First Home Ivy Action for Football Begins When the Big Red Hosts Brown

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

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• Cornell is in pursuit of its second Ivy League win when it hosts Brown on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y. for the teams 70th meeting all-time.
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Nick DeLuca and Matthew Miller on the call.
• The Bears enter the contest searching for their first 2-1 Ivy League start since the 2015 season when Brown defeated Princeton and Cornell after falling to Harvard in the conference opener.
• Last season, the Big Red had an undefeated out of conference slate, defeating VMI, Lehigh, and Colgate.
• The Big Red is a week removed from a record-breaking weekend, where senior tight end Manny Adebi set the school’s all-time record for blocked kicks, tallying his sixth and seventh against Harvard.
• Picked to finish seventh in the Ivy League preseason media poll, Cornell seeks to again surpass expectations after turning a last-place preseason selection in 2022 into a sixth-place finish and .500 record.
• Cornell’s captainship is held by two this year, seniors Micah Sahakian and Jake Stebbins. Each game will have a third game captain. The game captain for Lehigh and Yale was senior Holt Fletcher. Jackson Kennedy served as game captain against Colgate. Manny Adebi was the game captain at Harvard and vs. Bucknell.
• Stebbins is a three-time All-Ivy honoree including a first-team selection in 2021. Sahakian earned an honorable mention All-Ivy nod.
• The Big Red returns 18 starters, boasting one of the most experienced line-ups in the Ivy. The two-deep consists of 24 seniors, 16 juniors, eight sophomores, and five freshmen.

A LOOK BACKWARDS
• The Big Red finished the 2022 season with a 5-5 overall record (2-5 Ivy). 
• Two of the five losses were by a single touchdown.
• The five-win season marked the best record for the Big Red since 2011, when the team also went 5-5.
• The 2022 season saw a 3-2 road record, the best for the Big Red since the 2016 season.
• Cornell put 12 student-athletes on All-Ivy teams, a mark matching the 2005 total, which was the most since 1995 when the team boasted 14.
• The Big Red return 18 of the 28 starters from last season, including a three-time All-Ivy honoree in Jake Stebbins, who is back for his fifth season in the Carnellian and White.
• Stebbins will serve as a two-time captian for the team after being one of four last season.
• Another returner to note is junior quarterback Jameson Wang, who passed for over 1,600 yard in 2022, while also scoring eight rushing touchdowns.
• Other All-Ivy returners include Jackson Kennedy (PK), Davon Kiser (Ret.), Paul Lewis III (DB), Connor Henderson (LB), Matt Robbert (TE), and co-captain Micah Sahakian (OL).

A WIN OVER BROWN WOULD...
• get the Big Red back to .500 after falling below .500 for the first time since the 2021 season.
• improve the all-time mark against Ivy League opponents to 110-112-5 when playing in Ithaca.
• up Cornell’s record in the all-time series to 31-38-1.
• give Cornell a 314-253-14 (.553) record all-time in the
month of October.
• break a three-game slide, the most consecutive losses since the 2021 season, which Cornell opened on a four-game losing streak.
• be the 656th in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

ABOUT BROWN
• The Bears improved to 3-2 (1-1 Ivy League) for the first time since 2015 with a comeback win over Princeton on Saturday. Brown tied the game after trailing by 14 in the fourth quarter before walking it off in overtime. 
• Brown’s high-powered offense is first in the FCS in passing yards per game (352.6), ninth in total yards per game (451.5) and 25th in points per game (32.0). 
• Brown is 22 of 27 in the red zone this season (81.5%) with 17 touchdowns.  
• Bears senior quarterback Jake Willcox is eighth in the FCS and first in the Ivy League in passing yards (1,759). He has 11 touchdowns and four interceptions on the season. 
• Senior wide receiver Wes Rockett has been one of the most dynamic playmakers in the FCS, as he leads the Ivy League in catches (37) and yards (578). He has three touchdowns. Rockett had a career-high 149 yards receiving in Week 2 against Harvard. 
• Two other Brown wide receivers — Graham Walker and Mark Mahoney — have more than 250 yards. Walker has three touchdowns; Mahoney has two. 
• Brown junior running back Stockton Owen’s six rushing touchdowns are tied for second in the Ivy League. 
• Defensively, the Bears are allowing 28 points per game and 399 yards per game, the worst marks in the Ivy League. The unit has allowed nearly 200 yards per game on the ground.

THE SERIES
• Brown has a 38-30-1 edge in the series, which began in 1895.
• Cornell has won four of the last five meetings, including last year’s matchup in Rhode Island. The Big Red had lost nine in a row until starting this stretch in 2017. 
• The last three meetings have been decided by one score or less.
• The Bears also hold the edge in Ithaca, leading 18-15-1.

