HEAD COACH DAVID ARCHER '05
• Fifth season directing the Big Red football program (12-36 overall, .250; 9-24, Ivy, .273).
• 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 COLUMBIA
• The Lions have been nearly as big a surprise at the top of the Ivy League standings as Cornell has been, opening the year 6-0 before suffering consecutive losses.
• Columbia has wins over Princeton (28-24) and Dartmouth (22-17) on the road to highlight its start, along with a 34-31 home win over Penn.
• The Lions have made their mark on defense, allowing just 338.6 yards per game and have been especially stingy against the pass, giving up just 202.9 yards per game (second in the Ivy League behind Cornell).
• Senior Anders Hill has had a breakout season under center, throwing for 2,022 yards and 15 touchdowns while running for three more.
• His favorite target has been Josh Wainwright, who has caught 56 passes for 734 yards and seven touchdowns, while Ronald Smith II isn't far behind with 27 catches for 418 yards and four scores in just five games.
• Chris Schroer (365 yards, 4.2 yards per carry) and Tanner Thomas (293 yards, touchdown, 3.4 yards per carry) have shouldered a majority of the carries, along with Hill.
• The defense has forced 17 turnovers and has excelled in getting teams off the field on third down, allowing opponents to convert just 28 percent of the time.
• Ryan Gilbert has 80 tackles, while Landon Baty has 58 stops and three interceptions along with two forced fumbles.
• Oren Milstein has been one of the league's top kickers, making four field goals and 23-of-25 PATs, while Parker Thome ranks first in the Ancient Eight in puting at 42.6 yards per kick.
• Head coach Al Bagnoli returns for a third season on the Columbia sidelines after a legendary career at Penn.
• Bagnoli spent 23 years at Penn, where he totaled a 148-80 overall record and 112-49 record in the Ivy League with nine conference championships.
• Bagnoli is 11-17 on the sidelines at Columbia and now has a 264-115 mark in 36 seasons as a collegiate head coach.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 105th meeting between Cornell and Columbia, with the Big Red holding a 65-36-3 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 42-40 in New York City to extend its win streak in the series to four.
• The squads have been evenly matched for more than two decades, with Cornell holding a narrow 15-13 lead over the last quarter century.
• Cornell had previously won 12 straight contests, the longest streak in the series by either team.

A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD ...
• give Cornell a 4-5 record, including 4-2 in its last six games.
• guarantee the Big Red a winning record in Ivy play for the first time since 2005 (4-3).
• make Cornell 4-2 in Ivy play and keep the Big Red within a game of first place Yale (or tied for first with a Yale loss to Princeton).
• extend its win streak in the series to five.
• improve to 6-2 in the Empire State Bowl series and to 66-36-3 against Columbia.
• improve head coach David Archer's record to 6-3 in "Mega Bowl" series games against Penn and Columbia.
• send the Big Red's 25 seniors out with a win in their final game on Schoellkopf Field.
• complete an undefeated home Ivy schedule (3-0) for the first time since 1995.
• be the 640th in program history (13th-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 5-2 and has won four straight to claim the lead.
• The trophy currently resides in Ithaca following last year's 42-40 Cornell win at Columbia's Wien Stadium.
• Cornell's other wins in the series came in 2011 (62-41), 2013 (24-9), 2014 (30-27) and 2015 (3-0).
• 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.

FINAL GAME FOR BIG RED SENIORS
• The Cornell football program's 25 seniors will be playing their final home 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 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 one win in its final two games.

DESTINY AWAITS
• Entering the final two Ivy League contests, Cornell is still in search of its first conference title since 1990.
• At 3-2 in conference action and with games against fellow two-loss team Columbia and a squad team that shared the Ancient Eight crown last fall, the Big Red is playing meaningful games into November for the first time since 2000.
• That year, Cornell opened 5-1 and played Penn in the season finale with a chance to claim a share of the Ancient Eight title — a game Penn would go on to win 45-15 at Schoellkopf Field.
• Though a game behind first-place Yale (4-1), the Big Red could win its final two games and share the title with a Bulldog loss to either Princeton or Harvard, the preseason Ivy League favorites.
• That scenario would be just the third time teams have shared an Ivy title at 5-2 since the formation of the Ancient Eight in 1956 (1963,1982).

THE 4-3 CHAMPIONSHIP SCENARIO IS STILL ALIVE
• With seven teams within two games of first place with two remaining, a seven-way tie for an Ivy title is still in play.
• If all eight games go the following way, seven teams could share the title at 4-3 with Brown finishing at 0-7 (h/t to Dartmouth's Rick Bender for figuring out the scenario).
• Columbia loses to Cornell on the road, beats Brown at home (4-3).
• Cornell beats Columbia at home, loses at Penn (4-3).
• Dartmouth beats Brown, falls to Princeton (4-3).
• Harvard loses at home to Penn, beats Yale on the road (4-3).
• Penn wins at Harvard, at home against Cornell (4-3).
• Princeton wins vs. Yale and Dartmouth (4-3).
• Yale loses at Princeton and at home to Harvard (4-3).

