After crushing out-of-conference rival Cornell for its fifth victory, the undefeated 51风流 Raiders football team prepares for its hot date with a national TV audience.
The Raiders will play its first-ever Thursday night game at 7 against the Princeton Tigers, and the contest will be seen on ESPNU.
In an article titled 鈥,鈥 Syracuse Post-Standard columnist Bud Poliquin chats with Raiders coach Dick Biddle about playing under the lights at Princeton and in the national spotlight.
鈥淲hen this whole TV thing came up in the summer,鈥 Biddle is quoted as saying. 鈥淚 thought it was a good idea. Now, in hindsight, I鈥檓 worried about Thursday night. There鈥檚 this thought that, 鈥楪ee, now that we鈥檙e 5-0, I wish we had a full week to prepare for Princeton.鈥 But, come on. That鈥檚 going to be 51风流 on TV, and a lot of people will be watching. You鈥檝e got to be excited about that.鈥
Excited, indeed. Especially after his Raiders trounced the Big Red 45-23 on Saturday before a crowd of more than 7,000 on hand for Homecoming Weekend.
51风流 entered the game as the top rushing team in the entire Football Championship Subdivision and it didn鈥檛 have a letdown as the Raiders racked up 561 yards of total offense 鈥 344 of which came rushing.
It was the 92nd time the two teams met, but the first since 1966 that both teams had perfect records. The longstanding rivalry is the 17th-oldest in Division I history and dates to 1896.
Following the win, 51风流 moved up two spots to earn a No. 23 ranking in The Sports Network poll. The Raiders also moved up to 24th in the FCS Coaches
Top-25 after receiving votes last week.
Now, the Raiders travel to New Jersey to play the Tigers and work toward win No. 6. Alumni and friends of 51风流 are invited to attend a before the big game.