NEWARK, Del. — Delaware turned five Big Red first half turnovers into 27 points and never looked back, topping Cornell 41-14 on Saturday afternoon at Delaware Stadium. The Blue Hens improved to 2-1 on the season, while the visitors dropped their 2017 opener to fall to 0-1.
Junior quarterback
Dalton Banks completed 23-of-35 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, but was also intercepted three times. He found 12 different receivers, with 13 different Big Red players making at least one catch. Freshman
Eric Gallman III hauled in a 27-yard touchdown to get the Big Red on the board, while senior
Josh Sweet punched in a second score from 2-yards out in the waning seconds. Senior
James Hubbard caught three passes for 58 yards, including an acrobatic 47-yard grab (
see it here). In all, the offense put up 315 yards against a stout Delaware defense.
Cornell's defense was game despite finding itself in short fields. Of Delaware's first five scores, only one drive needed more than 21 yards. Sophomore
Jordan Landsman, making his first collegiate start, had a pair of sacks and six total tackles, while senior
Daniel Crochet had five stops, his first career interception (
click here to see the interception) and a tackle for loss. Crochet's classmate, captain
Kurt Frimel, had three tackles for loss and a pass breakup among his team-best nine tackles.Returning All-American
Nick Gesualdi added nine stops and both junior
Reis Seggebruch (
click here to see Segeebruch's sack) and sophomore
William Baker had sacks.
The Big Red fumbled on its very first play from scrimmage and the Blue Hens pounced on the football just 18 seconds into the game. Two plays later, needing just four yards to the end zone, Kani Kane scored the first of three touchdowns on the day, this one coming from 3 yards out. He would go on to add first half scoring runs of 1 and 3 yards as the home team built a 27-0 lead at the break.
Once settled at halftime and used to game speed after spotting Delaware two games, the Big Red played the Blue Hens even after the break. Delaware took the air out of the ball after the break, allowing the road team just four possessions - two of which Cornell scored touchdowns on and a third where it reached the end zone before turning it over on downs.
Kareem Williams ran 15 times for 121 yards to lead the Delaware offense, while Joe Walker completed 20-of-30 passes for 202 yards and a pair of touchdowns. His favorite target was Jamie Jarmon, who caught eight balls for 84 yards and a 12-yard touchdown. Frank Raggo connected on a pair of field goals and had a third try blocked. Defensively, Charles Bell notched a game-high 12 tackles and Troy Reeder notched nine tackles with 1.5 for a loss and a forced fumble.
Special teams was an advantage for the Big Red, as sophomore
Nickolas Null averaged 48.0 yards on three punts in his first game replacing All-American
Chris Fraser. Sophomore
David Jones returned four kickoffs for 95 yards and also made five tackles in his first varsity action.
Quotable
We gave up the ball five times in the first half and they scored 27 points off them. They won by 27 points. Obviously we didn't play well in the first half, especially offensively. I think defensively, given the field position I think they did some nice things. Those guys don't play in the Ivy League. I obviously want to win every game we play, but that's not a league game.There's going to be a lot of positive things to show and some stuff we need to clean up and improve on.
David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss Head Coach of Cornell Football
These guys, they are probably one of the better teams we'll play all year, and we played with them in many facets of the game for long stretches. That's a huge positive to take into next week's game at Yale.
Kurt Frimel, senior linebacker and team captain
We are so much better than that, and that's not what our identity is or a reflection on what we expect to become. It was a disaster of a game.We just literally gave them the ball, handed them the ball. We're going to come out and get a lot better this week. I know how good we are and how talented we are. Not everyone is able to see all those practices and the work we put into the offseason. To see our defense go out there and play well and knowing what our offense can do and will do, I have full confidence that we're going to clean this up.
Dalton Banks, junior quarterback
Beyond The Box
• A number of Big Red players made their first varsity starts: Sophomores
William Baker (DL),
Michael Gillooley (DL),
Jordan Landsman (DL) and
Davy Lizana (WR); juniors
David D'Amelio (OL),
J. Edward Keating (OL) and
Mason Manning III (OL);.and senior
Theo Goosen (OL).
• Making their first varsity appearances: Freshmen
Eric Gallman III (WR) and
Phazione McClurge (CB); sophomores
William Baker (DL),
John Fitzgerald (TE),
Michael Gillooley (DL), George Holm (OL),
David Jones (CB),
Jordan Landsman (DL),
Davy Lizana (WR) and
Owen Peters (WR); and juniors
Oscar Boochever (TE),
David D'Amelio (OL),
Gustavo Dorsett (WR) and
Cyrus Nolan (DL);
• Sophomore
Nickolas Null, in his first game replacing All-American and four-time first-team All-Ivy League punter
Chris Fraser, averaged 48.0 yards on three punts with one downed inside the 20.
• Freshman Eric Gallman scored on a 27-yard touchdown reception.
• Senior
Daniel Crochet registered his first career interception.
• Senior running back
Josh Sweet had his first touchdown since scoring in a contest at Sacred Heart during the 2015 season.
• Junior quarterback
Dalton Banks moved into 11th place on the school's career passing yardage list with his 247-yard day, giving him 2,761 for his career (23 yards shy of the top 10).
• With nine tackles, senior captain
Kurt Frimel surpassed the century mark (102 career tackles).
• After tallying 44 all-purpose yards, junior
Chris Walker surpassed 1,000 for his career (1,003).
Social Recap
Next Up
• The Big Red opens Ivy League season when it visits Yale on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. at the Yale Bowl.
• The contest will be broadcast live on Eleven Sports and simulcast on the Ivy League Network.
• Yale leads the all-time series 46-31-2, though the Big Red got the better of the Bulldogs a season ago in Ithaca (27-13).
