QUICK HITS
• One of the wildest series in college football will add another chapter when Princeton and Cornell meet on the gridiron for the 99th time when they square off on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The game will be televised by OneWorld Sports with Bill Spaulding and Ken Dunek on the call, while local listeners can tune in to WHCU 95.9 FM/870 AM to listen to Barry Leonard and Jason Weinstein.
• Both teams enter the contest after heartbreaking overtime losses last Saturday.
• The Big Red rallied from a two-touchdown deficit in the second half to take the lead in the first overtime at Brown, but the Bears tied it up, scored to open the second extra session and stopped Cornell for the 28-21 win.
• In a battle for first place in the Ancient Eight, the Tigers also rallied from a 14-point second half deficit to send its matchup with Harvard into overtime before the Crimson broke the end zone on a 1-yard run for the three-point victory.
• For Cornell, the loss to Brown was its third straight defeat after opening the year with three consecutive wins.
• Despite the three-game skid, Cornell has already surpassed its win total from the previous two seasons combined (2-18).
• A win for the Big Red over Princeton would be a step back in the right direction, as the Tigers have won three straight in the series, outscoring Cornell 138-68 (46.0-22.7).
• It would also avenge a 2015 loss for the fourth time this season, continuing to march Cornell forward.
• The defense was a bright spot against the Bears, not allowing a scoring drive of more than 49 yards and allowing just seven points on six drives that started in Cornell territory last weekend.
• Junior safety Nick Gesualdi, who ranks third in the FCS in interceptions and 26th in passes defended, had his fifth pick of the season and the 10th of his career last weekend.
• Kurt Frimel forced a fumble that he returned 71 yards to set up the game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter and now ranks fifth nationally in forced fumbles.
• All-American Chris Fraser continues to be one of the Ancient Eight's top weapons, averaging 41.5 yards per punt and pinning opponents inside the 20 on more than half his punts (18-of-34).
• Sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks is 12th nationally in touchdowns responsible for (16.0 ppg.) and stands among the top 30 in  passing yards per game, touchdown passes, pass completions per game and total offense.
• Banks has 12 passing touchdowns and four more rushing in his first six varsity games.
• Senior Ben Rogers has 12 catches for 232 yards and four touchdowns over his last four games.
  • David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, is in his fourth season at the helm of the Big Red (8-28 overall, .222; 5-23, Ivy, .179).
• Archer is the seventh-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.

ABOUT PRINCETON
• At 4-2 (2-1) Ivy, the Tigers are a game out of first place after suffering a 23-20 overtime loss to Harvard last weekend.
• The high scoring Tigers continue to put points on the board, averaging 32.7 per contest, including a 48-13 win over Columbia.
• Joe Rhattigan (63.5 ypg., three touchdowns) and Charlie Volker (50.8 ypg., three touchdowns) lead the Princeton charge on the ground, though it is John Lovett who has scored on 12 of his 57 carries this season.
• Lovett has also thrown for four scores, while Chad Kanoff is completing 60 percent of his passes and has four scores through the air.
• Isaiah Barnes leads the receivers with 22 catches for 295 yards and a score.
• Luke Catarius leads the Tigers with 47 tackles and has added 4.5 for a loss with a sack and an interception.
• Robert Hylton has 33 stops, while Kurt Holuba has 20 tackles with 6.0 for a loss and 4.5 sacks.
• Head coach Bob Surace is one of only two men to win an Ivy League title as both a player and head coach.
• Surace sports a 29-37 record, though it is 27-19 over the last five years after going 2-18 over his first two seasons.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 99th meeting between Cornell and Princeton, with the Tigers holding a commanding 60-36-2 advantage.
• The two teams first met in 1891, a 6-0 Princeton win.
• In all, 15 of the last 20 meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less.
• Princeton has won three straight games over the Big Red, including last season's 47-21 triumph at home.
 
