Football Eyes Perfect Non-Conference Season When Lehigh Visits Schoellkopf Field

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

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• The Cornell football team looks to clinch its fifth 3-0 non-conference mark in school history and prevent Lehigh from earning its first non-league win when it welcomes the Mountain Hawks to Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. 
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Barry Leonard and Buck Briggs ‘76 on the call.
• The contest, the 700th all-time played by the Big Red in Ithaca, comes on the heels of its 35-28 loss to Ivy preseason favorite Harvard on Friday, Oct. 7.
• Cornell has played 699 contests all-time in Ithaca, including 518 at Schoellkopf Field (along with 12 at the Old Grounds from 1887-90 and 169 at Percy Field from 1890-1914).
• The Big Red hold non-conference wins over VMI (28-22) and Colgate (34-31), both on the road.
• Cornell will be attempting to snap a five-game home losing streak while joining the 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2007 teams in posting a perfect 3-0 record against non-league teams.
• Sophomore quarterback Jameson Wang accounted for four touchdowns, three rushing and one passing, in a heroic offensive effort.
• Senior linebacker Jake Stebbins posted a season-best 13 tackles with a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
• This will be the first matchup between Cornell and Lehigh on the gridiron since 2014 (a 31-14 Lehigh win at Schoellkopf Field), though the teams will meet next year in Bethlehem in Cornell’s season opener, as well as another home-and-home series in 2026 and 2027.
• Nearly two dozen members of the 1972 Big Red Freshmen football team will be back on campus on Saturday, celebrating their 50th anniversary. CLICK HERE FOR STORY

LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK
• The Big Red finished the 2019 season with a 2-8 overall record (1-6 Ivy). 
• Four of its losses came to nationally ranked opponents and three others came by a touchdown or less.
• The Big Red’s wins over Colgate (first win on a Friday since defeating Manhattan Athletic Club on Nov. 18, 1892) and Penn (first victory for the Trustees’ Cup since 2013) were both memorable victories. 
• Its last win at home on a day other than Saturday came on Monday, Oct. 9, 1916 vs. Gettysburg. The 26-0 Big Red win was the seventh game ever played on Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell is dealing with the departure of 46 letter winners, 21 starters and five all-league players from 2021 due to graduation, with a number of those players competing at the BCS and FCS level as graduate transfers.
• Among the losses are second-team All-American offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad (Penn State) and linemates Jack Burns (Duke) and Will Swope (Buffalo), all-league corner Michael Irons (Tarleton State), starting safety Eric Diggs and running back Devon Brewer (Stetson), kick returner Eric Gallman (Duke), safety Isiah Hogan (Cal Poly) and wide receiver Curtis Raymond III (TCU). 
• In addition, corner Kenan Clarke is playing in the CFL after being a sixth-round pick of Edmonton in 2021.
• The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This year’s version of the Big Red returns six position starters (two offense, four defense), as well as its punt returner (Thomas Glover) from 2021. 
• Returning to the roster is first-team All-Ivy League picks Thomas Glover (WR) and Jake Stebbins (LB). 

A WIN OVER LEHIGH WOULD...
• improve the Big Red’s record to 3-2 overall.
• give Cornell a perfect 3-0 non-conference finish for the first time since 2007 and the fifth time in school history (1992, 1994, 1998, 2007).
• extend its win streak over Patriot League opponents to three games and improve its all-time mark to 135-86-7 against current members of the conference.
• snap a five-game home losing skid.
• up Cornell’s lead in the all-time series to 16-9-2.
• give Cornell a 312-250-14 (.554) record all-time in the month of October.
• be the 651st in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision). 

ABOUT LEHIGH
• Lehigh brings a 1-5 record and a four-game skid into this weekend’s contest after a 40-28 loss to nationally-ranked Fordham to fall to 1-1 in Patriot League play.
• The Mountain Hawks picked up a win at Georgetown (21-19) along with losses to Villanova (45-17), Richmond (30-6), Princeton (29-17) and Monmouth (35-7), along with Fordham.
• The Lehigh defense ranks among the top 30 nationally and atop the Patriot League rankings in both sacks (2.8) and tackles for loss (6.8) per game.
• Mike DeNucci has posted 50 tackles with 10.6 for a loss and eight sacks, a mark that ranks third nationally, in six contests.
• Jalen Burbage ranks second nationally in kick return yardage, averaging 22.7 yards per attempt, while his 22 receptions and 231 yards through the air is second on the team.
• Geoffrey Jamiel (24 receptions, 280 yards), Burbage and Eric Johnson (22 receptions, 205 yards, three touchdowns) have combined for 68 of the team’s 109 catches.
• Dante Perri directs the offense with 902 passing yards and seven scores, with Gaige Garcia (257 yards, two touchdowns) and Zaythan Hill (236 yards, one touchdown) leading the rushing attack.
• Head coach Tom Gilmore is in his fourth season at Lehigh and sports an 8-23 record, including 4-5 over its past nine contests.
• He previously spent 14 seasons at Holy Cross, twice winning Patriot League Coach of the Year honors. 

