventh in RPI.

Yale is ranked 16th by the coaches and is 11th in RPI. The Bulldogs are 6-1 overall and, like Princeton, 1-1 in the league. 

The Tigers bounced back nicely from a 3-1 home loss to Harvard with a 2-1 win at No. 11 Maryland Sunday. This is the first weekend of the season where Princeton only plays one game. 

It's also the first of three straight on the road, with a road trip to Dartmouth next Saturday followed by a flight from Boston to Chicago to take on Northwestern a week from Monday.   

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Okay, this isn't actually a fall sport, but there will be six lacrosse games on Sherrerd Field Saturday. 

It will start at 9 am when Princeton's women take on Fairfield, followed in order by Fairfield-Albany and then Princeton-Albany. 

The Princeton men will play at 2 against Syracuse in a rematch of last year's epic 19-18 Orange win in the NCAA quarterfinals, followed by Syracuse-Army and then Princeton-Army.

Admission is free and open to the public.  

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The entire weekend schedule can be found HERE.  

Photo Day

TigerBlog took this picture on his way into Princeton Monday morning.  

That's pretty cool, no? 

By the way, he doesn't recommend taking pictures while driving. This was a rarity. 

Hey, how about today's theme will be something along the line of photos. Like this one:

That, of course, is Gary Walters, the point guard on the 1965 NCAA Final Four men's basketball team, a member of the Class of 1967, an assistant coach on the 1975 NIT championship team and the Ford Family Director of Athletics from 1994-2014. 

The occasion was, as TB said last week, Gary's 80th birthday. By contrast, here is Gary on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a senior:

Moving along, TigerBlog was pressed into service as the photographer for Princeton's field hockey game at Maryland Sunday afternoon. Here is a picture of the opponent, whose rallying cry is "Fear The Turtle":

Wait. That's not a Maryland Terrapin. That's just a visitor TB had outside his house. Here are the actual Terps: 

This wasn't TB's first attempt at sports photography. He likens it to golf: He's not horrible at it, but he has a lot of respect for those who are really good at it. 

Also, he doesn't own his own clubs or an actual camera (other than the one on his phone).

The game started out with a great chance for Maryland, only to have Princeton goalie Olivia Caponiti come up to make a big save. Yeah, TigerBlog missed that. He did get a good picture of the turf next to Caponiti. You could even see some of the goal post. 

Princeton's first goal in the 2-1 win came from Beth Yeager. TB didn't get the goal or much of the celebration, though he did get a few with hugs that were obscuring Yeager's face. Ironically, he got a good one of Yeager after the second goal, from Ella Hampson. 

And this one of Yeager, which didn't come out too badly. 

You can add photography to the list of things that have changed radically since TB first started in this business. You can also put it close to the top of that list, actually. 

Back then, you needed one or two good action shots of each player over the course of a season to use in the following year's media guide. Most of the pictures that were taken were in black and white, since you could only use color on the covers. 

Now? Photography is huge, since social media is, in many ways, the biggest connection between teams and those who follow them. 

The Instagram numbers for the field hockey team, for instance, are astonishing. There were 2.1 million views of the content on the team's feed in the month of September. That's 2.1 million. 

How many page views did TigerBlog get during that same time? He had a good month — 61,000 views. 

In other words, Princeton field hockey Instagram got 35 times as many views as this blog (regardless of how well written it is, right).

And so there was TB, with the office camera, as he did his best to come up with enough photos that were passable for social media purposes. The numbers suggest he did a good enough job.

He's learned enough about taking celebration pictures to put himself in the right place at the right moment. This one wasn't bad, especially with the final score on the scoreboard:

And that's today in pictures. 

TB will be back out there Friday evening with the office camera again, this time with the field hockey team at Yale. 

The goal, again, is to get enough for social media. Oh yeah. He'll also write a story after the game. His pictures will get way more eyeballs.  

 

No. 1 In RPI

The Major League Baseball playoffs will be starting today with four opening games in the best-of-three Wild Card series.