LAST TIME THEY MET
• The Cornell seniors have never had to watch Columbia take the Empire State Bowl back to their locker room.  Even on an emotional senior day for the Lions, the Big Red made sure they would never have to.
• Cornell used explosive plays on offense and key plays when they were needed on defense and special teams to retain the bowl for the fourth straight year after an exciting 42-40 victory over Columbia at Wien Stadium.
• A year ago, Cornell and Columbia combined for three points and 495 total yards in a 3-0 Big Red victory.
• This time, the two teams combined for 82 points and 1,069 yards of offense.
• In both games, the Big Red ended the game in front and celebrated with the Empire State Bowl in hand.
• The four wins on the season doubles the victory total the Big Red compiled in the previous two years combined (2-18).
• It was the first time Cornell finished with a winning road record since 1994 - a span of 22 years - and highlighted the program's march forward.
• The Big Red stopped a game-tying two-point conversion attempt, scored an insurance touchdown on a long run, intercepted a pass to end a late drive, intelligently killed clock and recovered an on-sides kick attempt after Columbia scored to get back within 42-40 with two minutes to play.
• Sophomores engineered much of the offense, as Chris Walker ran for 178 yards and three touchdowns and Dalton Banks completed 24-of-37 passes for 267 yards and two scores while running for a third.



LAST TIME OUT
• In a battle of field position dictated by defense, Dartmouth made a of couple extra plays to escape with a 10-0 victory over Cornell at Memorial Field.
• Cornell held the home school to 299 yards of offense, its third game this season limiting an opponent to under 300 yards, but could only muster a season-low 249 yards itself in having its three-game conference win streak snapped.
• Dartmouth got a hard-fought 119 rushing yards from Ryder Stone and a 23-yard first quarter touchdown connection from Jack Heneghan to Hunter Hagdorn that kept the Big Red chasing throughout.
• The Big Red defense was outstanding, breaking up 10 passes and intercepting another.
• Cornell forced three-and-outs on six of the home team's first seven possessions, but punted itself on 12 straight.
• Five of those came in the third quarter with the Big Red playing the field position game, and five of those were downed inside the 15.
• Nickolas Null was outstanding, punting 12 times for a net average of 35.3 yards per kick and a school-record seven being stopped inside the Dartmouth 20.
• Senior Nick Gesualdi had nine tackles and a pair of pass breakups, sophomore Jelani Taylor had six stops and four pass breakups and junior DJ Woullard knocked down three other throws.
• David Jones had his first career interception.
• Linebackers Kurt Frimel and Reis Seggebruch each made eight tackles, as did senior safety Justin Solomon.
• Junior quarterback Dalton Banks completed 15-of-36 passes for 184 yards, with Owen Peters hauling in five passes for 82 yards.
• Sophomore Harold Coles had 38 rushing yards to lead the run game, which was stymied most of the afternoon by the Big Green defense.

NOTES VS. DARTMOUTH
• It was the first time Cornell had been shut out since the 2009 season finale against Penn, 34-0.
• Junior Dalton Banks became the fifth player in Cornell history to surpass 4,000 career passing yards, ending his night with 4,132 yards.
• Senior Nick Gesualdi's nine tackles pushed him to 14th on the school's all-time list (232).
• Sophomore Owen Peters had a career-best 82 receiving yards on five catches.
• Sophomore Nickolas Null's seven punts downed inside the 20 established a school record, supassing the six by Drew Alston (2009 vs. Bucknell), Nick Maxwell (2008 vs. Yale) and Chris Fraser (2016 vs. Sacred Heart).
• Sophomore Jelani Taylor had four pass breakups, a mark that ranks tied for second at Cornell in a single game and is two off Aaron VanderKaay's six at Penn in 1997.
• The Big Red defense limited its fourth opponent this season to 300 or fewer yards, something it hasn't done since 2005.
• Senior defensive lineman Seth Hope registered his 100th career tackle.

ANOTHER WEEKLY HONOR FOR NULL
• Sophomore Nickolas Null was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week for the third straight week after an outstanding effort in a 10-0 loss to Dartmouth.
• Despite consistently punting into a short field, the sophomore placed a school-record seven punts inside the 20 on 12 attempts.
• Only two of his 12 kicks were returned (a total of 10 yards) and all seven punts were downed inside the 15, with three ending inside the 10.
• He also booted his only kickoff through the end zone for a touchback.
• Null is the first Cornell player to win a weekly Ivy award three weeks in a row since Chad Levitt captured Offensive Player of the Week on 10/13, 10/20 and 10/27 1996 and is just the third player to ever do it (Chris Zingo, Defensive POW in 1992 is the other).
• Null earned the honor for the second week in a row after kicking the game-winning 43-yard field goal with 48 seconds remaining to help the Big Red overcome a 12-point fourth quarter deficit at Princeton on Oct. 28. He also made all three PAT kicks for a career-best 12 points, booted all seven kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks, and punted four times for a 37.5 yard average (37.0 net yards).
• He averaged 44.2 yards per punt on five kicks without allowing a return yard (netting 44.2 yards per punt) in a game that the Big Red dominated field position, then took over in the second half after an injury to starting place-kicker Zach Mays and hit all three PATs and, more importantly, put all three kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks in a 34-7 win over Brown on Oct. 21.

NEXT UP
• Cornell closes out the season with the 124th all-time meeting with traditional rival Penn on Saturday, Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m.
• The contest will be played for the Trustees' Cup (Penn leads Trustees' Cup series 15-7) and will be televised on Eleven Sports and simulcast on the Ivy League Network.
• The series, the fifth-most played in college football history, is led by Penn 72-46-5, including three straight wins for the Quakers.