I don't think you're as far from promoting as you might think. His players' gameshape is very poor. So poor that he doesn't put up very good ratings considering the salary of his team. If you can get your starters in strong/proficient gameshape with a high enthusiasm of 10 or so, I think you'd have a very good chance to beat him even with your current team. Also, you might not want to play a 2-3 zone against a Princeton next time you play him.