In this round, TigerBlog will be rooting against the Tigers, something he's not used to doing. Of course, he doesn't mean the Princeton Tigers. He means the ones from Detroit, who play Cleveland today at 1 to get it all started. 

Why the Guardians? Loyalty, to Derek Griesdorn, Princeton's Senior Assistant Equipment Manager — and the most dedicated Cleveland sports fan TB knows. 

TB is also rooting for the Reds, in this case because of TV play-by-play man John Sadak, the former voice of Princeton men's and women's basketball. 

Once the next round begins, TB will also be rooting for Tom McCarthy, another former Princeton voice who is now the play-by-play man for the Philadelphia Phillies. This would become more challenging if the Divisional Round matches the Phils and Reds. 

There's also a Red Sox-Yankees series. TB remembers back to 1978, when those two played a one-game playoff to break the AL East tie, when there was still just an East and a West. The Red Sox had been up by as many as 14 games on the Yankees in July, before one of the greatest comebacks sports has ever known.

New York won the playoff game — and ultimately the World Series — after trailing 2-0 into the seventh, when non-power-hitting Bucky Dent (known ever since by Boston fans with a little addition to that name) hit a three-run home run over the Green Monster. 

By comparison, this year's Guardians trailed Detroit by 15.5 games in July, and even by 10.5 in September, which makes it statistically the biggest comeback in baseball history.

You know who isn't in the playoffs? The Mets, who back in July had the best record in baseball. 

You know who is bothered by this? Princeton head men's soccer coach Jim Barlow, one of the biggest Mets' fans TB knows (his colleague Jon Kurian is another one).

On the other hand, perhaps Jim Barlow has been too caught up in the start of his team's season to really feel that badly about his Mets (or his favorite NFL team, the Dolphins).

Princeton men's soccer is off to a 6-1-0 start to the season, with a five-game winning streak that includes a 1-0 win over Harvard in the Ivy opener this past Saturday in Cambridge. If you go back to last season, Princeton has now 13 of its last 16 games, including both to win the Ivy League tournament last November. 

The Tigers are at Army-West Point tonight, with a home Ivy game Saturday against Brown. There are still two other non-league games, at James Madison (Oct. 14) and Bryant at home (Oct. 21).

That Princeton-Bryant game? That will be a matchup of two teams who are currently in the top five in Division I in RPI. That's "top five," as in 1-2-3-4-5. 

Princeton's sizzling start has vaulted the team into the No. 1 spot in the country in RPI. Bryant is currently No. 5.

If you're wondering, teams 2-3-4 right now are Vermont, Indiana and North Carolina State. 

Army-West Point is 64th in the RPI. James Madison is No. 90. As for the rest of the Ivy League, Harvard is 45th and the next-highest league team. Beyond that you have Saturday's opponent at 52, Penn at 88 and Cornell at 99. 

That's a lot of top 100 opponents still to be played. That's also the kind of schedule that keeps your RPI way up there. 

Princeton goalkeeper Andrew Samuels was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for the second straight week after his shutout of Harvard. That effort included turning aside a penalty kick attempt. 

Samuels and Princeton have allowed only three goals all season. Princeton ranks eighth in save percentage, 10th in goals allowed and 18th in shutout percentage in Division I.

No game is easy. Being No. 1 in RPI as September ends is great. As Barlow would undoubtedly say, "that's nice. Check back in November."

What September has done is put Princeton in position to play huge games in October and November. 

Sadly, Barlow's beloved Mets cannot say the same thing.  

 

Week 2 Win

Did you see the end of the Florida State-Virginia game Friday night? 

If you missed the game, it's likely you saw video of the aftermath. UVa won the game 46-38 in two overtimes, and yet the real drama didn't start until after the Seminoles' last chance ended up with an interception in the end zone.

That's when the field went from 22 players to thousands and thousands of rowdy, happy fans in a matter of seconds. As court/field stormings go, this one was overwhelming. 

Was it festive? Was it a wild sight? Were the students loving every second of the win? 

The answer to all of that is yes. Still, you know what it really was? 

Dangerous. 

