GAME 3 • IVY LEAGUE OPENER
COLUMBIA (1-1, 0-0 Ivy League) at No. 23/25 PRINCETON (2-0, 0-0 Ivy League)
Saturday, October 5, 2019 • 1 p.m. ET • Princeton Stadium • Princeton, N.J.
 
THE FACTS
 
Television/Streaming: ESPN+ (Cody Chrusciel, Dave Giancola, sideline reporter Lisa Roman) | Watch Live
 
Columbia Online Radio Network: Alex Oberweger and Shawn FitzGerald | Listen Live
 
Live Stats: www.goprincetontigers.com | Live Stats Link
 
Coaches: Columbia- Al Bagnoli, 5th year at Columbia (20-22), 37th year (255-120). Princeton- Bob Surace, 10^th year at Princeton (50-42), 10^th year overall (50-42).
 
Series: Columbia and Princeton meet for the 89th time in series history. Princeton holds a 71-16-1 advantage in the series and is 35-5-1 in games played in Princeton. In the last meeting between the two schools at Princeton Stadium, Columbia registered a 28-24 win over the Tigers on Sept. 30, 2017.
 
GAME NOTES
 
PRINCETON, N.J.—Columbia (1-1) continues its 149th anniversary year and 129th season of college football when it travels to No. 23/25 Princeton (2-0) for its Ivy League opener on Saturday, Oct. 4 at Princeton Stadium. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET.
 
ESPN+ will stream the game live with Cody Chrusciel (play-by-play), Dave Giancola (color commentary) and Lisa Roman (sideline reporter) calling action. The live feed is available on ESPN+ (subscription required). Columbia will also provide an audio only broadcast on its website: gocolumbialions.com with Alex Oberweger and Shawn FitzGerald making the call.
 
ABOUT THE LIONS
 
Columbia is 1-1 on the young season after dropping a 24-10 home opener to Georgetown last Saturday. The Lions turned the ball over five times (three interceptions and two fumbles lost) and gained just 30 yards rushing on the day. Even still, the Lions had a variety of chances to score in the fourth quarter and couldn't come up with the win. Mike Roussos led the Lions with 98 all-purpose yards, Josh Wainwright finished with four catches for 71 yards and Ivy League tackles leader Cam Dillon (10 tackles) and Michael Murphy (nine tackles) paced the defense.
 
Columbia opened its season on Sept. 21 with a convincing 31-14 win at Saint Francis, Pa. Mike Roussos totaled 149 all-purpose yards and scored two touchdowns including a 56-yard punt return score, Ryan Young ran for a 65-yard touchdown and the Lions took advantage of a superb special teams performance as Columbia scored 24 unanswered points to claim a 17-point season-opening win over SFU.
 
Columbia opens its 2019 season after registering back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1961 and 1962. The Lions return 15 starters (eight on offense and seven on defense) and nine total All-Ivy League selections from a program that has won 14 of its 20 games over the last two seasons (8-2 in 2017 and 6-4 in 2018).
 
Last year, Columbia endured a season that saw it suffer injuries to over 25 of its key players. It started four different quarterbacks and won with all of them, lost its top two running backs and top two receivers to injuries and still registered a winning season.
 
LIONS AIM FOR THREE STRAIGHT WINNING SEASONS
 
Columbia is seeking a third straight winning season for the first time in 72 seasons. Should Columbia finish with a winning season in 2019, the Lions would put together three straight winning seasons for the first time since it joined the Ivy League in 1956.
 
It would be the first time Columbia has achieved three straight winning seasons since 1945, 1946 and 1947. Columbia went 8-1 in 1945, 6-3 in 1946 and 7-2 in 1947.
 
ABOUT PRINCETON
 
Nationally ranked at No. 23 in the AFCA Coaches' poll and No. 25 in the STATS FCS poll, Princeton enters Ivy League play and Saturday's game with a 2-0 record following wins over Butler (49-7) and at Bucknell (56-23). Through two games, Princeton has averaged 569.0 yards of offense per game including 379 passing yards per contest.
 
The Tigers are led by quarterback Kevin Davidson, who has completed 81.0 percent (47-58) of his passes for 722 yards and nine touchdowns. Davidson has not thrown an interception this year.
 
Davidson's top two targets are Andrew Griffin (11 catches for 251 yards), who has averaged 22.8 yards per catch and scored five touchdowns, and Jacob Birmelin with 11 catches for 155 yards and a touchdown. Andrei Iosivas has added six receptions for 130 yards and four touchdowns.
 
Collin Eaddy leads the running game with a 6.8 yards per carry average and 142 yards on 21 carries and two touchdowns and Ryan Quigley averages 7.6 yards per carry (107 yards on 14 carries).
 
On defense, the Tigers have allowed 336.0 yards of offense per game and are led by Delan Stallworth (12 tackles, one INT, 2.0 TFL), James Johnson (12 tackles, 2.0 TFL) and TJ Floyd (10 tackles).