Welcome To November

So TigerBlog had a little surgery Wednesday morning.

It was nothing big, as surgeries go. Just a little opening up of the septum, which means that for the first time in his life, he figures to be able to breathe through his right nostril.

The surgeon is a Cornell alum. Perhaps as he was getting wheeled into the operating room might not have been the best time for TB to mention that Princeton had defeated Cornell 35-9 a few days earlier.

The doctor did mention that he was good friends with a former Cornell running back Chad Levitt. The last thing TB said before he went under was "1996 Bushnell Cup winner."

Next thing he knew, he was in recovery.

Levitt, by the way, led Cornell to a 33-27 overtime win over Princeton as a senior when he carried 40 times for 178 yards. How many Princeton players have ever rushed 40 times in a game? The answer is three. Can you name them? TB will give you a few paragraphs.

The 35-9 win last Saturday over Cornell did more than mildly annoy TB's surgeon, who is more of a hockey fan than a football fan. In fact, TB offered him tickets to tonight's game between the Big Red and the Tigers at Baker Rink even up for the operation.

The win last weekend improved Princeton to 7-0 on the season, and if that number sounds familiar, it should. This is the fourth straight season that Princeton has won its first seven games.

The last time Princeton started four straight seasons with 7-0 records? That's ’98-’03. As in 1898 to 1903.

This is a remarkable run for the Tigers, who haven't lost a game in September or October since 2017. Ah, but now it's November, though tomorrow's forecast of 76 degrees and clear skies doesn't quite suggest that the season now has reached its final three games.

The first opponent this month is Dartmouth. If something is different between this 7-0 start for Princeton and the three that preceded it is that Dartmouth is not also 7-0.

In each of the last three years, it was 7-0 Princeton and 7-0 Dartmouth. Princeton won the epic 14-9 game in 2018 on Powers Field. Dartmouth won the epic Yankee Stadium game the following year. Dartmouth won last year in Hanover as well.

This time around, Dartmouth is 1-3 in the Ivy League and 2-5 overall. Those are decidedly not Dartmouth numbers at this time of year. 

Neither is this: Dartmouth is seventh in the league in yards allowed per game at 375.7. Of all the things that should get Princeton's attention, perhaps the biggest is that Dartmouth allows one more yard per game than Cornell and the Big Red held Princeton to 288 yards in the game last week.

In other words, stats tell you somethings but they are not absolutes. Dartmouth is a team that prides itself on playing great defense and especially playing great defense against Princeton. In the last three years, Dartmouth has held Princeton to 14, 10 and 7 points. 

There are some teams that just bring out the best in other teams. Princeton always brings out Dartmouth's best. This is not a typical 7-0 vs. 2-5 game.

Princeton is the Ivy League's only unbeaten team right now. There are three teams with one loss apiece: Harvard, Penn and Yale. The Tigers finish their season with the Dartmouth game Saturday and then a trip to Yale before a home game against Penn. Harvard still has to play Penn and Yale after its game against Columbia at home tomorrow, when Yale hosts Brown and Penn is at Cornell.

In other words, there is a long, long way to go in this Ivy football race, and none of these three remaining weeks will be easy.

On the other hand, the goal is always to get to November in position to play for a championship. And that's exactly where Princeton finds itself as the first Saturday in November arrives.

Trivia answer, by the way: Bobby Isom (44 carries, 209 yards against Harvard in 1977), Judd Garrett (42 for 209 against Brown in 1988), Jordan Culbreath (40 for 276 against Dartmouth in 2008).