It's extraordinary that nobody was killed, especially the Florida State receiver (and UVa defensive back for that matter) who were on their backs in the end zone when it all happened. It's extraordinary that none of the Florida State players threw a punch, especially quarterback Tommy Castellanos when a UVa student flipped the bird right in his face.

There was really nothing anyone at UVa could have done to hold back thousands of students at that moment. On the other hand, common sense suggests that there has to be something other than a fine, no matter how large, to deter these situations. 

And that's not cranky TigerBlog the "get off my lawn" old man. Like he said, he'd like to think that's common sense. 

It'll be interesting to see if anything comes of it. If nothing else, risk management should get involved before the lawsuits fly, no? 

Anyway, that's TB's take on the situation.  

Meanwhile, closer to home, Princeton football did what football teams do — which is to say that the Tigers made a jump from Week 1 to Week 2. In this case, Princeton took down Lafayette 38-28 on the road in what was a very, very good win. 

Victory Count No. 1! @NasirHill4 | #JUICE 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/nY8N46maR9

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) September 27, 2025

Princeton opened its season a week earlier with a 42-35 loss to San Diego in a game that the Tigers led 35-21 at the half. This time, it was a 28-14 Princeton halftime lead, which means that Princeton has scored 63 of its 73 points to date in the first half. 

This time, though, Princeton made all the plays it needed to come away with a win. It was a hot and humid day Saturday, which sort of helps the point TigerBlog was making last week, that there's a difference between being "in shape" and "game shape."

Princeton's second half touchdown came via a Kai Colon to Jackson Green pass. You may know that Green also plays lacrosse at Princeton, and he scored four goals last spring as a shortstick defensive midfielder. Has anyone else ever scored at least one touchdown in football and scored at least one goal in lacrosse before? 

TB knows of two who definitely did: Dan Sachs, the 1960 winner of the Roper Trophy as the outstanding senior male athlete, and John Heyd, the 1959 winner of the same award. Sachs scored a bunch of both, by the way. 

Back in the present day, Princeton again got great efficiency from two quarterbacks, Colon and Blaine Hipa, who between them went 21 for 32 for 205 yards and one touchdown, without an interception. Princeton ran for 121 yards as well. 

Defensively, Princeton held Lafayette to 126 rushing yards, which was 98 yards below the Leopards' average coming in. Chase Christopher led the defense with 15 tackles, 13 of which were solo. Torian Roberts picked off a pass and returned it 38 yards for a touchdown. 

And just like that, the first two weeks of the season have come and gone. Next up is the Ivy League opener, which comes up against Columbia Friday night on Powers Field at Princeton Stadium. The Lions had their own bounceback, following up a 38-14 opening loss to Lafayette on the same field where Princeton played Saturday with a 19-10 win at home against Georgetown. 

It'll be a much different week at practice for Princeton. The uncertainties of last week were answered decisively in Easton. 

Plus, it's the opener for the Ivy League. 

A Week 2 win has done wonders for Princeton football.  

Princeton At du Motier

There will be more than a football game that kicks off tomorrow afternoon in Easton. 

It will also be the official kickoff of the Bicentennial Celebration of Lafayette College. You know how much TigerBlog loves history. 

While it wasn't until 1829 that the school first admitted students — four of them — Lafayette College was founded in 1826 and named for the French Revolutionary War General. Imagine if the original board members had opted for his actual name.

If that had been the case, then tomorrow's football game would be between Princeton and Gilbert du Motier College, instead of Princeton-Lafayette. 

The original Lafayette teams were simply called "the Maroon," after the uniform color. In the 1920s, the school decided to adopt a more ferocious nickname, something that might rival other schools who were competing with the more vicious mascots — such as the Princeton Tigers. 

By the way, like Princeton five years earlier, Lafayette's first intercollegiate athletic event was a baseball game, this one in 1869, one month before Princeton and Rutgers met in the first football game. The final score of that Princeton-Rutgers game was 6-4 Rutgers; the final score of that first Lafayette baseball game was 45-45.

Any guesses on the opponent? Yes, Lehigh is correct. Who was the first non-Lehigh opponent any Lafayette team ever played? Yes, Princeton is correct, also in baseball, a game in 1874 that Princeton won 26-11.  

