Bright Lights Shine On Football Against Harvard On Friday ESPNU Broadcast

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

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• The Cornell football team will attempt to even its Ivy record and improve to 3-1 when it welcomes Harvard to Schoellkopf Field under Friday night lights on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. 
• The game will be televised on ESPNU with Eric Frede and Jack Ford on the call.
• Cornell is coming off a strong 34-31 victory at Colgate, overcoming a seven-point deficit entering the fourth to win with a Jackson Kennedy field goal with 1:55 left, followed by a defensive stop.
• Kennedy, for his efforts, was named the STATS Perform FCS Special Teams National Player of the Week after booting a pair of field goals, hitting all four PATs and booting three of his kickoffs for touchbacks.
• Reigning Ivy League Player of the Week Jameson Wang nearly became the first Cornell quarterback to post 300 passing and 100 rushing yards in the same game after recording 284 passing and 98 rushing to go along with three touchdowns accounted for.
• Fifth-year senior Thomas Glover had seven catches for 160 yards and had a touchdown both rushing and receiving in the win.
• The defense was able to hold on 9-of-11 third downs and Holt Fletcher intercepted a pass for the second straight road win.
• Friday’s game will culminate Cornell football’s week-long focus on supporting Mental Health Awareness week. 
• The Big Red, in conjunction with Visions Federal Credit Union, will be raising money in support of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), with Visions matching dollar-for-dollar donations up to $5,000.

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 HARVARD WOULD...
• give Cornell its first 3-1 start since the 2016 campaign.
• even Cornell’s Ivy record and home mark at 1-1.
• narrow the Crimson’s lead in the all-time series to 49-35-3.
• extend Cornell’s win streak over Harvard in Ithaca to three games, its longest since 1991-93-95.
• snap a four-game home skid.
• be its second Friday night win in two seasons after going  nearly 129 wins between victories on that day.
• be the Big Red’s first victory in the series since 2018.
• give Cornell a 312-249-14 (.554) record all-time in the month of October.
• be the 651st in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision). 

ABOUT HARVARD
• Harvard stands 2-1 on the season after wins over Merrimack and Brown before dropping a 30-21 contest to No. 10 Holy Cross in its last game out.
• The Crimson are averaging 28.0 points per game thanks to a balanced attack averaging 237.7 passing and 148.0 rushing yards.
• Senior running back Aidan Borguet ranks second in the Ancient EIght in rushing at 112.7 yards per game with five touchdowns on the ground and a healthy 6.3 yards per carry. 
• Charlie Dean has posted 710 passing yards and six scores through three contests, with his favorite target being Kym Wimberly (24 catches, 292 yards, three touchdowns).
• All-America candidate Thor Griffith (21 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss) leads the defensive line for a Crimson squad that has posted 27.0 stops for a loss and 14.0 sacks so far this season — numbers that ranks second and third, respectively, among FCS teams nationally.
• Harvard is also stingy against the run, sitting fourth nationally at 76.7 yards allowed per game.
• Head coach Tim Murphy is in his 29th season directing the Harvard program. 
• He has won 188 games on the Crimson sidelines, the most of any coach in Ivy history, and has guided Harvard to nine conference crowns.

THE SERIES
• Cornell and Harvard will be meeting for the 86th time dating back to the first meeting in 1890.
• Harvard leads the all-time series 49-34-2.
• The Crimson owned the early series, capturing the first 10 games (1890-1913), while Cornell 11 won straight from 1986-1996. 
• Harvard has won 17 of the last 20 contests, though the teams have split the last four — both Cornell wins in Ithaca — snapping the Crimson’s 11-game win streak in the process. 
• The Crimson won the last meeting, a 24-10 contest in Cambridge, in 2021.

NOTES FROM THE LAST MEETING WITH HARVARD
• Alex Kuzy’s eight receptions and 92 receiving yards were both career highs.
• With his touchdown, SK Howard now has five rushing and six overall scores for his career.
• Richie Kenney added 196 passing yards to his career total, bringing that number to 2,846 - good for No. 11 in Cornell history and 154 yards away from becoming the ninth player with 3,000 yards.
• Jake Stebbins added 2.5 tackles for loss, giving him double digits (11.5) for his career.
• He also now has 92 tackles, eight away from the century mark.
• Five of Koby Kiefer’s 23 punts this season have gone at least 50 yards, and his 56-yarder against Harvard tied his career long.
• Holt Fletcher has been in on a tackle for loss in each of the last three games after his 1.5 TFL day against Harvard.
• Harvard’s three turnovers were a season high, as were the three turnovers caused by the Big Red.
• Cornell has now scored a rushing touchdown in each game this season and in nine straight overall, the longest streak by the Big Red since recording 10 spanning the 2007-08 campaigns. 
• The Big Red’s 10 tackles for loss were a season high and the most since posting 10 against Yale in 2019, the most on the road since recording 11 at Dartmouth in 2013 and the most vs. Harvard since 2003 (10.0).
• Garrett Patla has put five of his last six kickoffs through the end zone for touchbacks.
• With its successful PAT try, Cornell place-kickers have made 24 consecutive extra-point attempts.
• The Big Red has not scored in the first quarter this season, but its 31 second quarter points account for more than half the team’s scoring on the season.
• Freshman Jameson Wang had three carries for 13 yards and became the first freshman to earn time at quarterback for the Big Red since Jake Jatis in 2014.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• Jackson Kennedy’s 45-yard field goal with under two minutes was the last momentum swing in a game full of them and lifted Cornell to a 34-31 win at Colgate at Andy Kerr Stadium. 
• The win improved the Big Red to 2-1, guaranteed it a winning non-conference slate for the first time since 2016 and served as the program’s 650th all-time.
• Kennedy’s perfect kicking day was the difference, but it was a win that showed the team’s grit. 
• It answered the bell numerous times - after surrendering the first score, after coughing up an 11-point first half lead and even after entering the fourth quarter trailing by a touchdown. 
• Cornell’s offense was balanced in piling up 474 yards of offense (190 rushing, 284 passing), the defense got off the field on third downs (Colgate was 2-for-11) and special teams delivered when asked. 
• Jameson Wang completed 18-of-27 yards for a career-high 284 yards and a touchdown and ran for 98 more and two scores, including the game-tying touchdown in the fourth quarter. 
• His favorite target was 2021 first-team All-Ivy receiver Thomas Glover, who hauled in seven passes for 160 yards, totaled 182 all-purpose yards and scored twice.
• Defensively, Trey Harris posted a career-best nine tackles and Demetrius Harris had eight to pace the Big Red.
• Jake Stebbins posted six tackles and a quarterback hurry in the fourth quarter that forced a punt, leading to the Big Red’s tying score.
• Colgate quarterback Michael Brescia ran for 83 yards and a touchdown and completed 19-of-40 passes for 195 yards. 
• Jaedon Henry added 80 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. 
• Tyler Flick posted nine tackles with three for a loss while Mikey Jarmolowich made eight tackles, intercepted a pass and ran a fumble back 48 yards for a score.

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 304-198-15 (.603).

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 remains home to face Lehigh on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• It will be the 27th meeting all-time between the teams, though the first since 2014.
• The Mountain Hawks have won four of the past five contests, though the big Red leads 15-9-2, including 12-3-2 in Ithaca.