“The 1-9 last year was a lot better than the 1-9 the first year,” said Frank Vuono, the head of the football alumni association. “There were signs we would get better.

“I’ve been involved with Princeton going on 40 years and it was one of the most exciting days in the history of our program and in the top three of games that I’ve witnessed,” he said, referring to the upset of Harvard.

Surace, who was an assistant coach for nine seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals before being hired at Princeton, where he played center from 1986 to 1989, said the rebuilding of the program had three main facets: recruiting, strength training and offense.

In the weight room, Surace emphasized power lifting to help build depth on the roster. And on offense, Surace and the coordinator, James Perry, picked up the tempo, reformatting the team’s no-huddle scheme in keeping with other teams in the league.

The offensive line coach, Eddy Morrissey, reshaped practices to resemble those of his former team, Oregon: two fast-paced hours, and no frills.

“The coaches want practice to be harder physically than the games,” the senior defensive lineman Caraun Reid said. “The tempo, having to run to the ball and pursue it, that’s really key for us. We don’t have to worry about conditioning, because we’re already in condition.”

The Tigers are second in the league in scoring (26.7 points per game), first in scoring defense (15.3) and turnover margin (plus 8) and have committed the fewest penalties (26). They are third in the conference in rushing despite losing their starting running back, Chuck Dibilio, who had a stroke in January and is rehabilitating at home in Pennsylvania.