Culbreath '10 shines in football finale

With a cold and forceful wind blowing through Princeton Stadium Nov. 22, the Tigers concentrated on running the football, and tailback Jordan Culbreath ’10 responded with a career-best 276 rushing yards and two touchdowns as Princeton outmuscled woeful Dartmouth, 28–10.

Culbreath carried the ball 40 times — “the most carries I’ve ever had in my life,” he said afterward — and upped his season rushing total to 1,206 yards, best in the Ivy League by a healthy margin. He is the seventh Princeton back to run for 1,000 yards in a season.

For Princeton (4–6, 3–4 Ivy), a victory over Dartmouth was expected (at 0–10, the Big Green had their first winless season in 125 years), and one day of success did not erase the frustrations of the Tigers’ second consecutive losing season. In the two weeks prior to the Dartmouth game, Princeton had opportunities to beat Penn and Yale but faltered in key situations.

Against Penn Nov. 7, the Tigers trailed by five points when they took over at their own 9-yard line midway through the fourth quarter. The offense quickly approached midfield after two strong runs by Culbreath and a penalty on the Quakers. But three incomplete passes followed, forcing Princeton to punt. In Penn’s ensuing possession, third-string quarterback Keiffer Garton bedeviled the defense, running for two first downs and passing for a third. The Quakers ran out the clock for a 14–9 victory.

In the Yale game, played on a muddy field at the Yale Bowl Nov. 15, two Princeton turnovers — a fumble in the first quarter and an interception in the second — set up the Bulldogs for two short scoring drives. Yale won 14–0, but if not for the Tigers’ early miscues, head coach Roger Hughes said, the game might have gone to overtime 0–0.