THE LAST MEETING WITH BROWN
• 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.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• The Big Red dropped one in the rain, falling to 2-3 on the season with a 21-13 loss to Bucknell.
• The teams did plenty of feeling each other out in the first half with the Bison taking a 7-6 lead into the locker room despite a pair of Kennedy field goals, the second a 35-yarder to close out the half.
• Cornell took the ball to begin the second half and went 61 yards on five plays to take its first lead since 3-0.
• A pair of 24-yard gainers through the air from Wang to Laboy and then Robbert highlighted the drive, with Wang going the final 11 yards himself for the touchdown.
• Bucknell answered two drives later with a 73-yard drive that ate up 5:03 off the block and ended with Baker’s 1-yard score.
• Cornell would punt on the ensuing drive, with the Bison again marching downfield, this time for 75 yards and a touchdown that pushed the lead to 21-13.
• The Bison picked up a pair of third-and-longs, the second a pinpoint connection from Semptimphelter to Eric Weatherly for 36 yards on a third-and-12.
• Needing a touchdown and a two-point conversion to knot the score, the Big Red was forced to punt after a three-and-out.
• After the defense got a big stop, Bucknell turned the home team over on downs and ran out the clock to claim the victory.

HALL OF FAME FIGURES
• Over Homecoming weekend, Cornell honored the 2023 Cornell Hall of Fame honorees with an on-field ceremony.
• From football, J.C. Tretter ‘13 was inducted in this years class. During his time at Cornell, the offensive lineman was named a unanimous All-Ivy First Team selection. At the time, he protected Jeff Matthews’ blindside, helping the Big Red to set a new Cornell and Ivy passing record. Tretter’s protection also earned him a second-team All-American recognition. He was the 25th pick of the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, where he was selected by the Green Bay Packers. He also spent time with the Cleveland Browns. In the spring of 2020, Tretter was named the President of the NFL Players Association.
• A “special category” inductee alongside Tretter is the former Meakem Smith Director of Athletics & Physical Education, Andy Noel. Noel was the head of Cornell athletics for 24 years. Under him, the Big Red won 106 Ivy League team titles and 37 national championships. Nearly, 2,300 athletes earned All-Ivy honors, including 850 first-teamers and 400 All-Americans.
• 13 other inductees were honored alongside Tretter and Noel.
 

BIG RED RANKINGS
• The Big Red ranks fourth in all of Division I football (FBS and FCS) in time of possession, averaging over 34 minutes per game.
• Cornell ranks 14th in the FCS in first down defense, allowing just 98 across five games.
• The Big Red ranks third in the Ivy in passes intercepted with five.
• Cornell turnovers lost ranks eighth in FCS, losing just four turnovers.
• Cornell rinks third in the FCS in passes had intercepted, with just one interception across the season.
• Jackson Kennedy leads the FCS in field goals per game (2.00).
• Manny Adebi ranks second in FCS in blocked kicks (3).
• Holt Fletcher ranks sixth in all of the FCS in interceptions per game with 0.5.
• Davon Kiser ranks third in the Ivy, and 15th in the FCS in punt returns, averaging 12.4 per game.
• Jameson Wang has the 18th most total offense in FCS, averaging 266.4 yards per game.
• Hunter Sloan ranks fourth in the FCS and is tied for first in the Ivy League in fumbles recovered, scooping two in just five games.

RED WEEKLY HONORS
• After week one, Big Red punter and placekicker, Jackson Kennedy, was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week.
• Kennedy earned the nod after booting the second longest punt in school history (81 yards). He also went 2-for-2 in field goals in the fourth quarter, providing the winning points for the Big Red. He was the only player in the Ivy League to kickoff, punt and placekick in the opening weekend.
• In week two, Kennedy repeated with the Special Teams POTW award, and he was joined by Connor Henderson, who was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week.
• Kennedy drilled the winning field goal from 37 yards out as the clock expired to life Cornell over Yale for the first time since 2016. He went 3-for-3 on field goals, while also securing both extra points and punted his first-career I20 punt.
• Henderson matched his career-high in solo tackles with five, and added two assists for a season-high seven. He tallied his second-career interception and returned it for five yards at the perfect time,  preventing Yale from marching down the field, holding the Bulldog lead to 14-3 at halftime. Henderson headlined a Cornell defense that held the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, Nolan Grooms, to his second-lowest completion percentage of his collegiate career (38.9%). The senior linebacker and the rest of the defense held Yale to just 301 yards, over 60 yards less than what the Bulldogs put up against #5 Holy Cross.
• Kennedy was the first back-to-back Cornell awardee since 2019.
• Week two marked the first time since 2017 that the Big Red had multiple honorees in the same week since October 30, 2017 when Nick Gesualdi and Nickolas Null were named Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week, respectively.

The Class of 2023

• Schoellkopf Field has been an indelible mark of Cornell football since it opened in 1915 and this year will be the 107th season at the home field. 
• 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.

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 over 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.

NEXT UP
• The Big Red wraps up a three-game home stand next weekend when it hosts Princeton. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28 at Schoellkopf Field. Fans at home can catch the game on ESPN+.