For all of that, it could have been the Princeton Tigers at the du Motier Maroon tomorrow. Kickoff at 3:30. 

Whatever the name and nickname, Lafayette presents a tough opponent for Princeton, who is now in Week 2. As you know, Princeton opened its season last week with a tough 42-35 loss to San Diego in a game in which the Tigers scored all 35 of their points in the first half. 

What is this week's challenge? 

Lafayette comes into the game at 3-1, with an opening loss at FBS opponent Bowling Green and then wins over Stonehill (42-26), Georgetown (42-37) and Columbia (38-14 last week). There's lots of Ivy League overlap with those scores. Stonehill lost to Penn last week 24-21, while Georgetown lost to Brown 46-0. 

If you happened to glance a little further down the Lafayette schedule, you'll see this in the next few weeks: home games against Princeton, Fordham and Bucknell and then back-to-back road games at Oregon State and Holy Cross. 

Oregon State? Yes. The Beavers, who had to piece together a schedule for this season when the Pac 12 fell apart and before it built itself back up, has a fascinating set of opponents. Ah, but TB digresses. 

Lafayette's strength so far has been running the ball, with an average per game 224.5 yards per game on the ground. That number ranks seventh out of 126 FCS teams. 

Kente Edwards leads the FCS with 559 rushing yards, and his 139.8 per game rank fourth. The junior has been the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week each of the last three weeks. 

Princeton hopes that linebacker Marco Scarano makes himself very acquainted with Edwards tomorrow. Scarano made 18 tackles last week, 10 of which were solo tackles. Both of those numbers rank No. 1 in the FCS. 

Princeton has another player who is leading the FCS in an individual category. That would be punter Brady Clark, who averaged 53.8 yards per attempt last week. 

Kai Colon and Blaine Hipa split the quarterback position last week and between them threw for nearly 300 yards, with completions to 10 different receivers. Charley Rossi, one of those receivers, averaged 39.5 yards per reception, which puts him second in the FCS. 

What will this week bring? Teams traditionally make a huge jump from Week 1 to Week 2. Week 3 for Princeton will bring the Ivy opener, against Columbia a week from tonight (that's a Friday ESPNU game).

First, though, there is the short trip to Easton, where the opponent is a good one. And where the locals are starting a more-than-year-long celebration of their founding. 

By the way, who is the greatest Lafayette alum of all time? That would be a member of the Class of 1952. Perhaps you've heard of him? 

Went by the name of Pete Carril. 

No. 1, Again

And Princeton is No. 1 ... again.

For, well, a lot of years in a row, Princeton has once again been ranked as the No. 1 national university in the country by US New and World Report. Actually, if TigerBlog is reading this correctly, then this would be the 15th straight year. 

That's a good starting point for today, right? 

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Even though it won't be October until next week, the field hockey game on Bedford Field tomorrow (at 5) is still a huge one. It matches eighth-ranked Princeton against No. 4 Harvard in a game that, if history is any indicator, will go a very long way towards deciding the Ivy League title and who will host the league tournament in November. 

Princeton and Harvard, in addition to both being in the top eight nationally, are a combined 85-1 against the rest of the Ivy League since the start of the 2017 season, including 1-0 each this season. The two have combined to win every Ivy title outright since 2012 (the year Princeton won the NCAA title).

Both teams are among the top Division I defenses, having allowed a combined nine goals in a combined 12 games. Princeton has allowed five in six games, of which three came in a roughly six-minute stretch against No. 2 North Carolina in the second game of the year. 

Since then, the only goal Princeton has allowed came on a penalty stroke in overtime against No. 5 Syracuse. Junior goalie Olivia Caponiti is the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, and yesterday she was named as the lone honorable mention selection for Division I honors by the NFHCA.

Princeton and Harvard split a pair of 2-1 games a year ago, each winning in overtime on the other's home field. Princeton won the Ivy title (its 28th), and Harvard won the Ivy tournament. Both teams reached the NCAA quarterfinals. 

