2023 Ivy Campaign Kicks Off When Football Visits Yale

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

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• Cornell begins the 2023 Ivy campaign at Yale for the teams’ 85th meeting all time. Kickoff is set for Saturday, Sept. 23 at 12 p.m. in New Haven, Conn.
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
• The Bulldogs enter the contest awith a 0-1 record after losing to #5 Holy Cross, 49-24, at the Yale Bowl in New Haven , Conn.
• The Big Red is searching for its first its first conference road win since Oct. 22, 2022, when Cornell took down Brown in Providence, R.I., 24-21.
• 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 was senior Holt Fletcher.
• 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.
• Yale is the Big Red’s eldest Ivy opponent. The first-ever meeting was a 60-6 win for the Bulldogs on Oct. 16, 1889. The only other Ivy opponent the Big Red faced in 1889 was Columbia, a contest that would occur a month ater the Yale game.

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 YALE WOULD...
• be the first 2-0 start since the 2016-17 season when Cornell defeated Bucknell and Yale.
• a 2-0 start would mark the 68th time in program history.
• improve the all-time mark against Ivy League opponents to to 193-265-5.
• up Cornell’s record in the all-time series to 31-52-2.
• give Cornell a 106-68-5 (.607) record all-time in the
month of September.
• improve Cornell’s mark in Ivy openers to 29-36-2.
• be the 655th in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

ABOUT 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 Bulldogs rank atop the FCS in 3rd down conversion pecentage, managing a success rate of 62.5 percent.
• Yale also ranks atop the nation in sacks allowed and tackles for loss, allowing no sacks in week one and just two tackles for loss.

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.

THE LAST MEETING WITH YALE
• A 99-yard Cornell scoring drive set the Schoellkopf Field Homecoming crowd on fire, but Yale’s defense dominated and its offense methodically allowed the Bulldogs to pull away for a 38-14 victory. 
• Yale piled up a balanced 453 yards while controlling the line of scrimmage and the defense surrendered just 184 yards - with 99 coming on the five-play drive that evened the game at 7-7 late in the first quarter. 
• The visitors built up a 28-7 halftime lead, and with neither team forcing a turnover in the contest, the Big Red was never able to change the momentum.
• Jameson Wang led the Big Red with 63 rushing yards and completed 9-of-14 passes for 68 yards and two scores - one apiece to Nicholas Laboy and Eddy Tillman. 
• Defensively, Rasean Thomas made eight tackles with one for a loss, with Paul Lewis III and Jake Stebbins being credited with seven stops apiece. 
• Max Lundeen posted five tackles and a sack, his second of the season.
• Nolan Grooms was 12-of-17 passing for 187 yards and two touchdowns, with Joshua Pitsenberger scoring three times for Yale. 
• The freshman tallied 93 yards and two scores on the ground and caught a 5-yard touchdown in the win. 
• The other touchdown reception went to Mason Tipton, who caught six passes for 133 yards. 
• The Bulldogs’ defense posted nine tackles for loss and four sacks, with two of those coming from Osorachukwu Ifesinachukwu. 
• He and Hamilton Moore each had a team-high six stops. 
• The Bulldogs scored on six of its first seven possessions, discounting a kneel-down to end the first half, with the visitors racking up 34:42 of possession time. 
• Yale was able to stay on the field by converting 8-of-14 third downs, while turning around two-of-three fourth down chances. 

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• The Roger J.Weiss `61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, Dave Archer `05, directed his team to its second consecutive win in a season opener when it took down Lehigh, 23-20, at Goodman Stadium on Sept. 16, 2023.
• It marked the second season the Big Red opened with a road win.
• The Big Red came out of the huddle with speed and dicipline.
• After being forced to punt it away the first drive, Cornell held Lehigh to a 3-and-out, returned the punt 21 yards, and after gaining just one first down, Jameson Wang connected with Davon Kiser to secure the first touchdown of the season.
• The Big Red offense had more to come in the first quarter, with Wang connecting with Parker Woodring on a 20-yard pass for a touchdown, giving Cornell a 14-0 lead.
• The Big Red defense continued to dominatethrough halftime, allowing just tow first downs in all of the first half, including forcing Lehigh to zero first downs until 1:19 remained in the second quarter.
• The zero first downs allowed in the first quarter marks the first time the Big Red did not give up a first down throughout an entire quarter since November 5, 2022, when the team held Penn to none in the fourth quarter.
• With 293 passing yards, Wang upped his career total to 2,247, good for 18th at Cornell, and his two touchdown passes give him 20 - the 10th player to hit that mark.
• Sophomore Davon Kiser posted his first career 100-yard receiving game with 141 yards on four catches, the 143rd 100-yard game in school history.
• On the opposite side of the ball, senior Holt Fletcher tallied two interceptions for the Big Red, the most by a single player since the 2018 season.
• Senior Manny Adebi blocked his fifth kick in seven varsity games, moving to No. 2 all-time at Cornell alongside Graham Rihn ‘09 and one behind Joel Sussman ‘06 for the school record.
• For special team, Kennedy drilled an 81-yard punt, the longest since 2001, tying the second-longest kick in school history.

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 open their home campaign against Colgate on Saturday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y. as the team celebrates Homecoming 2023.