ABOUT PRINCETON
• The 22nd-ranked Tigers are a perfect 6-0 (3-0 Ivy) after last weekend’s 37-10 victory at Harvard in a battle of Ivy unbeatens.
• The always high-scoring Tigers feature one of the best defensive units in the country.
• Princeton surrenders just 11.3 points (second in FCS) and 16.5 first downs per contest, allowing opponents just 271.8 yards of offense through six games.
• It’s been a brick wall against the run, ranking second nationally by allowing just 57.0 yards on 2.2 yards per carry and giving up zero rushing scores.
• Liam Johnson paces the team with 51 tackles, while Ozzie Nicholas has recorded 36 stops.
• Princeton’s defense has forced 16 turnovers, including intercepting 10 passes, and leads the nation in turnover margin (2.0).
• Princeton is averaging a robust 31.2 points per game, scoring more than 30 points in four of its wins.
• Ryan Butler has scored 10 times this season, including nine times on the ground while being the only Tiger to rush for at least 100 yards.
• Quarterback Blake Stenstrom is completing 69 percent of his passes for 1,630 yards and 10 scores, with the duo of Andrei Iosivas (40 catches, 623 yards, four touchdowns) and Dylan Classi (33 catches, 535 yards, three touchdowns) the primary targets.
• Special teams features punter Will Powers (38.3 yards per punt, 10 inside the 20) and place-kicker Jeffrey Sexton (7-of-8 field goals with a long of 46, 20-of-23 on PATs), while AJ Barber returns both kickoffs (21.9 yards per return) and punts (9.6 yards per return).
• Head coach Bob Surace, a four-time finalist for FCS Coach of the Year honor, sports a 71-45 record, though it is 69-25 over the last 10 years after going 2-20 in his first 22 games on the sidelines.
THE SERIES
• This will be the 69th meeting between Cornell and Brown, with the Bears holding a 38-29-1 advantage.
• The two teams first met in 1895, a 6-4 Cornell win.
• Brown has won 15 of the last 20 meetings, though Cornell won three of the past four, including a 37-35, last-second win over the Bears in 2019 at Schoellkopf Field.
• Prior to that, the Bears had won seven straight against the Big Red in Providence, with Cornell’s last previous win coming in 2002 (10-7).
THE LAST MEETING WITH PRINCETON
• Princeton scored on its first five possessions and allowed a heavy downpour in the second half helped hold its lead as the 15th-ranked Tigers remained unbeaten with a 34-16 victory over Cornell at Schoellkopf Field.
• Princeton built a 21-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter, taking advantage of a lost Big Red fumble and an interception to put two of the touchdowns on the board.
• The Big Red outgained the Tigers 357-328 in a game televised nationally on ESPNU and heavily affected by torrential rain throughout, but especially in the second half.
• Facing a stiff Tiger defense and the weather, Cornell rushed for 80 yards overall and passed for 276 more with two touchdowns.
• Richie Kenney completed 20-of-40 passes for 257 yards and a touchdown, while Jameson Wang ran 12 times for 51 yards and threw for a score.
• Thomas Glover posted his third 100-yard game of the season with eight catches for 133 yards and a 28-yard touchdown strike in the second half, with Alex Kuzy adding five receptions for 65 yards and a 19-yard score.
• The defense limited the Tigers to 137 rushing yards on a hefty 47 carries, less than three yards per rush.
• Jake Stebbins was a one-man wrecking crew, notching 13 tackles with three for a loss, two sacks, a forced fumble and a quarterback hurry to pace the effort.
• The Big Red was helped by the special teams, with Koby Kiefer averaging 42.5 yards on four punts with two downed inside the 20 and Scott Lees putting all three kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks along with a 36-yard field goal.
• Niko Vangarelli had two touchdowns in just three carries in the red zone for Princeton, while Cole Smith was efficient at quarterback with 15-of-22 passing for 191 yards and a 10-yard pass for a score to Carson Bobo.
• James Johnson made 10 tackles and Jeremiah Tyler notched five stops with a pass breakup and returned a fumble 36 yards for a game-changing touchdown in the first quarter.
• Jeffrey Sexton connected on a pair of field goals in the second quarter, a 32- and 39-yard kick.
LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• Gutsy play calls, a dominant first quarter and a defense that came up huge in the game’s biggest moments pushed Cornell to 4-2 after a 24-21 win over Brown at Brown Stadium.
• The Big Red clinched its first winning road record since 1999 and tied its longest win streak away from home since 1990 with the triumph.
• Brown drove the length of the field in the closing minutes and appeared to have scored the go-ahead touchdown with 42 seconds remaining.
• A video review showed the runner was out at the 1, and after a short loss on first down and a Brown false start penalty pushed the ball back to the 9, fifth-year senior Max Lundeen made the play of the game.
• Lundeen beat the block from the right side and hit the quarterback, separating Jake Wilcox from the football.
• Brendan Chestnut fell on it to clinch the win with 28 ticks remaining.
• The senior had five tackles with two for a loss along with the game-changing sack.
• Paul Lewis III and Noah Taylor each had 10 tackles and Jake Stebbins added nine, with Lewis adding a pass breakup.
• The defense was on the field for 87 plays, but surrendered just 4.4 yards per play.
• Sophomore Eddy Tillman ran for 130 of the team’s 195 yards on the ground in a career-best performance, while Jameson Wang accounted for all three Cornell touchdowns - one rushing and two passing.
• His 10-of-23 day through the air for 136 yards included two scoring strikes to Matt Robbert.
• One went for 55 yards and proved to be the game winner with 11:44 remaining.
• The junior tight end hauled in three passes for 89 yards.
• Jackson Kennedy hit his only field goal attempt, a 38-yarder in the first half that also was the difference in the final score, adding four touchbacks on five kickoff attempts.
• Brown had 25 first downs to 17 for the Big Red and forced Cornell into a 3-of-14 effort on third down, but the visitors stopped a pair of key fourth-down conversion attempts.
