OPPONENT SPOTLIGHT: Ross almost wore the Red and Blue

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Marc Ross does not envision himself blocking for Terrance Stokes or catching a pass from Mark DeRosa, although he does think about what might have been had he come to Penn. Ross sits in a dimly lit classroom at Princeton University, listening to a monotonous lecture about the sociology of poverty. The increase in inequality means those tails in the income distribution are spreading out. So that means a lot of people in the lower part of the distribution are being pushed into poverty.? There are students in the front of the class intently taking notes. A couple others in the rear drop their heads. And as students shuffle papers, the professor concludes her Tuesday lecture. Just 94 hours, 30 minutes until Pennsylvania meets Princeton at Palmer Stadium. Ross came close to spending his time in Stiteler and Steinberg-Dietrich Halls, rather than at Old Nassau. His family lives just 15 minutes from the Penn campus, in suburban Sharon Hills. "I wanted to get away a little bit," Ross says. "Princeton's an hour away from my home, and that's close enough that I could go home on holidays and weekends." But this is not your local-student-who-can't-do-anything-wrong story. Ross came in as an unknown defensive player, and struggled academically. His grades turned around, and so did he -- from defense to offense. Ross is now a senior. He has had an up-and-down season. A huge game against Cornell gave him the spotlight, and the failure to break a punt return in the waning moments of a loss to Columbia weighs heavily upon him. "I talked to him after the game and I told him the game can't be boiled down to one play," says Bill Jordan, Ross' roommate and teammate. "But that's a player. A player wants the burden on his shoulders. He wants to put the team on his shoulders and take them for a ride. He has to realize there were a lot of other opportunities missed in that game." Jordan stands just inside the entrance to the Princeton locker room. He looks at the horseshoe stadium, with the track bordering the natural turf. He remembers the summers he and Ross spent running on the track. Ross is fast -- a state finalist in the 200 meters. "We'd come after dinner," Jordan says. "I wouldn't want to come and run my 40-yard dashes and 200s. He'd be there, 'Let's go!' cussing me out. 'Get out of bed, let's go.' He was the one who made me go out there and run." One day Jordan tried to catch Ross. He ended up throwing up in the tunnel. Ross continued running with another feisty little receiver named Michael Lerch. The since-graduated Lerch tackled ex-Penn quarterback Jim McGeehan on the final play two year's ago. It was Penn's last loss. Princeton went on to share the Ivy League title with Dartmouth, and Penn rebounded for an undefeated season and outright championship in 1993. Ross regrets never winning the title outright. "There's nothing like winning something all your own," he says. There is no regret about selecting Princeton, though. And when Ross lines up at wide receiver and as a punt returner for Princeton Saturday, there will be no thought of what might have been had he been dressed in Red and Blue. "I don't regret coming to Princeton, but I always think about how my life would have been different if I would have went to Penn -- the friends I would have met, the football experience," Ross says. "I pictured how I would have fit in with the team. If I would have stayed at receiver, if I would have been a running back or defensive back. How I would have fit in."