QUICK HITS
• When upstart Cornell meets No. 16/22 Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. at Harvard Stadium in Cambridge, Mass., the Big Red will have a chance to shake up the conference standings against the three-time defending Ivy League champion Crimson.
• The game will be broadcast on OneWorld Sports and simulcast on the Ivy League Digital Network, while local listeners can tune in to WHCU 95.9 FM/870 AM to listen to Barry Leonard and Phil Mahoney on the call.
• Though it's too early to call a matchup a big game, an upstart Cornell team will be looking for its first 2-0 Ivy start since 2000.
• To do so, Cornell would need to defeat a second straight ranked opponent after last week's 39-38 victory at No. 25 Colgate.
• Prior to that, the Big Red hadn't beaten a ranked team on the road since Nov. 25, 1950, when it knocked off No. 13 Penn 13-6. 
• Harvard has won 10 straight matchups against the Big Red and has claimed at least a share of three straight Ivy titles.
• The last time both Harvard and Cornell were unbeaten heading into their game was 1973 when the 3-0 Crimson topped the 2-0-1 Big Red 21-15 in Ithaca, N.Y.
• The last Big Red victory over the Crimson was a 27-13 victory over a Harvard team ranked 20th nationally during the 2005 campaign - the last winning season for the Big Red (6-4).
• Cornell's last win at Harvard came during the 2000 season when the Big Red stormed back from a 28-0 halftime deficit for a 29-28 victory after Joe Splendorio's field goal block in the final seconds. That marked the largest comeback for a win in the 21st Century.
• The Big Red had a major comeback in last weekend's victory over Colgate, rally from a 23-point first half deficit (28-5) before outscoring the home team 27-7 after the break to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2008.
• After knocking off the defending Patriot League champion and 2015 NCAA quarterfinalist Raiders, the Big Red received 21 votes in the STATS FCS Top 25 poll, good for 40th among all Football Championship Subdivision schools.
• It's the first time Cornell has received votes in the national polls since Sept. of 2009, when it earned 14 votes in the Sports Network's FCS College Football Poll (45th overall).
• The last time the Big Red was ranked in the national polls came in October of 1950, when Cornell sat No. 10 with two first place votes in the Associated Press top 25. The Big Red finished that season ranked 20th in the Coaches Poll. 
• Sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks, the two-time reigning Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, paces the Ancient Eight in passing (306.7 ypg.) and total offense (319.0 ypg.) and is second in passing efficiency (157.8).
• He'll go up against a defense ranked first in the conference in scoring defense (20.0 ppg.), fewest first downs allowed (15.3 pg.), lowest opponent third-down conversion rate (31.8 percent) and red-zone defense (62 percent).
• Cornell is averaging 30.0 points per game this season and is averaging better than 300 passing and 100 rushing yards for the first time in school history.
• Entering the game, Harvard and Cornell rank 1-2 in the Ivy League in scoring defense, total offense , passing offense, pass efficiency and interceptions.
• The two teams, who have met 80 times previously, each rank among the winningest college football programs ever. Harvard is second among FCS teams with 859 victories, while Cornell is tied for 12th with 635.
  • 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 (8-25 overall, .242; 5-21, Ivy, .192).
• 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 #16/22 HARVARD
• Harvard brings in a perfect 3-0 record after last weekend's 31-17 win over Georgetown.
• The Crimson kicked off the year with a 51-21 victory against Rhode Island, followed by a 32-22 triumph at Brown in its Ivy opener.
• Harvard is averaging 38.0 points per game while piling up 497.7 yards per contest.
• Quarterback Joe Viviano is completing 67 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and zero interceptions over three games.
• His favorite targets have been Anthony Firkser (16 catches, 336 yards, four touchdowns) and Justin Shelton-Mosley (15 catches, 177 yards).
• Semar Smith had run for 89.3 yards per game and three total touchdowns, matching Viviano for the team lead.
• Defensively, Tanner Lee (16 tackles, interception) and Luke Hitton (17 tackles) lead in stops, with DJ Bailey (3.5 tackles for loss, one forced fumbles) making impact plays.
• Harvard has allowed just 316.3 yards per game defensively and 20.0 points per outing.
• The Crimson have won at least a share of three straight Ivy titles and will attempt to become the first team to claim four in a row since Penn (1982-86).
• Head coach Tim Murphy is in his 23rd season directing the Harvard program. He has won more than 150 games on the Crimson sidelines with nine Ivy League titles.