A WIN OVER PRINCETON WOULD ...
• make Cornell 4-3 overall, doubling the combined win total from the last two seasons (2-18).
• make the Big Red 2-1 at home this season.
• avenge a 2015 loss for the fourth time this season.
• be the 636th in program history (13th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON
• Senior Luke Hagy posted yet another 100-yard rushing game and the Big Red defense dominated early, but a quick-strike Princeton offense eventually broke through as Cornell left points on the board early in a 47-21 Tiger victory at Tiger Stadium.
• Hagy piled up 128 rushing yards and a touchdown on 20 carries and caught two passes for 41 yards after missing much of the previous two weeks due to injury to lead an offense that piled up 444 yards.
• Senior Ben Rogers caught six passes for 96 yards and tallied 283 all-purpose yards on the day, the fourth-highest single-game total in school history.
• Rogers had one touchdown catch, as did classmate Chris Lenz.
• Robert Somborn completed 22-of-39 passes for 279 yards and two scores as Big Red quarterbacks threw for a combined 320 yards.
• Defensively, Jackson Weber had eight tackles and Nick Gesualdi had seven stops and a pass breakup. Twan Terrell blocked a punt and senior classmate JJ Fives had 1.5 tackles for a loss.
• Joe Rhattigan had 127 rushing yards and a touchdown on just 12 carries, while John Lovett had 92 yards on seven carries with a pair of touchdowns.
• Dre Nelson added a pair of touchdowns on opposite ends of the spectrum - a 1-yard run and a 100-yard kickoff return.



LAST TIME OUT - BROWN 28, CORNELL 21 (2OT)
• Game Story I Box Score I Highlights
• Cornell rallied from a two-touchdown second half deficit to send the game into double overtime, but Brown used key special teams plays and an opportunistic offense in the extra sessions to claim a 28-21 victory at Brown Stadium.
• Brown did not have a scoring drive of longer than 49 yards, though it scored on a 79-yard Alex Jette punt return.
• Jette scored three times for the Bears, with touchdown catches of 18 and 2 yards to go along with the punt return.
• The Big Red defense, which defended six drives that started inside Cornell territory and yielded just seven points off those drives, got a career-high 15 tackles with 2.5 for a loss and a sack from sophomore Reis Seggebruch and 14 tackles and an interception from Nick Gesualdi.
• Sophomore Dalton Banks completed 21-of-37 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns, but was also intercepted twice.
• Seniors Marshall Deutz, Ben Rogers and Matt Sullivan each had touchdown catches.
• When the offense was forced to punt, Chris Fraser averaged 41.7 yards per kick with two of his seven downed inside the 20.
• WIll Twyman, the Ivy League's leading tackler, added 17 stops to his total and had 2.5 for a loss to lead Brown.
• Jette had 196 all-purpose yards and Linta threw a pair of touchdowns.
• Brown extended its win streak over the Big Red to nine games.
• Cornell played its 11th overtime game in program history, dropping to 5-6 in games that go an extra session.
• The Big Red is now 2-1 in OT games against Brown, 1-4 on the road and 3-4 against Ivy teams.



NOTING THE BROWN GAME
• Junior Nick Gesualdi had his 10th career interception (fifth in 2016) to move to seventh on the all-time list, while his five interceptions this year is tied for 10th in Cornell history.
• Sophomore Dalton Banks had his second career three-touchdown passing game.
• Both sophomore Reis Seggebruch (15) and Gesualdi (14) set career highs in tackles in a game.
• Senior Chris Fraser had a pair of punts longer than 50 yards, giving him a school-record 42 (closest to him is Mike Baumgartel with 11).
• The Big Red defense held Brown to a 1-of-5 day scoring in the red zone.
• The 3:50 game time is tied for the longest by a Cornell team since 1996.
• Brown extended its win streak over the Big Red to nine games.
• Cornell turned the Bears over on fourth downs four times during the game.
• Cornell played its 11th overtime game in program history, dropping to 5-6 in games that go an extra session.
• The defense defended six Brown drives that started inside Cornell territory and yielded just seven points off them.

MILESTONE WATCH
• Senior captain Jackson Weber needs 10 tackles to become the 23rd player in school history to record 200 career stops.
• Senior captain Ben Rogers needs 381 yards from scrimmage to become the 11th Cornellian to surpass 3,000 all-purpose yards in a career.
• Senior wide receiver Collin Shaw is 93 receiving yards short of 1,000 for his career - he would be the 23rd player in school history to reach that milestone.
• With five punts, senior Chris Fraser would reach 200 for his career, becoming the second Cornellian to reach that mark.
• Junior Nick Gesualdi has 10 career interceptions, good for seventh all-time at Cornell. An 11th would move him into third in Cornell history.

TEAM NOTES TO KNOW
• With three wins, Cornell has surpassed its win total from the previous two seasons combined (2-18).
• Cornell is 2-2 on the road in 2016, matching the total of the last three seasons combined (2-13).
• Cornell's 3-0 start was just the ninth of its kind for the Big Red since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956 (1959, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1994, 1999, 2016).
• The 23-point deficit against Colgate was the largest a Big Red team has overcome to win since erasing a 28-0 halftime lead en route to a 29-28 win at Harvard in 2000.

