QUICK HITS
• The Cornell football team will play the first of its two season-ending "Bowl Games" while honoring its 21 seniors when Columbia visits Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 12:30 p.m.
• The game can be viewed on the Ivy League Digital Network, with Barry Leonard and Jason Weinstein on the call on WHCU 95.9 FM/870 AM.
• For the sixth time, the winner of the contest will take home the Empire State Bowl.
• Cornell, which has won three of the five meetings for the travelling trophy, became the first team to win on the road since the award was first given in 2010 - becoming the first team to retain possession of the trophy in back-to-back years— with last season's 30-27 Big Red triumph at Wien Stadium.
• It will be the 103rd time Cornell and Columbia will meet on the gridiron with the Big Red holding a 63-36-3 lead.
• The teams have split the last 26 meetings right down the middle, with Cornell winning the last two.
• Columbia, under legendary longtime Penn coach Al Bagnoli, in his first season on the Lions' sideline, has already won two games this season after snapping a 24-game losing streak.
• The Big Red will be looking to end a long skid itself, dropping nine consecutive contests since last season's victory at Columbia.
• The Lions pack one of the nation's best defenses against the run, which will test Big Red senior Luke Hagy in his final home game.
• Hagy became the first Ivy League player to hit 2,000 rushing and 1,500 receiving yards in a career in last weekend's 21-3 loss at nationally ranked Dartmouth.
• He ended the game with 99 all-purpose yards, with his three catches for 34 yards pushing him through the milestone.
• Hagy will be one of 21 seniors honored before kickoff by the Big Red for their contributions to the program on and off the field.
• The All-Ivy senior running back needs three yards to move into fourth on the school's all-purpose yardage list and is 203 yards from reaching 4,000 career yards — a mark only reached by Bryan Walters '10 (5,795), Chad Levitt '97 (5,117) and Ed Marinaro '72 (4,947) among Cornellians and just 13 Ivy League players in history.
• The contest will also feature two of the nation's premier punters in two-time first-team All-Ivy selection Chris Fraser at Cornell (second nationally in punting average, 45.7 yards per punt) and Columbia's Cameron Nizialek (16th nationally, 42.5 yards per punt).
 • David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, is in his third season at the helm of the Big Red (4-24 overall, .143; 3-16, Ivy, .158).
• Archer is the second youngest Division I head football coach in the country.
• He had been an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at his alma mater for six years.
• Archer was hired as head coach on Jan. 3, 2013.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 103rd meeting between Cornell and Columbia, with the Big Red holding a 63-36-3 lead in the series.
• The two teams first met in 1889, a 20-0 Cornell win.
• Cornell won last season's matchup between the two teams 30-27 in New York City.
• The squads have been evenly matched in the past two decades, with the two teams evenly splitting the last 26 seasons after Cornell had won 12 straight contests, the longest streak in the series by either team.
 
ABOUT COLUMBIA
• After an 0-10 season a year ago, the Lions are 2-6 overall and 1-4 in Ivy play after putting a scare into unbeaten Harvard before falling 24-16 last Saturday.
• Columbia owns wins over Wagner (26-3) and Yale (17-7), snapping an 18-game Ivy League skid with the victory over the Bulldogs.
• The Lions have been winning with defense, allowing just 20.9 points and 309.9 yards per game, including just 93.5 yards per game on the ground (third in the Ivy League, seventh nationally).
• Four of the team's six losses have come by eight points or less.
• Cameron Molina leads the Lions in rushing with 480 yards and three touchdowns on the ground to go along with 24 catches for 176 yards.
• Quarterback Skyler Mornhinweg, a transfer from Florida, has posted 239 rushing yards and three touchdowns on the ground while completing 59 percent of his passes for 1,105 yards and four touchdowns.
• Cameron Nizialek has been a special teams weapon, scoring 38 points (including a touchdown on a fake field goal), including seven field goals, and ranks second in the Ancient Eight in punting to the Big Red's Chris Fraser at 42.5 yards per punt.
• Keith Brady, Matthew Cahal and Christian Conway all have 43 tackles to lead the team, with Brady and Conway combining for 12.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
• First year head coach Al Bagnoli is no stranger to Ivy League football, posting a legendary career at Penn before taking a short retirement, then deciding to take the reins to rebuild the Lions' program.
• Bagnoli spent 23 years at Penn, where he totaled a 148-80 overall record and 112-49 record in the Ivy League. His teams won nine Ivy League championships.