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The field hockey game is one of 25 Princeton events this coming weekend. 

It's also one of three Princeton-Harvard matchups, with the other two in Cambridge, where there will be a Saturday soccer doubleheader. The women play at 1, with the men to follow at 4.

The women's team opened its Ivy League schedule last week with a 1-0 win against Penn. Harvard dropped its league opener 1-0 to Dartmouth. 

For the Crimson, this will be a remarkable eighth straight home game, after opening the season with two games on the road. 

On the men's side, this is the first weekend for league games. Princeton comes in after a very entertaining 3-1 win over Seton Hall Tuesday night. If you haven't seen the Tiger goals, check them out on the team's X page HERE.

Princeton is 5-1 on the year. Harvard is 3-1-2.  

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This week is National Equipment Managers Appreciation Week. 

Your Hard Work Lets The Tigers Roar!

From uniforms to equipment and countless requests unseen, you have a hand in how we look, feel and compete!

Sending 🧡🖤 to our amazing @PUequipment staff during #EQWeek25! pic.twitter.com/eMVKTaL0m0

— Princeton Tigers (@PUTIGERS) September 23, 2025

If you're wondering who the people who keep the Tigers looking sharp and able to compete, they are, clockwise from top left in the photo: Nicole DeNiro, Clif Perry, Mike Thibault, Brian Ackerman, Derek Griesdorn and Brendan O'Meara. 

If you are a Princeton fan, you probably don't know those names — but you can trust TigerBlog. That's a hard-working group. They deserve the recognition for this week, and really any week.

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The Ivy League women's volleyball season starts this weekend as well, with the Tigers at Penn tomorrow at 7. Princeton and Penn have the two highest non-league winning percentages in the league to date, with the Tigers at 5-3 and the Quakers at 6-4. 

The most impressive performance of the year so far, though, came in one of those three Princeton losses. That one came at Penn State, where the Tigers led 2-1 after three sets before falling 25-15, 20-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-8. 

Is Penn State good at women's volleyball? Well, the Nittany Lions are the defending NCAA champs and currently the No. 13 team in the country. 

Princeton has won 20 Ivy League championships in women's volleyball.   

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By the way, in case you're wondering what FatherBlog looks like one day before turning 90, here is your chance. Remember: FB attributes his longevity to, in his exact words, "the fact that I'm very handsome."

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The complete schedule for the weekend can be found HERE. 

 

Happy Birthdays

TigerBlog starts out today with something quite impressive. 

Did you catch this on Instagram? It's from the Princeton Rowing teams, all of them. 

Make sure you have the sound turned up. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Princeton Heavyweight Rowing (@tigerheavies)

That's extraordinary, no? 

It's an amazing display of pride in the program, something that is obvious to anyone who has ever remotely been around the boathouse. It's also a sign of the unity that exists between the all of the teams who share that boathouse.

It is a unique dynamic, what with the sheer number of rowers all, literally and figuratively, pulling in the same direction. This is something that leaps out at you from the Insta post. 

And with that, TigerBlog segues from today's opening and follows up on yesterday's "Happy Anniversary" theme. Today? 

Happy Birthdays.  

Somewhere in that boathouse is a shell with the name "Gary Walters ’67" on it. Gary certainly deserved the honor, with everything he did during his time as the Director of Athletics to help rebuild the boathouse into the gleaming Shea Rowing Center it has become — as well as all of his other contributions to Princeton.

Gary came to Princeton in 1963 from Reading High School, where his American Government teacher was also his basketball coach — Pete Carril. Gary has talked often about his Reading roots and how proud he is of them. 

He's also talked about the day his father dropped him off at Princeton and the uncertainties he had about his place here, coming from the humble background he did. He would have had no way of knowing that day just how huge an impact he would make here. 

He was the point guard on the 1965 Final Four team. He was an assistant coach on the 1975 NIT championship team. He was the Director of Athletics for 20 years, with a staggering legacy of head coach hires, facility upgrades and advocacy for the student-athlete experience that became his signature "Education Through Athletics."