OFFENSIVE NOTES TO KNOW
• Sophomore Dalton Banks' 454 passing yards in the win at Colgate ranks eighth on the school's single-game list, while his four touchdowns were one shy of a school record.
• Banks' five touchdowns responsible for (four passing, one rushing) against the Raiders tied a school history set four times by Jeff Mathews, twice by Ed Marinaro and once by Marty Sponaugle.
• Banks became the sixth Cornell quarterback to have a 400-yard passing game.
• Sophomore Chris Walker is just the 34th player in school history to record multiple 100-yard rushing games.
• Senior wide receiver Collin Shaw (907) is within striking distance of becoming the 23rd Cornellian to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards, joining classmate Ben Rogers, who hit that milestone at No. 16 Harvard.
• Four different players on the Big Red roster have at least one 100-yard receiving game: Ben Rogers and Collin Shaw - 2, Marshall Deutz and James Hubbard - 1.
• Rogers has caught 12 passes for 232 yards (19.3 yards per catch) with four touchdowns over his last four games.
• Twelve different receivers have caught a pass so far for the Big Red this season, matching the total from all of last season.

DEFENSIVE NOTES TO KNOW
• With 10 career interceptions, junior Nick Gesualdi is tied for seventh on the school's career list and is the most by any Cornellian in 21 years (Doug Knopp '96 with 13).
• Five different players have led the team in tackles over the first six games (Bucknell, Daniel Crochet -11; Yale and Sacred Heart, Jackson Weber - 11 and 8; Colgate, Justin Solomon - 15; Harvard, Nick Gesualdi -11; Brown, Reis Seggebruch - 15).
• Seven different players have at least one game with double figure tackles (Daniel Crochet, Kurt Frimel, Nick Gesualdi, Reis Seggebruch, Justin Solomon, Jackson Weber, D.J. Woullard).
• Cornell's 11 interceptions are nearly triple the Big Red's total of 2015 (four).
• Senior linebacker Jackson Weber needs 10 tackles to reach 200 in his career.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell's kickers have put 22-of-27 kickoffs into the end zone this season. In all, 17 of the 27 kickoffs have been touchbacks.
• Freshman Nickolas Null is 1-of-2 on field goals, 7-of-8 on PATs and has five touchbacks on 10 kickoffs.
• The Big Red has already blocked two kicks this season, matching last season's total.
• The Big Red is 5-of-6 on field goals this season after making just 4-of-11 attempts in 2015.
• Senior Chris Fraser has averaged at least 40 yards per punt in 21 of his last 22 games and was named Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week in the other after pinning all three Colgate punts inside the 11 earlier this year en route to a 36.0 yards per punt average.
• Of his last 23 punts covering four games, Fraser has pinned 13 inside the 20.
• Fraser averaged 44.6 yards per punt on eight kicks against Sacred Heart with a school-record six being downed inside the 20.
• Fraser has averaged 40.0 yards per punt in 33 of his 36 career games with the Big Red.
• His 8,342 yards punted is equivalent to traveling 4.74 miles in his career.
• Jelani Taylor has five special teams tackles to lead the coverage unit.

MAYS NAMED IVY LEAGUE SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK (Sept. 19) • Sophomore place-kicker Zach Mays was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week after an outstanding performance in the Big Red's season-opening win at Bucknell.
• Mays opened the scoring for the Big Red with a career-long 41-yard field goal and booted through all three extra-point kicks.
• Maybe even more impressive was his efforts on kickoffs. Mays booted all five of his kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks, helping Cornell control field position in the 24-16 comeback win against the Bison.
• The Big Red joins Southern Utah as the lone teams in the country to allow no kickoff returns this season to lead the Football Championship Subdivison (FCS).
 
BANKS, MAYS EARN IVY WEEKLY HONORS (Sept. 26)

• Sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week and classmate Zach Mays earned Special Teams Player of the Week for the second straight Monday when the conference announced the weekly awards on Sept. 26.
• Banks posted his first 300-yard passing game in the 27-13 win over Yale, completing 23-of-32 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover.
• Banks threw scoring passes of 10 and 43 yards as the Big Red built a 24-3 halftime lead and spread the ball around among 12 different receivers.
• He also ran for 20 yards on 13 carries.
• Mays has continued to be one of the top weapons in the Ancient Eight on special teams, converting field goals of 37 and 28 yards, making all three extra-point kicks and putting four of his five kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks.
• The fifth kickoff was returned, the first time an opponent has brought a ball out of the end zone, but Yale couldn't make it to the 20.