A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD ...
• give Cornell its first win of the season, making it 1-8.
• make the Big Red's Ivy record 1-5 on the year.
• snap a nine-game losing streak dating back to last season.
• extend the Big Red's lead in the all-time series to 64-36-3.
• make Cornell 4-2 against the Lions in the Empire State Bowl series.
• be the 632nd in program history (12th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).
 
THE EMPIRE STATE BOWL
• Officially established in 2010, the Empire State Bowl has been the unofficial nickname of the Cornell-Columbia series for many years.
• Cornell leads the series 3-2, with each team holding serve at home before last season.
• The trophy currently resides in Ithaca following last year's 30-27 triumph at Columbia's Baker Field.
• Cornell's other wins in the series came in 2011 (62-41) and 2013 (24-9).
• Columbia won the first-ever Empire State Bowl in 2010 with an exciting last-minute 20-17 victory at Wien Stadium to capture the traveling trophy.
 
LAST TIME OUT
• The Big Red defense did yeoman's work against a high-powered Dartmouth offense, but the 24th-ranked Big Green defense met the challenge and then some in a 21-3 victory over Cornell at Memorial Field.
• Cornell forced a pair of turnovers, held the Big Green to 3-of-5 scoring in the red zone and gave up just 419 yards of offense despite being on the field for 83 plays, but Dartmouth surrendered just 194 yards of offense, including 33 yards after halftime.
• After allowing a go-ahead field goal on Cornell's second drive of the contest, Dartmouth held the Big Red to 74 yards in the final three quarters of play.
• Senior JJ Fives had nine tackles, including two sacks, and sophomore Nick Gesualdi posted four tackles with a forced fumble that he recovered.
• Sophomore Sean Scullen made seven stops, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass and freshman Mason Banbury had a tackle for loss and a forced fumble.
• Junior Jackson Weber had a game-high 12 tackles and sophomore Seth Hope chipped in with a career-high 10.
• Senior Luke Hagy ran for 65 yards on 17 carries, including 34 yards on the game's first drive before Cornell turned the ball over on downs. '
• He also caught three passes for 34 yards, becoming the first player in Ivy League history to surpass 2,000 rushing and 1,500 receiving yards in a career.
• On special teams, Chris Fraser averaged a healthy 42.6 yards on five punts and freshman Zach Mays had the team's lone points with a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter, the first make of his career.
• Dartmouth's Ivy League Player of the Year candidate Dalyn Williams completed 20-of-32 passes for 203 yards and a touchdown and also rushed for a score.
• Three different Big Green players tallied at least 50 yards on the ground, with Ryder Stone scoring once.
• Ryan McManus caught his first touchdown of the season in the second quarter.
• Defensively, Danny McManus and Colin Boit each had interceptions and all-league linebacker Will McNamara had five stops, including a tackle for loss, and broke up a pass.