His background from a world without privilege and the work ethic that came from that beginning, coupled with the successes he carved out for himself, has always reminded TigerBlog of his own father. TB's father grew up in Brooklyn on Eastern Parkway. He graduated from Boys' High School, went into the Army, bounced around a few jobs afterwards and then finally settled into a hugely successful career in the insurance business. 

It wasn't until he got married, when he was 24 years old, that he first had an actual bed. Think about that. 

Both FatherBlog and Gary were shirt-and-tie men long after the world turned to the casual. Both of them were able to use their work successes to achieve something they'd treasure — for Gary it was his house on Cape Cod; for FatherBlog it was traveling to see the world, something he's done over and over and over again.

They will both be celebrating major milestone birthdays this weekend, as Gary will turn 80 and FatherBlog will turn 90.

When TB asked his father if he had considered why he has achieved such longevity, the response he got was somewhat typical: "I attribute it to the fact that I am very handsome," he said. 

Okay. Fair enough. 

TigerBlog did a little research to see what percentage of Americans live to be 90. The answer seems to be that, of the current population, somewhere around 0.67 percent are in their 90s. If you go by the population rate of 90 years ago, then about 1.8 percent of the people born then have made it his far. 

That is not a huge number. FatherBlog is hardly a model of physical fitness. He's never met a steak he wouldn't eat or a dessert that he passed on. 

There can be no explanation as to why some people live long lives and others do not. Why did MotherBlog pass away at the age of 55, so many years ago? Why have so many others not even made it that far in life? 

You can drive yourself crazy trying to figure it all out. 

Or you can simply smile and say Happy Birthday to Gary Walters and to FatherBlog. 

TB chooses to do the latter.  

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary to TigerBlog.

Where were you 42 years ago today? 

TigerBlog knows where he was. And he presumes that one of the current Supreme Court justices owes him a thank you.

It was 42 years ago this afternoon that TigerBlog, then a pre-law student at Penn, made his way up from Philadelphia to Bryn Athyn in Bucks County. The occasion? A high school football game between the Pennington School and the Academy of the New Church. 

It wasn't much of a game. Pennington played a slow first half but then rolled to the win 22-0 (it was 6-0 at intermission), tying the school record for consecutive wins at 18. TB remembers all of that off the top of his head, by the way. 

He was there to write a story about the game for the Trenton Times. He had never before written a sports story. He can't remember what he wrote, though he would guess it wasn't very good. 

TB did know that once he saw his story in the paper the next day, he was no longer a pre-law student. He had to dig deeply into the paper to find it. The lead story that same day: Steve Carlton won his 300th game. 

His starting salary, by the way, was $15 a story and 22 cents a mile.  

Since that start, TB can't imagine how many games he's covered, how many words he's written. The answer to both is "a whole lot."

And to think his mother always told him he couldn't make a living out of sports. 

The person who got him started in the newspaper business was Jack McCaffery, who was then at the Trenton Times before moving on to the Delaware County Times. It was Jack who asked TB if he wanted to cover some high school football games, something that TB had expressed no interest in and had not applied to do.  

When TB mentioned to Jack that he would be interested but that, you know, he had no idea what he was doing when it came to writing for a newspaper, Jack said that it didn't really matter. TB had become friends with Jack, by the way, after having the same work-study job at Penn as Jack's brother, whose name is Fran. 

Perhaps you recognize the name Fran McCaffery, who is now the head men's basketball coach at Penn. 

TigerBlog has quite often thought about what his alternate life would have been had he not stumbled into what started out as a hobby and would ultimately become his career.  

Had he stayed with his original plan, he just assumes he'd be a Supreme Court Justice by now, right? That would mean that one of the nine Justices wouldn't have the job at the moment. 

He'd have to guess that he'd probably have a little more money ($15 a story and 22 cents a mile doesn't go as far as you'd think). He'd also have missed out on having so many incredible experiences and meeting so many amazing people. 

His work in this business has literally taken him around the country and the world. He's seen Princeton teams play in eight different time zones (including international trips, obviously). 

He has no doubt that he took the right path for himself. The challenge to be creative, the people he's worked with and the opportunity to be part of so many great moments  in Princeton Athletics history — these are things that he can't imagine having missed out on for all these decades. 

