ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Big Red football team will be in position to prove the experts wrong - again.
Cornell was picked to finish seventh in the 2023 Ivy League Football Preseason Media Poll that was announced today. The Big Red will kick off the new campaign with its sights set on having a much bigger impact on the league standings when it visits Lehigh on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 2 p.m. in Bethlehem, Pa. Cornell opens Ivy League play the following weekend at Yale, then opens its home season on Saturday, Sept. 30 against Colgate at Schoellkopf Field for Homecoming.
The Big Red has surpassed its preseason predicted finish in seven of the past eight seasons, including in 2022 when it was picked to place eighth only to tie for sixth.
Yale (122 points, 13 first-place votes) and Princeton (103 points, one first-place vote) grabbed the top two spots when the ballots were counted up, with Penn third (90 points). Harvard (84 points, one first-place vote) and Columbia (62 points, one first-place vote) were also chosen in the top five, with Dartmouth (54 points), Cornell and Brown (24 points) rounding out the field. Two media members from each of the eight schools voted.
With nine All-Ivy League selections courtesy of Phil Steele's preseason team, the Big Red will be looking to improve on last season's 5-5 (2-5 Ivy) record. Head coach
David Archer '05, a finalist for the Allstate AFCA Good Works team, guided the team to match its most wins in a season since 2005 and its first perfect 3-0 non-league season since 2007 (fifth all-time since the Big Red started playing 10-game seasons in 1980). Twelve players earned All-Ivy honors, matching 2005 as the most by Big Red players over the past three decades.
2023 IVY LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL (First Place Votes)
1. Yale – 122 (13)
2. Princeton – 103 (1)
3. Penn – 90
4. Harvard – 84 (1)
5. Columbia – 62 (1)
6. Dartmouth – 54
7. Cornell – 37
8. Brown – 24