 
SOME NOTES TO KNOW
• With 2,194 career rushing yards, senior running back Luke Hagy sits sixth all-time at Cornell. He is 207 yards behind Luke Siwula '08 for fifth place.
• Hagy also sits fifth on the school's all-purpose yardage list with 3,797 yards - three yards away from fourth-place Derrick Harmon '84 and 203 yards from becoming the fourth Cornell player to reach 4,000 career all-purpose yards.
• Hagy became the first Ivy League player to reach 2,000 rushing yards and 1,500 receiving yards in a career.
• Hagy is the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards and the first to hit the century mark in both rushing and receiving at Cornell (second in Ivy history, joining Princeton's Keith Elias).
• Hagy is one of just six players in school history to throw, pass and catch touchdown passes in their career. He joins Derrick Harmon '84, John Tagliaferri '86, Steve Lutz '89, Luke Siwula '08 and Ryan Houska '12 on that exclusive list.
• Senior Ben Rogers' 283 all-purpose yards against Princeton ranks fourth in a single game (dating back to 1994).
• Junior punter Chris Fraser has earned first-team All-Ivy honors in each of his first two seasons. The last Cornellian to earn back-to-back first-team all-league accolades was Kevin Boothe '05.
• Fraser, who ranks second nationally in punting average (45.7 yards per punt), has led the Ivy League in punting average by at least two yards per kick in each of his first two seasons. He's more than three yards clear of his opposition through eight games.
• Fraser's 45.7 yards per punt ranks seventh in all of college football — he ranks behind only FBS punters Drew Kaser of Texas A&M (47.9), Michael Carrizosa of San Jose State (47.8), Tom Hackett of Utah (46.9), Colorado State's Hayden Hunt (46.3) and Tennessee's Trevor Daniel (46.3), as well as FCS punter Ben LeCompte of North Dakota State (46.4).
• Fraser was named to the STATS FCS Preseason All-America third team, joining fellow Ivy Leaguers Seth DeValve (Princeton, wide receiver) and Cole Toner (Harvard, offensive line) on the third team as the lone representatives from the conference.
•Sophomore Jake Jatis earned five starts under center a year ago, becoming the second Cornellian to earn a start at quarterback as a freshman, joining all-time Ivy leading passer Jeff Mathews '13.
• Cornell has had the last two Ivy League Rookies of the Year (Chris Fraser in 2013, Nick Gesualdi in 2014). No Ivy team has ever crowned Rookie of the Year three years in a row.
• The Big Red played its 99th all-time game vs. Dartmouth, its 98th game vs. Princeton and its 97th game against Colgate this year.
• The Big Red offense hasn't been shut out in 57 games, with the last coming against Penn (34-0 to close out 2009).
• The last time Cornell was picked to finish eighth in the preseason media poll (2004), the Big Red became the second Ivy League team ever to go from an 0-7 campaign to a winning league record (4-3) in the span of a year.
• Since taking over the program, head coach David Archer '05 is 3-1 in the trophy series games against Columbia (Empire Bowl, 2-0) and Penn (Trustees' Cup, 1-1).
• Cornell reached 23,000 points in school history in its season opener against Bucknell. The program enters the weekend having scored 23,111 points over 1,172 games — an average of 19.7 points per game.
 
HAGY NOMINATED FOR GOOD WORKS TEAM
• Senior running back Luke Hagy has been nominated for the 2015 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, the most esteemed off the field honor in college football.
• The Good Works Team recognizes college football players from across the country who exemplify a superior commitment to community service and volunteerism.
• Hagy is one of just two Ivy League players nominated, along with Yale's Sebastian Little.
• Comprised of 11 players from the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and 11 players from the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision, Divisions II, III and the NAIA, the final roster of 22 award recipients will be unveiled in September.
• In order to meet the criteria set forth by Allstate and the AFCA, each player must be actively involved with a charitable organization or service group while maintaining a strong academic standing.
 
GOGOLAK BROTHERS EARN NFF HONOR
• Cornell football great Pete Gogolak '64 and his brother, Princeton star Charlie Gogolak, have been named the National Football Foundation's Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award Recipients for 2015.
• The first soccer-style place-kicker in collegiate football history, Pete '64 set a national major college record of 44 consecutive kicking conversions from 1961-63.
• First presented in 1974, the NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award provides national recognition to those whose efforts to support the NFF and its goals have been local in nature or who have made significant contributions to the game of football either to the manner in which it is played and coached or to the manner in which it is enjoyed by spectators.
• The Gogolaks become the 39th and 40th recipients of the award.
• The Gogolaks will be honored at the 58th NFF Annual Awards Dinner on Dec. 8 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
 
THE WILSON PROJECT
• Junior tight end Nick Bland initiated "The Wilson Project" this fall as a way to give other members of the program an experience similar to his after having a ball signed for a family friend whose father passed away suddenly.
• Realizing the power of his simple gift of a football, he arranged to have 150 footballs for his teammates and staff to sign and provide to someone who has had a great effect on their life or someone they thought could use a positive influence.
• The players and staff had the balls signed by everyone in the program and then shipped or hand delivered, along with a note as why the recipient was getting the ball.
READ MORE ABOUT THE WILSON PROJECT HERE


 
FOOTBALL GETS NCAA RECOGNITION (AGAIN)
• Football has been publicly recognized by the NCAA for its Academic Progress Report (APR) score being in the top 10 percent nationally each year since the scores were first tabulated in 2004-05.
• Three Cornell sports (football, men's golf and women's soccer) have been publicly recognized each year since the APR was first released and are among just 129 teams across the country with that accomplishment.
• Cornell's score of 986 (out of 1,000) this past year is tied for its third-highest ever, behind only the 987 it had scored the previous two years.
• Only six FCS schools have been honored each year in football (Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Penn and Yale), with five coming from the Ivy League.
• The APR measures semester-by-semester records for every individual team in Division I with regard to each team members' continuing eligibility, retention and progress toward graduation.