Even today, he still wakes up happy that this is how it's all worked out for him. 

This Friday will be a big field hockey game, between Princeton and Harvard on Bedford Field. TB remembers back to when he was covering the men's basketball team in the 1990s and there would be a big weekend ahead. 

He'd get this feeling of anticipation and excitement. He couldn't believe it was only Monday, only Tuesday. It's the same this week for the field hockey game. 

So for today's anniversary, TB would like to give a thank you to Jack McCaffery, whom he has not seen in a long time but to whom he is eternally grateful. 

Maybe Jack saw something in young TB. Maybe he just needed help covering games. 

Whatever it was, Jack told TB that day that "once you get the ink in your blood, you never get it out." 

How right he was. 

The Opener

TigerBlog watched the Princeton-San Diego football game Saturday from the press box. 

And from the end zone. And from the upper deck, in the shade. And from the end zone. And from the top of the lower section. 

Each place offered a great view of the game and a great feeling of what the atmosphere in Princeton Stadium was. And each place offered someone different to sit with while he watched. 

For instance, there was Rachel Schermick of the Ivy League and her three-year-old daughter Anja. One of them had her face painted like a princess.   

That's Anja with Coach the Dog. Does it get any cuter than that? 

Coach was a very popular guy at the game. He found himself in dozens of pictures, including one with TB. That one isn't as cute. 

Then there was Bryce Chase, fresh off his hip replacement. Brycie grew up in Princeton before playing and coaching lacrosse for Princeton since forever. He's also one of the biggest Princeton sports fans you'll see anywhere.

In fact, as TB sat with Brycie, he couldn't help but wonder how many football games his friend has seen live. It's many hundreds. And yet there he was, living and dying with the Tigers on every play. 

Upstairs he met Rick and Carol Ober, who were sitting with the ubiquitous Pattie Friend. Carol at one time was Carol Munger, the daughter of the longtime Penn football coach George Munger. 

She also was a great athlete in her own right as a Quaker as an undergrad 60 years ago. Like most women athletes of her era and the earliest days of women' athletics at Princeton, she has the same answer when you ask her what she played: "Everything."

Rick Ober is a member of the Class of 1965. Carol, Pattie and TB are all honorary members of the same class, something that Pattie recognized at one point. TB and Carol agreed that they identify much more with the Princeton Class of 1965 than with when they graduated from Penn. 

Rick, like Brycie, has also seen a ton of Princeton games, especially football. Also like Brycie, he remains a huge fan. 

As such, they were upset with the final score: San Diego 42, Princeton 35. It was a game the Tigers led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter and 35-21 at the half. 

So what to make out of it all? 

First of all, if you have a chance to go to a game at Powers Field at Princeton Stadium, do it. Definitely. It's a great place to watch a game. 

As for the game, well, there are a few things to keep in mind. Before TB points out the obvious, here are some numbers to consider: 

* 91, 70, 37, 45
* 30, 31, 27, 63

What is the point of these numbers? The first group would be the points by quarter by the eight Ivy League schools this weekend. The second group is the points by quarter by their eight opponents. 

In other words, the league came out of the gates strong. Even without Princeton's 21-0 start, that first quarter number was 70-30 for the other seven teams. 

For the first half, it was Ivy 161, Opponents 61. Take away Princeton, and you have Ivy 125, Opponents 40.  

What does this tell you? To TB, it suggests that the adrenaline of playing the first game took over. It may also suggest that the absence of film available for a team playing its first game means the defense has to react on the fly, rather than already be prepared for trends. 

Then there is the second half, especially the fourth quarter. Only one Ivy team — Dartmouth — scored more than seven fourth quarter points. 

What does this tell you? That there's a difference between "training camp shape" and "game shape." When you're playing opponents who are on their third or fourth game, they're in "game shape." 

The Ivy League teams will be there soon enough. Princeton will. 

The Tigers certainly showed a lot of positives against San Diego. Princeton's two quarterbacks — Kai Colon and Blaine Hipa — threw for 283 yards (on only 18 completions). A year ago, the highest single-game passing yardage total was 267. 

