After First Ivy Win, Football Eyes Upset Of #22 Dartmouth

David Archer '05
The Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• The Cornell football team will attempt to make a second half run in Ivy play, but a 22nd-ranked and Ivy-leading Dartmouth squad stands in its way when the two teams meet on Saturday, Nov. 13 at 1:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium in Hanover, N.H. 
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Matt Corsetti and Dick Lutsk on the call.
• The task will be even greater given what transpired in 2019, when Cornell knocked off 12th-ranked Dartmouth on Senior Day to hand the Big Green its only loss of the year and give the Big Red its biggest road win in nearly seven decades.
• For lightning to strike twice for the Big Red, Cornell must replicate the success from the last meeting — efficient in the run game, explosive in the passing game and opportunistic on defense and special teams.
• Over its last four games (2-2), the Big Red has averaged 156.0 yards per game rushing, while its 13.1 yards per completion passing is second in the Ivy League and 26th nationally.
• The Big Red defense has been solid against the run, allowing just 3.6 yards per attempt, and has 21 players who have recorded double-digit tackles on the season — led by Jake Stebbins, who ranks second in the Ivy League in total tackles (9.6 per game), behind only Dartmouth’s Jalen Mackie (9.8). Stebbins has 37 tackles in his last three contests.
• Another unit that has been spectacular is the offensive line, which has surrendered just seven sacks in eight games to rank sixth nationally. 
• After starting out 0-4, Cornell is 2-2 in its last four games thanks to a solid defense and an improving offense sparked by freshman Jameson Wang.
• The rookie quarterback has accounted for eight touchdowns in the last four weeks (four rushing, four passing) as Cornell is averaging 32.0 points over that span after scoring just 14.5 over its first four contests.
• The senior receiving trio of Thomas Glover, Curtis Raymond III and Alex Kuzy have combined for 105 catches for 1,623 yards and nine touchdowns this season.

LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK
• The Big Red finished the 2019 season with a 4-6 overall record (3-4 Ivy) and earned an upper division finish for the first time since 2006 with a fourth place finish. 
• Cornell defeated Ivy co-champ and 12th-ranked Dartmouth on the road and trailed the other Ivy champ, Yale, 20-16 with under two minutes to play while two of its losses came by a single point. 
• Cornell played its first football game in 665 days when it met #22 VMI on Sept. 18, its second-longest drought without a game since the introduction of the program in 1887 (674 days from Nov. 29, 1917 - Oct. 4, 1919).
• The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This year’s version of the Big Red returns 14 starters (six offense, eight defense), as well as its placekicker and long-snapper from 2019. 
• Eight Big Red players earned All-Ivy honors in 2019, including returners Hunter Nourzad (OL) and Jake Stebbins (LB) on the second team. 
• A total of 21 fifth-year seniors return in 2021, combining with 30 four-year seniors to give the program 51 total seniors — the most in any season in school history.
• With two wins, Cornell will reach 650 all-time (13th all-time in FCS history). 

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD...
• move the Big Red’s record to 3-6 on the season and 2-4 in Ivy League play.
• be the second straight against Dartmouth, its first win streak against the Big Green since the 2004-06 seasons.
• cut the Big Red’s deficit in the all-time series to 61-42-1.
• make Cornell 3-2 in its last five games.
• give Cornell a 235-224-15 (.512) record all-time in the month of November.
• be the 649th in program history (13th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision). 

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
• Dartmouth enters the weekend with a 7-1 record (4-1 Ivy) after last weekend’s decision 31-7 home win over No.. 16 Princeton.
• The Big Green will be celebrating Senior Day and at the same time looking to avenge the last meeting between the two teams when the Big Red topped Dartmouth 20-17, handing the home team its lone loss of the 2019 campaign.
• While Dartmouths’s trademark defense has been its usual solid self, allowing just 265.5 yards per game, the offense is scoring 26.6 points and piling up 377.8 yards at the same time.
• Nick Howard, who also has a start at quarterback, leads the team in rushing yards (535) and touchdowns (nine), with Zack Bair adding 420 yards and a pair of scores.
• Derek Kyler has been one of the most efficient quarterbacks in the country, connecting on 70 percent of his passes for 1,575 yards and 13 touchdowns with just one interception.
• His favorite target has been Paxton Scott, whose 42 catches for 479 yards and four touchdowns is more than twice that of any other player on the roster.
• Jalen Mackie paces the team with 78 tackles with 8.0 for a loss, while Marques White has 8.5 tackles for loss with 5.0 sacks. 
• Connor Davis has been near-perfect as the team’s place-kicker, booting 6-of-7 field goals with a long of 51 yards, while also connecting on all 20 PAT kicks.
• Dartmouth grad Buddy Teevens in his second go-around as head coach at his alma mater and sports a 112-94-2 record in those 21 seasons and 146-171-2 in 32 years at four schools (Dartmouth, Maine, Tulane, Stanford).
• Teevens helped the Big Green win a share of the 2015 and 2019 Ivy League titles.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 104th meeting between Cornell and Dartmouth, with the Big Green holding a 61-41-1 lead in the series.
• The two teams first met in 1900, a 23-6 Cornell win. 
• The two teams have been fairly evenly matched in the last quarter-century, with 13 of the last 27 meetings being decided by a touchdown or less (Dartmouth leads 16-11 during that stretch).
• The Big Green had won 10 straight meetings in the series, prior to 2019, when Cornell spoiled its undefeated season with a 20-17 victory in Hanover, N.H. 