THE SERIES
• Cornell and Harvard will be meeting for the 81st time dating back to the first meeting in 1890.
• Harvard leads the all-time series 46-32-2.
• The Crimson owned the early series, capturing the first 10 games (1890-1913), while Cornell 11 won straight from 1986-1996.
• Harvard has won 14 of the last 15 contests, with the Big Red's last win coming during the 2005 campaign, a 27-13 victory at home.
• The Crimson won last year's meeting 40-3 at Schoellkopf Field.
 
A WIN OVER HARVARD WOULD ...
• cut Harvard's lead in the all-time series to 46-33-2.
• make Cornell 4-0 to open a season for the first time since 1999.
• open Cornell's Ivy League season at 2-0 for the first time since 2000 (24-23 win over Yale at home, 29-28 win at Harvard).
• end a 10-game Big Red losing streak to the Crimson and a seven-game skid in Cambridge.
• be the second straight weekend with a road win over a top 25 team after going 65 years without one.
• be the 635th in program history (13th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision). 

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD
• Cornell opened the scoring with a first quarter field goal, but the Crimson answered back less than 30 seconds later after going behind on the scoreboard for the first time this season and never looked back. 
• In the end, No. 24 Harvard remained unbeaten and headed back to Cambridge with a 40-3 triumph over the Big Red at Schoellkopf Field. 
• The Crimson won its 18th straight game overall and its 13th consecutive Ivy contest.
• Harvard quarterback Scott Hosch accounted for four touchdowns (three passing, one rushing) and 322 total yards, Paul Stanton had 101 rushing yards and a score and Kenny Smart kicked two field goals.
• Harvard captured its 10th consecutive win in a series that dates back to 1890. 
• The Crimson allowed just 192 total yards and piled up 499 of their own in a near-perfect run-pass balance (249 yards rushing, 250 yards passing).
• Ben Rogers had 194 all-purpose yards for the Big Red, while freshman Chris Walker had 47 yards on just nine carries. 
• Junior Robert Somborn completed 9-of-16 passes for 107 yards, but was intercepted three times as the Big Red offense turned the ball over four times. 
• Senior Luke Hagy had his streak of 100-yard rushing games snapped at six with 33 yards on 15 carries. 
• On special teams, senior Chris Fraser excelled, putning seven tiems and averaging a robust 52.4 yards per kick with a long of 67 yards, on of three punts of more than 60 yards. 
• Joe Pierik booted a 33-yard field goal in the first quarter for Cornell's lone scoring.


LAST TIME OUT - CORNELL 39, #25 COLGATE 38
• Game Story I Box Score I Highlights
• Sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks found senior wide receiver Collin Shaw in the back corner of the end zone with 28 seconds left to rally Cornell to a 39-38 win at No. 25/-- Colgate at Andy Kerr Stadium. 
• The victory snapped a seven-game losing streak against ranked teams, with the last win over a Top 25 team coming in a 14-7 victory over No. 15 Princeton on Oct. 28, 2006. 
• The last win for the Big Red over a ranked team on the road? That came in 1950, when the Big Red earned a 13-6 win over No. 13 Penn at Franklin Field.
• A year ago, Cornell fell behind big (28-7) and rallied to within a touchdown and had four plays within the Raiders' 10 in the final minute to tie the game, but fell short. 
• This time, the Big Red fell down big (28-5), got within 38-33 in the third quarter and promptly turned the ball over three straight times. 
• Unlike the 2015 season when a fourth-down pass fell to the ground, this time the fourth time was a charm.
• Banks capped off a 454-yard passing day with his fourth touchdown through the air and fifth total of the day by finding Shaw in the back right corner of the end zone with a defender draped over him. 
• Chris Walker added 110 rushing yards on 13 carries and James Hubbard caught five passes for 105 yards and a highlight-reel 63-yard touchdown off a deflected pass on Cornell's final play of the third. 
• Justin Solomon had a career-high 15 tackles for the Big Red, while Kurt Frimel notched 10 with two for a loss.



