HEAD COACH DAVID ARCHER '05
• Fifth season directing the Big Red football program (12-37 overall, .245; 9-25, Ivy, .265).
• Became youngest Division I head football coach in the country when he was named the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Football on Jan. 3, 2013.
.• Led team to three-game improvement in 2016, tied for program's biggest turnaround since 1986.
• The 2016 win over Colgate was the first top 25 victory since 2007, first top 25 road win since 1950.
• Is 5-3 in season-ending Trophy games against Columbia (Empire State Bowl) and Penn (Trustees Cup).
• Has developed 23 All-Ivy selections, two Ivy league Rookies of the Year and four FCS All-Americans in four years as head coach.
• Spent six seasons as an assistant coach at his alma mater, including the last four seasons as the recruiting coordinator.
• Coached the fullbacks, tight ends, running backs, offensive linemen and linebackers during his tenure as an assistant.
• His three recruiting classes as coordinator yielded 55 first-year players that earned varsity action and 21 that captured at least one start.
• Was a three-year starter and team captain in 2004 while playing on the offensive line.

ABOUT PENN
• The Quakers head into the season finale with a 5-4 overall record and three consecutive wins in tow after a 23-6 triumph over Harvard last weekend.
• After a four-game losing streak that included three defeats by five points or less to the top three teams in the conference standings, Penn has been on a roll.
• All-America wide receiver and Ivy League Player of the Year candidate Justin Watson (68 receptions, 891 yards, 13 touchdowns) continues to be one of the most difficult players in the league to gameplan against.
• Watson is Penn's career record holder in receptions (273), receiving yards (3,585), receiving touchdowns (32) and consecutive games with a receiving touchdown (9).
• Quarterbacks Will Fischer-Colbrie (1,320 yards, 12 touchdowns) and Nick Robinson (529 yards, six touchdowns) have shared time under center.
• The combination of Karekin Brooks (694 yards, seven touchdowns) and Tre Solomon (458 yards, two touchdowns) have carried the load for the Quakers on the ground so far this season.
• The Penn defense, which had struggled early in the season, limited the Crimson to eight points last week — the first time in eight years it had been held under double digits.
• Nick Miller (92 tackles) has nearly twice as many tackles as any other player on the team and has added 4.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, two interceptions, four fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles.
• Special teams features place-kicker Jack Soslow, who is 10-of-12 on field goals with a long of 51 yards while putting 21 of 50 kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks, as well as punter Hunter Kelley (39.9 yards per punt, 13 downed inside the 20.
• Isaiah Malcome returns both kicks (22.0 yard average) and punts (8.2 yard average).
• Third year head coach Ray Priore had spent 16 seasons as defensive coordinator and secondary coach and nine as the associate head coach under legendary Al Bagnoli, winning Ivy titles in each of his first two seasons.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 124th meeting between Cornell and Penn, with the Quakers holding a 72-46-5 lead in the series.
• The series is the fifth-most played in college football history.
• The two teams first met in 1893, a 50-0 Penn win.
• Twelve years ago, Cornell claimed a 16-7 win at Franklin Field for the 600th victory in program history.
• Last season, the Quakers retained possession of the Trustees' Cup with a 42-20 win at Schoellkopf Field and have won three games in a row between the teams.

A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ...
• give Cornell a 4-6 final record, including 4-3 in its final seven games.
• guarantee the Big Red a winning record in Ivy play for the first time since 2005 (4-3).
• double last season's Ivy win total.
• send the Big Red's 25 seniors out with a win in their final collegiate game.
• improve to 15-8 in the Trustees Cup series and to 72-47-5 all-time against the Quakers.
• make the Big Red just the fifth team to post a winning Ivy record after being picked to finish last in the preseason poll (1968 Penn and 1998 Yale each went 5-2, 2004 Cornell and 2012 Princeton went 4-3).
• improve head coach David Archer's record to 6-4 in "Mega Bowl" series games against Penn and Columbia.
• be the 640th in program history (13th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

THE TRUSTEES' CUP
• Since 1995, the winner of the Cornell-Penn football game has been awarded the Trustees' Cup.
• Alumni from Penn and Cornell gathered at the New York Penn Club on Sept. 6, 1995 for the dedication of the Trustees' Cup, which thereafter has been presented to the winner of the annual football game.
• The idea evolved from a series of discussions between officials and alumni of both universities, focusing on what would be the best way to honor one of college football's most celebrated rivalries.
• The decision was made to establish an award to be presented at an annual luncheon, with the winning team taking the prize home and displaying it for a year.
• Penn leads the Trustees' Cup series 15-7 and has won three straight.

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 124 this season.
• The 105 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 14th, while the Cornell-Dartmouth rivalries stand 19th with 101 games played.
• Right behind that is the series with Princeton (100 meetings) and Colgate (99 meetings), which sit right outside the top 20.
• 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 98 years.
• They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.