THE “FIFTH DOWN GAME”
• The 2021 meeting between the Big Red and Big Green is also the 80th anniversary of the famed Fifth-Down Game.
• Played on Nov. 16, 1940 in Hanover, N.H., top-ranked Cornell improved to 6-0 with a 7-3 victory over Dartmouth, scoring on the game’s final play.
• After reviewing game film on Monday, Coach Carl Snavely and acting athletic director Robert J. Kane wired Dartmouth officials to tell them Cornell scored on an inadvertent fifth down.
• Though there were no rules compelling the outcome to be changed, in an unprecedented act of sportsmanship, the Big Red relinquished claims to the win. The Big Green accepted the forfeit, winning the contest 3-0.
• It remains the only time a collegiate sporting contest has been decided off the field after the completion of a game.

BIG RED VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
• The 2021 meeting between the Big Red and Big Green is also the 80th anniversary of the famed Fifth-Down Game.
• Played on Nov. 16, 1940 in Hanover, N.H., top-ranked Cornell improved to 6-0 with a 7-3 victory over Dartmouth, scoring on the game’s final play.
• After reviewing game film on Monday, Coach Carl Snavely and acting athletic director Robert J. Kane wired Dartmouth officials to tell them Cornell scored on an inadvertent fifth down.
• Though there were no rules compelling the outcome to be changed, in an unprecedented act of sportsmanship, the Big Red relinquished claims to the win. The Big Green accepted the forfeit, winning the contest 3-0.
• It remains the only time a collegiate sporting contest has been decided off the field after the completion of a game.

• Schoellkopf Field has been an indelible mark of Cornell football since it opened in 1915. 
• Schoellkopf Field is the fourth-oldest FCS stadium, opening in 1915. Only Penn’s Franklin Field (1895), Harvard Stadium (1903) and the Yale Bowl (1914) are older. 
• A gift from Willard Straight ‘01 and the family of Henry (Heinie) Schoellkopf ‘02 made the construction possible for the current stadium. 
• The Big Red’s first year on the field was one of its best, going 9-0 and winning the national championship. 
• In 1915, General Electric Company completed work on a flood searchlight system for the field, and in 1924 a construction project was completed to bring capacity from 9,000 to 21,500 by adding the famed Crescent. 
• In 1947 that capacity was increased to 25,597 and a press box was added. 
• In 1971 a gift was made to put artificial turf on the field, and it was resurfaced three times, the last time in 1999. 
• A new press box was built in 1986.
• The 2008 season saw installation of FieldTurf synthetic grass to replace the artificial turf. 
• In 2016, the West Stands were demolished and the field was moved 15 feet toward the Crescent while replacing the FieldTurf to ready for more construction at the site, lowering the capacity to 21,500 in the process.
• The Big Red’s all-time record at Schoellkopf Field is 304-196-15 (.605).

Few collegiate football programs have the storied history of Cornell University. With more than 130 seasons of football in the books, the Big Red has collected five national titles, won nearly 650 games and has had legendary players and coaches perform on historic Schoellkopf Field. Names such as Glenn "Pop" Warner and Heisman Trophy finalist and NCAA record-breaker Ed Marinaro have suited up for Cornell, while seven College Football Hall of Famers (including Warner, Gil Dobie and Carl Snavely) and multiple-time Super Bowl winner George Seifert have set the strategy as head coaches. Now, with David Archer '05 leading the program, there’s little doubt that history will continue to be made.

• The Big Red closes out the 2021 campaign with a Senior Day battle for the Empire State Bowl with Columbia on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 66-38-3, including a 35-9 victory to finish 2019.
• Prior to that, the Lions had won two straight following four consecutive Big Red victories.
• Since the introduction of the Empire State Bowl in 2010, Cornell leads the series 6-4.
• Cornell will also celebrate 51 seniors in their final home game in a Big Red uniform.