BANKS, FRIMEL, FRASER TAKE HOME IVY WEEKLY HONORS (Oct. 3) • Sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks was named Ivy League Football Offensive Player of the Week for the second straight week, and had plenty of company on the list of weekly award winners from the conference.
• He was joined by junior linebacker Kurt Frimel (Defensive Player of the Week) and senior punter Chris Fraser (Special Teams Player of the Week) as weekly award winners.
• Banks tied a school record with five touchdowns in the 39-38 victory over No. 25 Colgate. He helped lead a comeback from down 28-5 in the first half by completing 25-of-45 passes for 454 yards and four scores while also running for a touchdown. 
• None of his completions were more important than his final one - a perfect 19-yard strike to Collin Shaw in the back right corner of the end zone that gave the visitors their first lead with 0:28 remaining. 
• The 454 passing yards rank eighth in a single game in school history, while his four passing touchdowns were one shy of a school mark. 
• Frimel had a career-high 10 tackles with 2.0 for a loss and a sack in the win over No. 25 Colgate. 
• He was in on arguably the two biggest defensive plays of the day, as his third-down sack early in the second quarter was recorded as a safety, getting Cornell on the board and giving the visitors some momentum after falling behind 21-0. 
• He then plugged a cap and corralled a Colgate runner for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-1 from the Cornell 42, giving the ball back to the Big Red and setting up Banks' heroic throw to Shaw that proved to be the game winner. 
• Seven of his 10 tackles on the day were on plays that gained two yards or less, including a stop for no gain on a third-and-1 late in the third quarter than set up the offensive possession that allowed the Big Red to get within 38-33 entering the fourth.
• Fraser punted three times against the Raiders and pinned the defending Patriot League champs inside their own 7 all three times. 
• He averaged 36.0 yards per punt and made Colgate start at their own 2, 7 and 4. 
• The last of those, early in the second quarter, set the scene for Frimel's sack on third down to effectively start the Big Red comeback. 

BIG RED RANKED AMONG TOP 100 COLLEGE FOOTBALL PROGRAMS IN HISTORY
• Cornell was ranked as one of the top 100 football programs of all-time according to the Associated Press in a ranking released in August 2016.
• At No. 72, the Big Red ranked ahead of a number of Bowl Championship Subdivision (BCS) schools and second among Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) programs.
• Only Penn (No. 66) placed higher among current FCS schools, while other Ivy League teams on the list included Dartmouth (No. 87), Yale (No. 90), Princeton (No. 81) and Columbia (No. 99).
• Few collegiate football programs have the storied history of Cornell.
• With more than 120 seasons of football in the books, the Big Red has claimed five national titles, won more than 600 games and  has  had  legendary  players  and  coaches  perform  on  historic  Schoellkopf Field.
• Names such as Glenn "Pop" Warner and Heisman Trophy finalist and NCAA record-breaker Ed Marinaro have suited up for  Cornell,  while  seven  College  Football  Hall  of  Famers  have  set  the  strategy  as  head  coaches.
• In all, 138 All-Americans and 11 National Football Hall of Fame members have played for the Big Red.
• The top 10 schools on the list, done to celebrate 80 years of the Associated Press poll, were Ohio State, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, USC, Nebraska, Michigan, Texas, Florida State and Florida.

YOUR 2016 FOOTBALL CAPTAINS
• Seniors Miles Norris (ILB), Ben Rogers (WR), Matt Sullivan (TE) and Jackson Weber (ILB) were elected as team captains for the 2016 season.
• Norris is the program's 17th two-year captain (Jeff Mathews '14 is the lone three-time captain).
• Norris ranked fourth on the team in tackles (48) and paced the squad in forced fumbles (two) as a junior linebacker in 2015.
• The two-year starter and three-year letter winner has posted 134 tackles with 11.0 for a loss with 5.5 sacks, three pass breakups, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovered and a blocked kick over his career.
• Rogers returns to the Big Red for a fifth season at wide receiver after ranking among the Ivy League and the nation's top all-purpose yardage leaders.
• He became the 22nd Cornellian to reach 1,000 career receiving yards (1,025) and is within striking distance of becoming the 11th with 3,000 career all-purpose yards (2,619).
• Sullivan will begin his third season as a key cog on the offense from his tight end position.
• An excellent pass catcher and punishing blocker, he has hauled in 51 passes for 519 yards and four touchdowns over the last three seasons.
• Weber, a consistent starter at linebacker over the past three seasons, is the team's active leading tackler (190).
• A three-year letter winner, he has started 33 consecutive games and led the team with 54 tackles a season ago.