FINAL GAME FOR BIG RED SENIORS
• The Cornell football program's 26 seniors will be playing their final game this weekend.
• Cornell's seniors are LB Baba Adejuyigbe, DL Gus Basanes, S Erik Bloomquist, LB Daniel Crochet, WR Demetrius Daltirus, DL Geno DeMarco, LB Kurt Frimel, RB Jack Gellatly, S Nick Gesualdi, OL Theo Goosen, DL Seth Hope, WR James Hubbard, QB Jake Jatis, CB Jelani King, CB Jordan Majors, TE Hayes Nolte, LB Miles Norris, TE/LS Mac Pope, OL Lucas Raley, OL Alberto Sandoval, S Sean Scullen, WR Collin Shaw, LB Jeremiah Shaw, S Justin Solomon, RB Josh Sweet, S Brock Thomas.
• David Archer's first full recruiting class as head coach won just two games in its first two seasons combined, but has won seven in the last two and is on the verge of its first winning conference mark since 2005 (4-3) with a win in the season finale.

LAST TIME THEY MET
• Trailing 42-20 in the final minutes, sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks hit senior Ben Rogers for a 39-yard gainer down to the Penn 5.
• Rogers dragged two Quaker defenders for the final 6 yards.
• It was indicative of the 2016 Big Red —lots of fight and forward progress.
• Banks threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns and three trick plays netted another 116 yards through the air to give Cornell 438 passing yards, good for the 12th-highest total in school history.
• Seniors Collin Shaw and Marshall Deutz each reached the end zone, as did sophomore Chris Walker on a 58-yard wheel route on a fake reverse from Rogers.
• On Senior Day, Matt Sullivan caught six passes for 70 yards, Rogers had 84 yards on five catches, Deutz had two catches for 27 yards, Shaw netted 65 yards on four receptions and Nick Bland had two receptions for 44 yards.
• Cornell finished its season 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the Ivy League - a three-game improvement over the 2015 campaign.
• Alek Torgersen completed 24-of-31 passes for 284 yards and a score and junior Justin Watson had 11 catches for 106 yards, but it was Tre Solomon's 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries that proved to be the difference in a game that saw the Quakers hold the ball more than 38 minutes.
• Defensively, Big Red senior Jackson Weber closed his career with 11 tackles to give him 226 in his four-year career, good for 16th on the school's all-time list.
• Sophomore DJ Woullard had an interception, his third of the season, to go along with eight tackles, while junior Geno DeMarco had eight stops.
• Junior Nick Gesualdi had seven tackles, including one for a loss, and backup offensive lineman J. Edward Keating, after moving to the defensive line a week ago after a slew of injuries, had a sack.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Columbia defense kept Cornell in check most of the afternoon and did just enough on the other side of the ball to hold off Cornell 18-8 on at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Lions held the Big Red to 179 yards of offense before ending the game with a 78-yard scoring drive for the team's first points of the night.
• Senior Josh Sweet, one of 25 seniors honored prior to their final home game, went the final 7 yards for his second touchdown of the season.
• Fellow senior Hayes Nolte caught a shovel pass for the two-point conversion with 1:09 remaining, but the Lions recovered the on-sides kick and ran out the clock to keep their dream of an Ivy title alive.
• The late touchdown was emblematic of the Big Red's efforts the last two weekends against the league's two teams that share second place in the conference standings - plenty of fight, but a couple plays short.
• The Big Red defense held strong, allowing no points in three possessions that Columbia took over with a short field and surrendering just three field goals over the first 56:32.
• Senior Nick Gesualdi had nine tackles and a pair of pass breakups, sophomore Jelani Taylor was credited with nine as well and seniors Seth Hope and Dan Crochet each forced fumbles.
• Junior Dalton Banks completed 14-of-26 passes for 134 yards through the air, while sophomore Harold Coles was credited with a team-high 62 rushing yards on 10 carries.
• On special teams, three-time reigning Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week Nickolas Null averaged 45.2 yards on five punts.
• Columbia's Chris Schroer compiled 183 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries on the ground to lead the offense.
• Josh Wainwright (nine receptions, 140 yards) was the favorite target of quarterback Anders Hill (21-of-31, 206 yards) in the passing game.
• Oren Millstein made 3-of-4 field goals and scored 10 of the team's 18 points.
• Connor Heeb had two tackles for a loss, including the third quarter safety that put the Lions in the driver's seat.



NOTES VS. COLUMBIA
 • Senior Nick Gesualdi had nine tackles for the Big Red, moving him into 14th place on the school's all-time list with 241.
• Gesualdi also had a pair of pass breakups, giving him 37 for his career and seven over the last three weeks.
• With three sacks on the day, the Cornell defense lifted its season total to 24 - the most by any Big Red team since 2000 (26).
• Seniors Seth Hope and Daniel Crochet each forced a fumble, with junior Reis Seggebruch recovering one.
• Junior quarterback Dalton Banks upped his passing yardage total to 1,752 yards on the year, the 15th-most in a season in Cornell history.
• Cornell now leads the all-time series 65-37-3 and 5-3 since the introduction of the Empire State Bowl moniker.

NEXT UP
• The 2017 season is complete and the Big Red will kick off 2018 with a road contest at Delaware on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2017.