THE SERIES
• Cornell and Lehigh have met 26 times on the gridiron (Cornell leads 15-9-2).
• The two programs first played in 1887, the Big Red’s second game in program history. 
• The Mountain Hawks won the last meeting between the programs, a 31-14 victory at Schoellkopf Field in 2014. 

CORNELL VS. THE PATRIOT LEAGUE 
• Cornell has a 134-86-7 record against the seven current members of the Patriot League football conference, including a 15-9-2 edge against Lehigh.
• The Big Red has advantages over five of the other seven conference schools: Bucknell (43-15), Colgate (51-49-3), Fordham (4-3-0), Holy Cross (5-0-0) and Lafayette (14-8-2).
• The series with Georgetown (2-2) is even.
• This is the second of two scheduled matchups with Patriot opponents in 2022, with the Big Red defeating Colgate 34-31 on Oct. 1 in Hamilton, N.Y.

THE LAST MEETING WITH LEHIGH
• Lehigh scored a pair of touchdowns in a span of nine seconds in the first quarter, then held off the Big Red’s second-half surge for a 31-14 victory at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Big Red had a number of young players contribute, as each of the team’s 44 passes were thrown by freshmen, each of the 27 carries were by first-year players and 15 of 17 catches were by freshmen or sophomores. 
• Cornell’s three leading tacklers on defense were either also freshmen or sophomores.
• Sophomore wide receiver Collin Shaw reeled in four catches for 119 yards, including one touchdown, in his first career 100-yard game. 
• Freshman running back Josh Sweet gained 53 yards on 11 carries for the Big Red, while classmate Demetrius Daltirus carried 11 times for 46 yards. 
• Junior tight end Matt Doneth hauled in his first career scoring catch as well in the loss with a 2-yard touchdown catch that brought the home team back within 17-14 midway through the fourth.
• Defensively, sophomore Miles Norris had 10 tackles and 1.5 sacks, while freshman Nick Gesualdi (eight tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss), sophomore Jackson Weber (eight tackles) and senior Rush Imhotep (eight tackles, one pass breakup) were at the top of the tackles chart. 
• Jonathan Ford had a pair of tackles for loss and a sack as the Big Red posted nine total tackles for loss and four sacks on the afternoon. 
• Sophomore punter Chris Fraser had a solid effort, averaging 44.1 yards on nine punts with two pinned inside the 20.
• Lehigh tailback Rich Sodeke carried 23 times for 147 yards and a touchdown in the win.
• Quarterback Nick Shafnisky ran for two touchdowns and passed for 206 total yards.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• Sophomore Jameson Wang accounted for four touchdowns and the Cornell football team gave Ivy League preseason favorite Harvard all it could handle, but fell short in a 35-28 decision under Friday Night Lights in front of a national television audience on ESPNU at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Wang threw for 185 yards and a touchdown and posted 61 yards on the ground with three scores to lead the never-quit Big Red. 
• His favorite target, Thomas Glover, hauled in eight passes for 66 yards and a touchdown to become the 25th player in school history to surpass 1,000 yards in the air. 
• Jake Stebbins notched a season-high 13 tackles, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass to lead the defense, with Paul Lewis III making seven stops with two pass breakups. 
• Anthony Chideme-Alfaro also had a pair of pass breakups in the loss.
• Cornell owned an advantage in time of possession (33:48-26:12) and kept the game at its pace most of the way, but special teams miscues gave Harvard points that the home team couldn’t counteract by forcing turnovers. 
• A 13-point second quarter shifted the momentum to the visitors, and even after the Big Red momentarily secured a second half lead, Harvard stole it right back.
• Harvard’s defense posted nine tackles for loss, with Truman Jones in on four behind the line of scrimmage with one pass knockdown. 
• Aidan Borguet rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries to lead the Harvard rushing attack, with Charlie Dean completing 15-of-29 passes for 208 yards and two scores - one each to Tyler Neville and Scott Woods II - in directing an offense that piled up 385 yards. 

The Class of 2023

• 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 304-199-15 (.601).

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 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.

• Cornell hits the road in Ivy League play for the first time in 2022 when it visits Brown on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 12:30 p.m. at Brown Stadium.
• The contest will be broadcast live on ESPN+.
• The Bears lead the all-time series 38-29-1, though the Big Red has won three of the past four.
• The last two matchups between the two have gone right down to the wire, with Cornell winning 37-35 on a last-minute field goal in 2019, while the Bears won in 2021 with a touchdown in the final 30 seconds.