BIG RED INVOLVED IN STORIED RIVALRIES
• The Big Red is involved in three of the top 20 most-played rivalries in college football.
• The Cornell-Penn series ranks fifth in most games played, a total that will reach 122 this season.
• The 102 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 12th, while the Cornell-Colgate rivalry stands 17th with 97 games played.
• The Cornell-Dartmouth and the Cornell-Penn series are the second-longest uninterrupted active series, as the teams have met every season since 1919, a span of 96 years. They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.
 
STATING THE STATES
• Cornell's 108-player roster is made up of student-athletes from 28 states, as well as Canada, South Africa and two from the District of Columbia.
• A team-high 15 players come to Cornell from California, while another 12 attended school in bordering Pennsylvania, 11 come from the home state of New York and 10 reside in Texas.
• Seven players are from Michigan, six players are from Maryland and five apiece come from Georgia and Virginia.
 
CORNELL FOOTBALL AT 128 YEARS
• This is the 129th year since the start of Cornell football, but it will be the 128th season.
• The first official Big Red football team was formed in 1887, and Cornell has sponsored a squad every year since except 1918 during World War I.
• The Big Red has an overall record of 631-507-34 (.553) in its 128 years of football.
• The program's 631 wins rank 12th among all FCS schools.
• Over the years, Cornell has taken on 89 different opponents, with its most frequent opponent being Penn (121 meetings).
 
CORNELLIANS IN THE PROS
• Cornell currently has four active players in professional football — two in the NFL (Bryan Walters, Jacksonville Jaguars; JC Tretter, Green Bay Packers) and two in the CFL (Jeff Mathews and Luke Tasker, Hamilton Tiger-Cats).
• Walters is having a career year with 24 catches for 282 yards and a touchdown in seven contests (one start) for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• See his 20-yard touchdown catch agains the Jets this week (his first career regular season score) by clicking here.
• In 28 career games, Walters has 33 catches for 366 yards and a touchdown for San Diego, Seattle and Jacksonville and has also returned kicks (six for 123 yards - 20.5 yards per return) and punts (40 for 276 yards - 6.9 yards per return).
• Tretter has played in 16 career contests with the Green Bay Packers on the offensive line.
• He is also on the hands-team on special teams, recovering a pop-up kick in the 27-20 win over the San Diego Chargers earlier this season.
• Mathews is starting at quarterback for former head coach Kent Austin in Hamilton and has completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,456 yards and six touchdowns with eight interceptions and has scored six times on the ground.
• Tasker, in his third season with Hamilton, has caught 68 passes for 959 yards and six touchdowns.
 
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
• Cornell holds claim to five national titles in its storied football history.
• The Big Red claimed at least a share of the 1915 (Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation and Parke Davis), 1921 (Helms, Houlgate, National Championship Foundation and Parke Davis), 1922 (Helms, Parke Davis), 1923 (Sagarin) and 1939 (Litkenhous, Sagarin) titles.
• All five teams went undefeated and dominated their opponents.
• The 1915 team was 9-0 and outscored its opponents 287-50 with four shutouts.
• The 1921, 1922 and 1923 squads each went 8-0 and outscored their opponents 392-21, 339-27 and 320-33, respectively.
• The teams allowed more than one touchdown in a game just once during that 24-game span while scoring 40 or more points 14 times.
• The 1939 team was 8-0 and defeated Syracuse, Penn State and Ohio State.
 
60TH SEASON OF IVY LEAGUE ATHLETICS
• Throughout the 2015-16 season, the Ivy League will be celebrating its 60th season with impactful content across IvyLeagueSports.com, The Ivy League Digital Network and the League's social media outlets.
• Be on the lookout for the #IvyAt60 hashtag to keep up the coverage of the League's 60th season.
 
NEXT UP
• The Big Red will close out its 128th season of football on Saturday, Nov. 21 when it visits Penn for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
• The game will be played for the Trustee's Cup.
• This will be the 122nd meeting between the teams, with Penn leading 70-46-5.