GAME #4: Cornell vs. Princeton
GAMETIME: Friday, Oct. 10 at 7:00 p.m.
SITE: Powers Field at Princeton Stadium (Princeton, N.J.)
2008 RECORDS: Cornell (1-2, 0-1 CSFL); Princeton (0-2, 0-1 CSFL)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 55-27-4
LAST MEETING: Cornell defeated Princeton, 34-0, at Schoellkopf Field on Oct. 12, 2007
LIVE STATS: None
THE HEAD COACH: Coach Terry Cullen's record moved to 145-122-7 (.543) after a loss to Navy last weekend. Cullen has been a member of the coaching staff since 1964 and officially became the Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football in 2001.
THE CO-HEAD COACH: in August, 2008, it was announced that Bart Guccia would assume a majority of the on-field coaching and gameday decisions for the Big Red. Guccia is in his fourth year with the sprint football team and has posted a 1-2 record (.333) in his new roll.
THE MATCH UP: Cornell and Princeton both opened their CSFL seasons with a loss, and both teams will be looking to even their CSFL records to 1-1. The Big Red holds the 55-27-4 advantage in the series and has had its way against Princeton recently, outscoring the Tigers 83-26 in two victories last season.
TAMING THE TIGERS: A victory over the Tigers would extend Cornell's dominance over Princeton. Cornell is 55-27-4 in the series and currently has a 15 game winning streak against the Tigers. The longest winning streak Cornell has ever had against an opponent was 19 games against Columbia, starting in 1958 and lasting until 1976 when the team disbanded. The longest streak Cornell has against the current teams in the CSFL is 17 victories against Penn from 1974-1988.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: The Princeton offense has struggled early in this season, not scoring a single point in the first two games of the year. The defense has not been much better, allowing 101 points in total. Senior quarterback Andrew Dixon has taken the majority of snaps for the Princeton offense. He leads the team with 22 passing yards, while tight end Robert Addis leads the team with nine rushing attempts. Addis has gained 19 yards so far on the season. On defense, watch out for linebacker Atraya Dixit. Dixit has a team-high 15 tackles and is tied for the league lead with two interceptions. Princeton only has 46 yards of total offense, averaging just 0.4 yards a play, while allowing 854 yards to its opponents.
LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON: After having its eight-game winning streak ended, the Big Red avenged itself against Princeton in front of a homecoming crowd at Schoellkopf Field. Both squads were without their starting quarterbacks, as well as several other key contributors, but in the end, the result was a 34-0 Big Red victory. The defense is what won the game for Cornell, holding the Tigers to just 278 yards of total offense. John Parke led the team with six tackles, including one for a loss. Ryan Saunders had four tackles, with three going for a loss, while adding a sack and an interception, which he returned for 19 yards. Darren Phillips had five tackles, to go with a tackle for a loss and a sack, while Chris Stanton had three tackles and an interception returned for 15 yards. The Big Red offense was solid, with Elliot Corey getting his first career start at quarterback. Corey completed 4-of-11 attempts in the first half, with three of those completions going for touchdowns, before Brandon Stoller came on in relief and completed 3-of-6 attempts, including a touchdown. Stoller also led the team in rushing with 66 yards on eight carries and a touchdown. D.J. Schiavetta and Frank Lalezarzadeh rushed for 44 and 26 yards, respectively. Matt Malleo made two receptions on the night, both going for touchdowns, while Upal Sarker led the team in receiving yards (51) on two catches, including a 24-yard touchdown reception.
THE TIGERS' LAST GAME: The Tigers opened their 2008 CSFL season with a crushing 58-0 loss to Army. Army scored on seven of its first nine possessions. Princeton ran for -21 yards on the day and threw for only seven more for a total of -14 yards of offense. Princeton managed just three first downs in the game. Andrew Gabriele led the Tigers with 69 return yards. Meanwhile, the Princeton defense allowed 362 yards on the game, including 96 rushing yards and three touchdowns to Army's Ricky Lentz. Atraya Dixit led the defense with eight tackles and one broken up pass.
CORNELL'S LAST GAME: Cornell played very well against the defending CSFL champs, but a late interception prevented a Cornell comeback in a 31-25 loss last weekend at the Allegiance Bowl. There were five lead changes in a very tight game that went down to the wire. Down by nine late in the fourth quarter, the Big Red's Mitch Ottinger kicked the ball through the uprights to make it a six-point game with just over three minutes left. The Big Red than recovered an onside kick and drove down the field until Zak Dentes threw an interception deep in Navy's territory that ended the comeback. Dentes had a very strong game, throwing for 273 yards, passing for a touchdown and rushing for two. Josh Friedman caught a game high six receptions for 121yards while Upal Sarker had the lone passing touchdown. The Big Red defense was able to pickoff last season's CSFL MVP, D.J. Green twice, and John Parke led the team with nine tackles.
ALLEGIANCE BOWL: Cornell's loss in the Allegiance Bowl to Navy evens its record to 1-1 at the annual event held in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. During the 2006 season, then-sophomore quarterback Zak Dentes threw for 156 yards and two touchdowns, including one late in the fourth quarter to defeat Penn 20-12 in the team's first appearance.
RECORD WATCH: Zak Dentes' 273 yards last weekend were enough to give him 2,095 making him just the third quarterback in Cornell sprint football history to pass the 2,000 career passing yards. He finds himself just five yards behind Alex Macauley '06 for second place on the all-time Cornell passing list. Meanwhile, Michael Brennan's had six receptions for 44 reception yards which gives him 908 in his career. His performance moved him past Bill Bellamy '87 for fourth place.
D-FENSE: When Cornell defeated Mansfield on Sept. 27, it was arguably the greatest defensive performance ever by a Cornell sprint football team. It was the first time since a win over Princeton in 2006 that the Big Red allowed les than 100 yards, less than 10 rushing yards, and forced at least eight punts. Also, it was the first time Cornell allowed only one third down conversion since that 2006 game. The 21:06 minutes of possession was the least amount given up by a Cornell defense since time of possession was recorded as a stat.
UP NEXT: Cornell will play its first home game of the season next weekend as it welcomes Penn to Schoellkopf Field on Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m.