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.
• Two Cornell sports (football and men's golf) have been publicly recognized each year since the APR was first released and are among just 110 teams across the country in all sports with that accomplishment.
• Cornell's score of 991 (out of 1,000) this past year is the highest in school history (the four highest scores in program history have come over the last four years - 987, 987, 986, 991).
• Only five FCS schools have been honored each year in football (Cornell, Dartmouth, Davidson, Penn and Yale), with four 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.

CORNELL ATHLETICS HALL OF FAME ADDS TWO GRIDDERS
• A pair of Cornell football legends were inducted into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame on Sept. 24.
• All-American and two-time NFL Super Bowl champion Kevin Boothe '05 and top 10 all-time rusher Scott Oliaro '92 were among 10 inductees.
• Boothe was a three-time first-team All-Ivy pick and four-year starter for the Big Red at offensive tackle.
• He became just the fourth Cornell player to earn first-team all-league honors three times.
• A sixth round pick in the NFL Draft by the Oakland Raiders, Boothe played a decade in the NFL and won two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants, including as a starter in 2011.
• One of Cornell's most versatile offensive players, Oliaro holds the single-game rushing record (288 yards) and the single-game all-purpose yardage record (395 yards), ranks seventh all-time in career touchdowns, eighth all-time in career all-purpose yards and 10th all-time in career rushing yards.
• He led the team in receptions in 1989 and 1990, points in 1990 and 1992, and rushing yards in 1992.
• Oliaro was named to the All-Ivy second team in 1990 and 1992.
• He was named one of the top 50 athletes in Vermont sports history by Sports Illustrated.

BIG RED INVOLVED IN STORIED RIVALRIES
• The Big Red is involved in three of the top 20 most-played rivalries in the FCS.
• The Cornell-Penn series ranks fifth in most games played, a total that will reach 123 this season.
• The 103 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 14th, while the Cornell-Princeton and Cornell-Dartmouth rivalries stand 18th with 99 games played.
• Right behind that is the series with Colgate, which sits right outside the top 20 with 98 meetings.
• 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 97 years. They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.
 
STATING THE STATES
• Cornell's 114-player roster is made up of student-athletes from 31 states, as well as Canada, South Africa and the District of Columbia.
• A team-high 10 players come to Cornell from California, Pennsylvania and New York.
• Nine players are from Maryland, eight players are from Texas and seven apiece come from Michigan and Virginia.
 
CORNELL FOOTBALL AT 129 YEARS
• This is the 130th year since the start of Cornell football, but it will be the 129th 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 635-511-34 (.553) in its 129 years of football.
• The program's 635 wins rank 13th among all FCS schools.
• Over the years, Cornell has taken on 89 different opponents, with its most frequent opponent being Penn (122 meetings).
 
CORNELLIANS IN THE PROS
• Two Cornellians were on NFL opening day rosters in 2016.
• Bryan Walters '10, one of the Big Red's all-time greats at wide receivers, entered his seventh NFL season overall and second with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• He spent the previous three seasons with his hometown Seattle Seahawks with a Super Bowl ring to his name in 2014.
• He also had spent time with the San Diego Chargers and the Minnesota Vikings.
• Walters, a wide receiver and special teams returner, entered the season having played in 32 career games with two starts.
• He caught 41 passes for 452 yards and a touchdown, returned six kickoffs for 123 yards and returned 43 punts for 282 yards.
• Fourth-year offensive lineman JC Tretter '13 was an FCS All-American before being drafted in the fourth round of the NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers in 2013.
• He was named the team's starting center in 2016 and has played in 24 contests with three starts entering the year.
• Tretter suffered an injury during official team activities (OTA) and missed his first NFL season, and was slated to be the Packers' starting center in 2014 before a preseason injury.
• Has seen action at both tackle spots and left guard as well as at center.
 
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.
 
NEXT UP
• The Big Red remains at home to face defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The game will be broadcast on the Ivy League Digital Network with Barry Leonard and Jason Weinstein on the call.
• It will be the 99th all-time meeting between the teams, with Dartmouth holding a 58-39-1 edge.
• The Big Green has won seven straight in the series, with Cornell last coming out on top in a 37-14 victory at home in 2008.