Orange And Black Day

Happy Halloween everyone.

Is there a more perfect day? You can walk up to anyone and they give you candy. How great is that? 

One thing that's always bothered TigerBlog about this day is that the Halloween movies and episodes of TV shows always show everyone, especially teenagers, in the most perfect costumes. C'mon. Nobody ever has a perfect costume, unless there's a costume department to draw from before filming.

TB can't remember ever having a perfect costume, or even a really good one. Maybe that one year when he was a giant M&M. That's about it.

There really are few things better during the life of a parent than having little kids on Halloween. The anticipation of the day is tremendous, and then their sheer joy of accumulating candy is almost unmatchable. Plus, as a parent, you know that you'll be eating about half of it anyway. 

It's also a big day for the colors orange and black (see: Halloween double stuff oreos). Does that color scheme sound familiar? 

The Princeton campus was flooded with more orange and black than usual this weekend, as it was Homecoming. It was also perfect weather for a Homecoming Day football game between Princeton and Cornell.

The Tigers were favored and needed to win the game to take another step towards playing for another Ivy League championship in the final three weeks. The game was also Princeton's first since a big win over Harvard a week before.

So what happened? 

Well, Princeton hardly played a perfect game, but the Orange and Black's record, much like the orange and black holiday, remained perfect.

Princeton defeated Cornell 35-9 in a game that wasn't quite the blowout that it might seem. At the same time, it wasn't quite a squeaker either.

In fact, there was only one moment where it seemed like Cornell might make it a game, and that's when Matthew Jester turned in what might be Princeton's Play of the Year. It came in the third quarter, after Cornell had scored a touchdown to make the score 19-9.

The Big Red lined up to go for two, which made sense. Were it successful, it would have made it a one-possession game at 19-11. Instead, Liam Johnson tipped a pass to Jester, who caught it about five yards deep in the end zone. He started the other way, knowing he had more than 100 yards to go to turn two Cornell points into two Princeton points instead.

He was still about 90 yards away when he found himself about to be taken down by a Cornell offensive player turned defender. Not to be stopped, Jester simply hurdled him and then continued on his way.

When he reached the end zone, it was 21-9 Princeton.

So good, you have to see it twice. @NCAA_FCS // #SCTop10 #JUICE24 🍊🥤 pic.twitter.com/I1fxcQJ8rt

— Princeton Football (@PrincetonFTBL) October 29, 2022

That was sort of the theme of the day, Princeton defenders turned into ball carriers. The Tigers intercepted four passes, and that doesn't count Jester's play on the conversation attempt. Those four picks kept Cornell out of the end zone on one (Michael Ruttlen Jr.), set up touchdowns on two others (CJ Wall and Dawson De Iuliis) and resulted in a touchdown on the fourth (Johnson, who brought one back 89 yards for a score). 

The other theme for the day, or for the season, was the extraordinary gifts that belong to Andrei Iosivas. The senior wide receiver/decathlete caught 10 more passes for 155 more yards and two more touchdowns. He leads the Ivy League in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, and his 111.1 receiving yards per game also lead the FCS.

Added all together, Princeton is now 7-0 for the fourth straight season. Princeton is also the last unbeaten team in the Ivy League, with a 4-0 league record that leads 3-1 Harvard, Yale and Penn.

The Tigers finish the year at Yale and home against Penn, but before that comes this weekend's home game against Dartmouth. That's the same Dartmouth who had been 7-0 each of the last three years, and the same Dartmouth that traditionally plays Princeton tougher than anyone.

To be perfect at this time of year is something not to be taken for granted, even if it's happened four straight years now. In other words, now November is arriving, every week becomes tougher and tougher.

Ah, but first there is the last day of October. Enjoy the candy. And don't worry if your costume isn't great.