NOTING THE COLGATE WIN
• Cornell's win snapped a seven-game losing streak against ranked teams, with the last win over a Top 25 team coming in a 14-7 victory over No. 15 Princeton on Oct. 28, 2006. 
• The last previous win for the Big Red over a ranked team on the road? That came in 1950, when George "Lefty" James guided his Big Red team to a 13-6 win over No. 13 Penn at Franklin Field.
• The two teams combined for 1,164 yards of offense, including 853 yards in the air.
• Senior safety Justin Solomon had a career-high 15 tackles.
• Senior tight end Nick Bland's 21-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter was the first of his career.
Sophomore place-kicker Zach Mays final kickoff of the night was grabbed at the Colgate 1, the first time this season in 17 attempts that his kick didn't reach the end zone (12 touchbacks).
• Colgate's offense piled up 397 yards of offense on 41 plays (9.7 yards per play) with four touchdowns in the first half and just 200 yards on 44 plays (4.5 yards per play) with one touchdown in the second 30 minutes.
• The Big Red's 567 yards of offense is the most in a game since putting up 581 yards against Monmouth in a 41-38 home win in 2013.
• Sophomore Ryan Kelley (OLB) and senior Flint Geier (OC) each earned their first varsity starts.

ROAD WARRIORS
• Cornell has won consecutive road games for the first time since defeating Bucknell (21-20) and Lehigh (25-24) at the beginning of the 2008 season.
• The Big Red has trailed by at least 10 points (Bucknell, 10-0; Colgate 28-5) before rallying for both road victories in 2016.
• Prior to the two road victories this season, the Big Red had lost five consecutive road games overall and four straight non-league road contests.

OTHER NOTES TO KNOW
• Cornell last started a season 4-0 in 1999, including a 24-23 win over Harvard in Ithaca on its way to a 7-3 mark.
• The 3-0 start is 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 last time both Harvard and Cornell were unbeaten heading into their game was 1973 when the 3-0 Crimson topped the 2-0-1 Big Red 21-15 in Ithaca, N.Y.
• 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.
• The Big Red has scored 90 points over its first three games, the most over a season's first three games since putting up 95 points during a 2-1 start in 2007.
• Sophomore Dalton Banks' 454 passing yards in the win at Colgate ranks eighth on the school's single-game list, while his four touchdowns was 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 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 receivers Ben Rogers (923) and Collin Shaw (829) are both within striking distance of becoming the 22nd and 23rd Cornellians to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards.
• Junior James Hubbard is the fourth player on Cornell's roster with a 100-yard receiving game (Ben Rogers - 2, Collin Shaw - 2, Marshall Deutz - 1).
• Last weekend at Colgate, Cornell played in its third consecutive game on a Homecoming, with Bucknell (24-16) celebrating its event on Sept. 17 before the Big Red had its own on Sept. 24.
• This weekend is the Big Red's first overnight road trip, as games against Bucknell and Colgate were one-day trips, as was its preseason scrimmage against Columbia in Schenectady, N.Y.

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 is within striking distance of becoming the 22nd Cornellian to reach 1,000 career receiving yards (923) and the 11th with 3,000 career all-purpose yards (2,517).
• 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 42 passes for 442 yards and three touchdowns over the last three seasons.
• Weber, a consistent starter at linebacker over the past three seasons, is the team's active leading tackler (167). 
• A three-year letter winner, he has started 30 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-Dartmouth rivalry stands 18th with 99 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 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 635-508-34 (.554) in its 129 years of football. 
• The program's 635 wins rank 12th among all FCS schools (tied with Colgate). 
• 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 before being released last week.
• 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
• Cornell will host Sacred Heart for the first time in program history on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Pioneers won the first-ever meeting between the programs a season ago, topping the Big Red 31-6 in Fairfield, Conn.