After opening the season with a 23-20 road victory over the Big Red's eldest Division I FCS opponent Lehigh, the Cornell football team will begin Ivy League play against its eldest Ivy foe, Yale, on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 12 p.m. at the Yale Bowl. The Bulldogs have won three Ivy League titles in the last five seasons and garnered the most first-place votes in this year's preseason poll. Though the Bulldogs dropped their home opener last week, Yale remains the winningest team in all of FCS with 929 wins since 1872.

A Look at Yale

• Yale enters the week 0-1 after a 49-24 loss to Holy Cross, who was ranked fifth in FCS, in its season opener.
• The Bulldogs rode their rushing attack in the loss to the Crusaders, amassing 226 yards and a touchdown on 49 attempts. Senior running back Tre Peterson had 95 yards on 17 rushes, while senior quarterback Nolan Grooms had 68 yards on 12 attempts. Sophomore running back Joshua Pitsenberger had 36 yards and a score.
• Pitsenberger won Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2022, rushing for 667 yards with seven touchdowns.
• Grooms, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, completed 70.5% of his passes for 112 yards and a touchdown. Last season, the first-team All-Ivy performer passed for 1,660 yards and rushed for 726, the second most in the league. He passed for 14 touchdowns and ran for six.
• Bulldogs left tackle Kiran Amegadjie, a first-team All-Ivy selection last season, was named to the Reese's Senior Bowl watch list before the season. The 6-foot-5, 326-pounder is in his third season as a starter. 
• Yale's offense led the Ivy League in scoring (30.3 points per game), total yardage (412.5 yards per game) and rushing yards (232.5 per game) in 2022.
• Senior linebacker Hamilton Moore and defensive back Wande Owens led the Bulldogs in tackles (63) last season. Moore also led the team in interceptions (four), while senior defensive lineman Clay Patterson topped the defense in sacks (4). 
• Against Holy Cross, senior linebacker Joseph Vaughn led the Bulldogs with 10 tackles. Patterson had six tackles, 1.5 tackles for a loss and a sack. 
• Yale also returned kicker/punter Jack Bosman, who went 13 of 17 on field goals last season. He made his lone attempt — a 29-yarder — against Holy Cross. 
• Yale returns the most All-Ivy players in the league (14), including five first-team selections (Grooms, Pitsenberger, Amegadjie, Bosman and Wande Owens). That group also includes three second-team selections (Patterson, Moore and tight end Jackson Hawes). 

The Series

• Cornell and Yale have met 84 times (Yale leads the series 52-30-2).
• Yale has won eight of the last nine meetings, including five in a row. 
• Cornell has not beaten Yale on the road since a 14-12 victory in New Haven in 2009.
• Cornell has not lost more than five games in a row against Yale since a seven-game skid from 1973-79. 

 

2023 Yale Head Coach

Head Coach: Tony Reno (12th season)
    Record at Yale: 60-41, 12th season
    Overall Record: Same
    Ivy League Record: 40-30, 12th season 
    Ive League Titles: 2017, 2019 and 2022
 

2023 Yale Football Information

2023 Captain: Wande Owens
2022 Record: 8-2 (6-1 Ivy)
    Home/Away/Neutral: 5-0/3-2/0-0
2022 Ivy League finish: 1st 
Starters Returning/Lost: 14/8
Offensive Starters Returning/Lost: 8/3
Defensive Starters Returning/Lost: 6/5
 

Yale Football Historical Information