Princeton had 10 players catch at least one pass. Ethan Clark averaged 10.3 yards per carry. Marco Scarano made 18 tackles and had three pass breakups. 

There is a lot to build off of here. And there's a long way to go this season. 

Next up for Princeton is a trip to Lafayette Saturday.  

Tee It Up

TigerBlog cannot think of any team in any season that has had to deal with the injuries that the 2025 Indiana Fever have. 

Their star, and the WNBA's No. 1 draw by far, is Caitlin Clark, and she was limited to only 13 games this season. Behind her, one by one, Fever player after Fever player went out with season-ending injuries, especially in the backcourt. 

Chloe Bibby. Sydney Colson. Sophie Cunningham. Aari McDonald. All gone for the year. The loss of Cunningham — a great shooter, defender and especially presence — was especially brutal. 

Bibby had emerged as a fortunate find when Clark went out, and then in a blink she and her dead-eye three-point shooting were gone. After that, Cunningham said that the team was "cursed" this season. 

Somehow the Fever managed to stay afloat and above .500 and reach the WNBA playoffs. And somehow, they managed to take down the Atlanta Dream last night 87-85 in the third and deciding game of their opening round series, vaulting them into the Eastern Conference finals. 

That game, by the way, was enthralling, as Indiana had its first and only lead of the second half with 7.4 seconds left. 

How can anyone other than Fever coach Stephanie White be WNBA Coach of the Year? 

TigerBlog hopes that the 2025 Princeton football team doesn't have to deal with even a fraction of the impact of injuries that Indiana had to deal with this season. 

For the Tigers, they'll tee it up tomorrow at noon against San Diego. The Toreros come across the country with a 1-2 record, with a win over Southern Utah sandwiched around losses to Cal Poly and Montana State. 

San Diego's coach is Brandon Moore, whose name might be familiar. He is, after all, a longtime NFL linebacker, mostly with the 49ers. He was also one of the key players on the 2000 Oklahoma Sooners, who defeated Florida State 13-2 in the Orange Bowl in January 2001 to win the national championship. 

Moore's counterpart this week is obviously Bob Surace, who enters his 14th season as the Tiger head coach. What is he thinking about his team's first game?

You can hear his voice for yourself right HERE, on the main page for Princeton podcasts. Surace joins play-by-play man Cody Chrusciel on the First In Football podcast, episode 1 for 2025.  

Here is a sneak preview: 

It's the 1st episode of the First in Football podcast with @CoachBobSurace!

Hear what Coach Surace has to say as he talks to @CodyChrusciel as the team preps for San Diego!https://t.co/AQVDrU6VYy#JUICE 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/cryGYLKMn9

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) September 18, 2025

San Diego had one of the top defenses in the FCS a year ago. It also had the most opportunistic, with six defensive touchdowns, the most of any Division I school regardless of level. 

The Toreros have allowed at least 27 points in all three games and an average of 36.3, but their schedule has been tough. The defense has yet to score, but then again, the offense hasn't allowed its opponents to have a defensive TD either. 

In fact, you know how many times San Diego has turned the ball over in its first three games? How about zero. 

No fumbles. No passes intercepted. No other FCS school can make that claim (obviously this excludes the Ivy League teams).

San Diego also averages 173 yards per game on the ground, as opposed to 134 through the air. The team has only attempted 24 passes per game, and that's even with having been behind in its two losses. 

It's a great opportunity for the Tigers on their opening day. That's what Surace said on the podcast. 

The difficult part is playing a team that is on Game 4, which means that the early-season kinks have been worked  out. The difficult part for a team playing an opponent that has yet to play is that there is no film for the season yet, no idea what new pieces will be in what places. 

The weather should be perfect. The team has had Sept. 20 circled for the entire training camp. 

The ball gets put on the tee on Powers Field tomorrow, the start of a 10-game sprint into November. What kind of season will it  be? 

Hopefully a successful one, like the Indiana Fever's. 

And, unlike the Fever, a healthy one.