Friday Night Lights

You remember Julie Shackford, right? 

Of course you do. She was the women's soccer coach at Princeton for 20 years, and her 203 wins at Princeton are the most of any coach of either the men's or women's teams. She also was the national Coach of the Year in 2004 after leading the Tigers to the NCAA Final Four.

Do you remember Keegan Shackford? If you were at a women's soccer game from 2003 or so through when Shackford left in 2015, or at a men's or women's basketball game in that same time, you probably know Keegan, one of Julie's three kids. He was the one who was always on the move. 

Keegan was an otherworldly youth soccer player with a cannon for a leg. Somewhere along the line, he switched to football, and these days he's a redshirt freshman placekicker at Iowa State.

A week ago, he handled the kickoff duties for the Cyclones:

⁦@KeeganShackford⁩ Kick-off Keegs getting it done! ⁦@CycloneFB⁩ pic.twitter.com/YR22RBfHQb

— Julie Cunningham Shackford “Shacks” (@ShacksTribe) October 9, 2022

Not bad at all. It has to be a bit unnerving to kick off in front of 65,000 or so fans for the first time, no? For the record, he had four kickoffs, and none of them allowed Kansas to start past the 25.

You can see Keegan's next kickoffs tomorrow at noon, when Iowa State is at Texas. You can watch that game, because tonight you'll be watching Princeton-Brown.

Right? Of course.

Kickoff on Powers Field is at 7 for the first of six straight Ivy League games to end the season. If you can't be in Princeton (and it'll be a nearly perfect night for football), then you can watch it on ESPNU.

So what's at stake? 

For Princeton, it's a chance to move to 5-0 as the season moves its midway point. For Brown it's a chance to turn the league race on its head.

After this weekend, each Ivy school will have played half of its games, with all non-league games complete and every league school with two Ivy games under its belt.

Right now, there are two 2-0 teams (Harvard and Yale, who both have non-league games this weekend) and two 1-0 teams (Princeton and Penn, who plays Columbia tomorrow). Brown is 2-2, with a 35-28 loss to Harvard and wins over Central Connecticut and Bryan, with a loss to Rhode Island as well.

Brown, of course, is coached by former Tiger offensive coordinator James Perry, whose teams at first Bryant and now Brown have been known for their explosive offensives. The game tonight matches teams ranked first (Princeton) and second (Brown) in the league in passing offense.

Princeton's passing game has been led by Blake Stenstrom and his stable of amazing receivers, led by Andrei Iosivas and Dylan Classi, who are first and fourth in the league in both receiving yards per game and second and fourth in total receptions. Iosivas is also one of seven players in the FCS who averages at least 100 receiving yards per game.

Princeton is more than that, though. The Tigers are ranked No. 1 in the FCS in scoring defense (9.6 per game), as well as red zone defense and fewest first downs allowed. There are two teams in the FCS who allow fewer than 10 points per game. One is coached by Bob Surace. The other is coached by Deion Sanders.

To show you how good Princeton's defense has been and how much it's been a team effort, only one Tiger is ranked in the top 25 in the league in tackles (that would be Liam Johnson). You can't ask for more than that, right?

Princeton is looking to get to 5-0 for the fourth straight season. Want to guess the last time Princeton did that, get to 5-0 in four straight seasons?

Here's a hint: It was before Princeton had an actual coach (1904-07).

Tonight's game is the first of two straight on Friday night, as the Tigers are at Harvard a week from tonight. Before Princeton can think about anything Crimson, it has to put all its focus on Brown. 

Once again, kickoff is at 7, and the game will be on ESPNU.