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GAME INFORMATION
Game #1: Cornell at Wagner
Kickoff: Saturday, Sept. 18, at 1:00 p.m. ET
Site: Wagner College Stadium (3,300), Staten Island, N.Y.
2010 Records: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy); Wagner (0-1, 0-0 NEC)
Series Record: Cornell leads 1-0
Last Meeting: Cornell won 31-14, Oct. 30, 1999, in Ithaca, N.Y.
Radio: WHCU 870 AM, Barry Leonard (play-by-play), Buck Briggs (color)
Live Stats: Available at www.WagnerAthletics.com
Live Video: Available at www.WagnerAthletics.com
Tickets: Available by calling (607) 254-BEAR
HEAD COACH KENT AUSTIN
Kent Austin, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Football, is in his first season at the helm of the Big Red (0-0 overall, .000; 0-0 Ivy, .000) ... Austin has won CFL Grey Cups as a player, assistant coach and head coach ... most recently the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Ole Miss, Austin was hired as head coach on Jan. 27, 2010.
ITHACA, N.Y. — A new era for Cornell football begins when Kent Austin leads the Big Red onto the field on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1:00 p.m. against Wagner at Wagner College Stadium. The game can be heard locally on WHCU 870 AM with Barry Leonard on the call, or at
www.CornellBigRed.com as part of the RedCast subscription service.
Austin, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, will introduce his brand of winning football to the Big Red faithful for the first time after an offseason of building up his new squad. Despite being picked eighth in the Ivy League preseason media poll, optimism abounds with 38 returning letter winners and 16 starters returning.
After a quarterback battle throughout the preseason, junior
Adam Currie and freshman
Jeff Mathews are still in contention to get the starting nod under center. New faces will also tote the football, as senior
Marcus Hendren, junior
Nick Booker-Tandy and freshman
Grant Gellatly all will see carries. Out wide, juniuor
Shane Savage is expected to again be one of the top receivers in the Ancient Eight, and an offensive line with three new faces will be asked to gel quickly with seniors
Paul Ostick and
Matt Green returning.
Defensively, eight starters are back as Cornell switches to a 4-3 front. The strength is at the corners, where senior
Emani Fenton and junior
Rashad Campbell return. The linebacking corps of seniors
Brandon Lainhart,
Dempsey Quinn and
Anthony Ambrosi and junior Zach Imhoff will be a force. The line features a young, talented group with the ability to disrupt both the passing and running games.
Special teams will also be a strength, as junior place-kicker
Brad Greenway and senior punter
Drew Alston rank among the very best at their position in the Ancient Eight. Cornell's coverage teams both ranked in the top 10 in the Football Championship Subdivision a season ago, but finding a replacement for Ivy record-holder
Bryan Walters on punts and kickoffs will be a challenge.
This will be the second meeting between Cornell and Wagner, who first faced each other in 1999, a 31-14 Big Red victory in Ithaca. The Seahawks dropped a 24-9 contest at Assumption in its first contest of 2010 on Sept. 11. Wagner fell behind 24-3 and couldn't overcome the deficit, surrendering 383 yards (7.1 yards per play) in the defeat.
A WIN OVER WAGNER WOULD:
• make first-year head coach Kent Austin a perfect 1-0 as a collegiate head coach.
• give Cornell a season-opening win for the fifth time in six years.
• improve the Big Red's lead in the all-time series to 2-0, and make the Big Red 3-0 all-time against schools from the Northeast Conference.
• improve Cornell's record in season openers to 90-29-4.
• be the 617th in program history (10th most in the Football Championship Subdivision).
THE CORNELL-WAGNER SERIES: (Cornell leads 1-0) This will be the second meeting between Cornell and Wagner, with the Big Red winning the only previous contest. The two teams first met in 1999, a 31-14 Cornell victory at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red won the first three meetings before.
FOR OPENERS: If the Big Red continues its pattern of success in season openers, it could be big trouble for this year's opponent, Wagner. The Big Red sports an all-time record of 89-29-4 (.746) in season openers, including a 33-9 victory over Bucknell at Schoellkopf Field in 2009.
CORNELL VS. THE NORTHEAST CONFERENCE: Cornell has a 2-0 record against the nine current members of the Northeast Conference, including a 1-0 edge over Wagner. Cornell has also won the only previous meeting against Albany, but has never played Bryant, Central Connecticut, Duquesne, Monmouth, Robert Morris, Sacred Heart and Saint Francis (Pa.).
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
• Cornell opens its 124th year of football against Wagner College. The two teams will be meeting for the second time, with the Big Red leading the all-time series 1-0. The Big Red is 89-29-4 in season openers with one season (1918) where the team was disbanded due to World War I.
• Kent Austin will be on the sidelines for his first game as a collegiate head coach. Austin led the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a Canadian Football League title as a head coach (2007) and spent the last two years as the offensive coordinator at his alma mater, Mississippi.
• Cornell will attempt to snap an eight-game losing skid dating back to 2009, the longest since dropping 10 straight over the 2003-04 campaigns (last nine games of 2003 and first game of 2004).
FIRST GAME, NEW COACH: Kent Austin is the 26th head coach in Big Red football history. The 25 previous coaches have posted a 19-6 record in their first games mentoring the Cornell team. Austin will be trying to break a recent trend, as the last three Big Red coaches have lost their debuts,all three coming on the road.
UP NEXT: The Big Red opens the home portion of its 2010 schedule when it faces Yale on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The contest will serve as the home and Ivy League opener, Homecoming and head coach Kent Austin's first game in front of the Big Red fans.
