ITHACA, N.Y. -- It has been 280 long days for Cornell head football coach David Archer '05 since he walked off the field at Columbia's Wien Stadium after the 2018 season finale, a game the Big Red lost 24-21.

In that game, the Big Red rallied to take a lead with under a minute to play in fitting fashion. Cornell had battled for every inch all season long against the nation's toughest schedule and had put itself in a position to head into the offseason with plenty of juice. A victory would have surpassed the previous season's win total, earning the program its first upper division finish since 2006 in the process.

Instead, just 13 seconds after Dalton Banks ran over from 2 yards out to give Cornell the lead, the Lions went back on top. Columbia, not Cornell, earned that fourth place finish.

Now, just 50 minutes shy of making it 281 days (but who's counting) since its last game, Archer and Cornell have a chance to regain the momentum it had built with 58 seconds left last season ... and to erase the memories of what happened 13 seconds later. 

But the 2019 season doesn't shape up to be defined by a minute or a play or a game any more than 2018 actually was. What Thursday actually could be, however, is a date on a calendar that ultimately might be remembered by the Big Red family. It could very well be the date that begins 13 magical weeks that will never be forgotten in Big Red football history.

Archer believes that, as do the 113 players on the Cornell roster that reported yesterday in advance of today's first official team practice. It's what they've worked and waited for over the last 280 days (and counting). Because they know the work put into the offseason and what returns, it's easier to shake off the media's seventh place preseason finish. The program has finished better than their predicted result in four of the last five years anyway.

Gone is Banks, a three-year starter at quarterback, and DJ Woullard, an All-Ivy corner. Linebacker Reis Seggebruch and decorated offensive linemen Henry Stillwell and J. Edward Keating are also gone. In all, the Big Red will need to find replacements for eight starters along with the other positions that will be up for grabs during camp.

Besides 14 returning starters, Cornell brings back nearly its entire special teams unit - punter, place-kicker, long-snapper and return specialists. All-league players Harold Coles (RB) and David Jones (CB) are back, as are preseason selections Jelani Taylor (S), Lance Blass (LB), Owen Peters (WR), George L. Holm III (OL) and John Christian Riffle (OL).

Thursday's schedule featured the first team meeting, medical clearances and equipment fitting, compliance meetings and a welcome barbecue. Friday opened up with conditioning testing and meetings before hitting the practice field in helmets, shorts and t-shirts at 3:30 p.m.
 

BIG RED CELEBRATES 150 YEARS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Cornell will have almost exactly a month until its opener against Marist - the first time it will meet the Red Foxes in 132 seasons of Big Red football. It will be an exciting start to a season that will celebrate 150 years of college football. There are plenty of other notable reasons to celebrate the Big Red's place in college football history:

• With eight wins, Cornell would reach 650 all-time (13th all-time in FCS history).
• With four wins at Schoellkopf Field in its five-game schedule, the Big Red would close out 300 all-time victories at the historic facility, the fourth-oldest FCS stadium (opened in 1915). Only Penn's Franklin Field (1895), Harvard Stadium (1903) and the Yale Bowl (1914) are older.
• The Big Red's home opener at Schoellkopf against Georgetown, which doubles as Homecoming, will be the 500th game in the history of the facility.
• 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 (behind only Penn at No. 66).
• 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 126 this season.
• The 106 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 14th, while the Cornell-Dartmouth rivalries stand 19th with 102 games played.
• Right behind that is the series with Princeton (101 meetings) and Colgate (100 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 - both reaching 100 consecutive seasons in 2019.
• They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897. 
 

REVIEWING 2018

Cornell went 3-7 a year ago, but not all three-win seasons are the same. The Big Red's seven losses came against teams that sported a cumulative 53-21 record, including four to nationally ranked opponents (Colgate, Delaware, Princeton and Dartmouth). Colgate reached the national quarterfinals and Delaware earned a spot in the FCS Playoffs, while Princeton went undefeated (10-0) and joined fellow Ivy rival Dartmouth (9-1) in the final top 25 FCS poll. Cornell also faced seven of the nation's top 20 defenses, but still had its most successful season running the ball since 2006 (156.1 yards per game).

There were highlight moments (defeating Harvard for the second straight season for the first time since 1999 and 2000, and hammering previously unbeaten Sacred Heart at home, 43-24), historic achievements (rallying from a double digit deficit at Brown for a 34-16 victory, the Big Red's first win in Providence, R.I. since 2002 and its first consecutive victories over the Bears since 1993 - before any current member of the team was born) and close calls (a pair of league losses to top half teams by less than a touchdown).