QUICK HITS
• The 62nd official Ivy League season will kick off for Cornell and Yale when the two teams meet on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. at the Yale Bowl in New Haven, Conn.
• The contest will be broadcast live on Eleven Sports and simulcast on the Ivy League Network with Bill Spaulding and Jack Ford bringing fans the action.
• The game can also be picked up locally on WHCU 95.9 FM/870 AM with Jason Weinstein and Phil Mahoney '91 on the call.
• It will be the 80th meeting between the longtime foes on the gridiron in a series that dates back to 1889.
• Cornell controlled the game between the teams a year ago, posting a 27-13 win on Homecoming.
• The Big Red took a 24-3 lead into the break and erased memories of the 2015 result between the teams when Cornell took a 26-13 lead into halftime before surrendering a pair of scores in the final 81 seconds to fall 33-26.
• The 2017 campaign season kicked off for both teams a week ago in non-conference action with widely different results.
• Cornell dropped a 41-14 decision at perennial FCS power Delaware, a game where the Big Red turned the ball over five times in the first half alone and never recovered from a 27-0 halftime deficit.
• Yale decimated defending Patriot League champion Lehigh on the road, piling up 556 yards of offense in a 56-28 victory over the Mountain Hawks to win its 10th opener in the last 11 years.
• Of course, neither result will help the team jump to the top of the Ivy League standings, something one team will do for at least a week.
• The Big Red will be looking for consecutive Ivy League road wins (closed the year with a 42-40 triumph at Columbia) for the first time since 2005, and for its second straight Ivy-opening victory (first time since 2008-09).
• Cornell had plenty of positives despite the tough start against Delaware in the opener.
• The offense rang up 219 yards of offense and 14 points after halftime against a stout Delaware defense.
• Junior quarterback Dalton Banks connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass to freshman Eric Gallman II, making Gallman the first freshman to score in his varsity debut since Terry Smith against Princeton in 1994.
• The defense made a number of explosive plays and registered four sacks — including three by sophomores making their first varsity appearances (Jordan Landsman - 2, William Baker - 1).
• In all, the Big Red stopped the Blue Hens nine times behind their own line of scrimmage, including three times by senior captain Kurt Frimel.
• Senior Daniel Crochet also collected his first career interception.
• The loss of four-time, first-team All-Ivy League punter Chris Fraser '17 was lessened by the emergence of sophomore Nickolas Null, the full-time place-kicker a year ago. Null averaged 48.0 yards on three punts and the Big Red averaged 50.0 net yards per punt — a mark that leads all of college football (BCS, FCS, Division II, Division III) after one week.
• Sophomore David Jones, who was named the team's Special Teams Player of the Week, made his varsity debut returning kicks and averaged 23.8 yards on four returns and added five tackles as a reserve defensive back.
 
HEAD COACH DAVID ARCHER '05
• Fifth season directing the Big Red football program (9-32 overall, .220; 6-22, Ivy, .214).
• 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 YALE
• Yale got off to a flying start, using a high-flying offense to top defending Patriot League champion Lehigh 56-28 on Sept. 16 in Bethlehem, Pa.
• The Bulldogs piled up 566 yards of offense in the win over the Mountain Hawks, with sophomore quarterback Kurt Rawlings completing 20-of-26 passes for 308 yards and four touchdowns through the air en route to capturing Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week honors.
• Yale surrendered 323 passing yards in the win, but the defense came up with five sacks, two of which caused fumbles that resulted in scores.
• Freshman tailback Zane Dudek ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries.
• Senior captain Spencer Rymiszewski, who was a first-team All-Ivy League selection in the defensive backfield in 2015 before missing the 2016 campaign due to injury, had seven tackles and forced a fumble in the season opener.
• Under sixth-year head coach Tony Reno, the Bulldogs return 41 letter winners and 15 starters from last season's 3-7 squad that closed the year with a 21-14 win over Harvard, keeping its archrival from an Ivy title.

THE SERIES
• Yale leads the all-time series 47-30-2 dating back to the first encounter in the 1889 season.
• Cornell's longest win streak over Yale is four games (1990-93), while the Bulldogs claimed seven straight victories over the Big Red (1973-79).
• The series has recently tilted toward the Bulldogs, who have won 11 of the last 16 meetings between the squads, though Cornell upset the 2008 preseason Ivy League favorites 17-14 at Schoellkopf Field and knocked off the Bulldogs 14-12 at the Yale Bowl in 2009.
• Yale avenged a 2012 loss to the Big Red in Ithaca with a 38-23 victory in New Haven, Conn. in 2013.
• The Bulldogs staged a late comeback to overtake the Big Red, 33-26, in 2015 in New Haven, Conn., but Cornell avenged that loss last season with a 27-13 triumph at Schoellkopf Field.

CORNELL AND THE IVY OPENER
• Cornell opens the 62nd official season of Ivy League play with a 28-31-2 record in the previous 61 conference starters.
• The Big Red has faced Yale 17 times (each of the last 17 seasons) in Ivy openers previously with a 6-11 mark.
• Included was last year's 27-13 Big Red triumph in Ithaca on Homecoming.

A WIN OVER YALE WOULD ...
• even the Big Red's record at 1-1 on the season.
• make Cornell 1-0 in Ivy League play.
• mean consecutive road Ivy wins for the first time since topping Dartmouth (21-10) and Penn (16-7) in its final two away games of the 2005 season.
• give Cornell wins in its Ivy opener in consecutive years for the first time since 2008 and 2009.
• narrow the Bulldogs' lead in the all-time series to 47-31-2.
• give Cornell a 106-63-5 (.624) record all-time in the month of September.
• make Cornell 29-31-2 all-time in Ivy League openers, including 7-11 against Yale.
• be the 637th in program history (13th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

LAST TIME OUT
• Delaware turned five Big Red first half turnovers into 27 points and never looked back, topping Cornell 41-14 at Delaware Stadium.
• 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.
• 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.
• Senior 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 and sophomore William Baker had sacks.
• 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.



NEXT UP
• Cornell opens its home schedule with the first of four straight home games when Central New York rival Colgate visits Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 1:30 p.m.
• The two programs will be meeting for the 99th time dating back to the first contest in 1896 with the Big Red holding a narrow 49-46-3 lead.
• A year ago, Cornell rallied from a 23-poitn deficit to claim a 39-38 win over 25th-ranked Colgate, capping the Big Red's first road win over a ranked team since 1950.