Football Closes 2024 At Columbia, Looks To Regain Empire State Bowl

Dan Swanstrom
The Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• Cornell and Columbia have more to play for than just the Empire State Bowl when the two teams meet in the 2024 season finale on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 12 p.m. at Wien Stadium.
• The Big Red will attempt to post its first winning Ivy League campaign since 2005 and send itself into the offseason riding a wave of momentum. 
• For the Lions, maybe even bigger short-term stakes - a Lions victory coupled with a Harvard loss to rival Yale would give the Lions a share of the 2024 Ivy title - the program's second all-time and first since 1961.
• Cornell will be out to propel itself into the offseason with its first win streak since the Big Red won the opening two games of the 2023 season (at Lehigh, at Yale).
• A win would also make head coach Dan Swanstrom the most successful first-year Big Red head coach since Jim Hofher led the 1990 squad to an Ivy title in year number one.
• The Empire State Bowl is the second trophy game for the Big Red in the final three weeks of the season, with Cornell dropping a 67-49 contest to Penn for the Trustees' Cup two weeks ago.
 

A LOOK BACKWARDS
• The Big Red finished the 2023 season with a 3-7 overall record (2-5 Ivy) after a hot start. 
• In the second game of the season, Cornell grabbed a road win against a Yale team receiving votes in the national polls, 23-21, when then-senior Jackson Kennedy booted in a last-second 37-yard field goal to take just the second Big Red road victory over the Bulldogs this century.
• The Big Red also bested Ivy foe Brown at a time when the Bears' offense led the league in offense. The Big Red defense stifled the Bears, allowing no points until 5:48 remained in the third quarter. Cornell's defense allowed just two scores all game and forced three turnovers, including a 55-yard pick-six.
• Cornell put six student-athletes on All-Ivy teams, accounting for seven spots with Jackson Kennedy earning the nods for second-team punter and place kicker.
• The Big Red returns just six of the 22 starters from last season. Two-time All-Ivy quarterback Jameson Wang is the lone true starter back on the offense.
• Wang is the only returning 2023 All-Ivy honoree after the other five student-athletes graduated.

A WIN OVER COLUMBIA WOULD...
• close the 2024 campaign with a 5-5 overall record., its second .500 mark in the past three years (a first since the 2005-07 seasons.
• give the Big Red its first winning Ivy record since 2005 (4-3).
• guarantee a finish of third place or better in the final Ivy standings, its first upper division finish since 2006.
• return the Empire State Bowl to Ithaca, snapping a three-game Lions win streak in the series.
• even the Empire State Bowl series at 7-7.
• be the first Ivy win streak for Cornell since knocking off Dartmouth and Columbia to cap off the 2019 season.
• extend Cornell's lead in the all-time series to 67-41-3.
• give Cornell a 233-230-15 (.503) all-time record in the month of November.
• be the 660th in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

CLASS OF 2025
• The Cornell football program’s 28 seniors will be playing their final game for the Big Red this weekend.
• Cornell’s fifth-year seniors are DL Brendan Chestnut, QB Dylan Hale and TE Matthew Pilc. 
• The four-year seniors include CB Mamadou Bah, LB Luke Banbury, S Damon Barnes, WR Matheson Bossick, OL Jackson Bradley, DL Ezekiel Evans, S Trey Harris, LS Gavin Heintschel, P Nathaniel Hillenburg, DL Muhammad-Ali Kobo, S Christian Madison, WR Luke Malaga, DL Devin Malone, WR Eddie Marinaro, WR Chad Martini, PK/P Ayden McCarter, CB Michael O'Keefe, OL Jack Powers, LB Wilson Selzer, DL Hunter Sloan, RB Eddy Tillman, DL Maxwell Van Fleet, QB Jameson Wang, OL Davis Watson, and DL Amon Williams.

ABOUT COLUMBIA
• Columbia enters the season's final weekend with a 6-3 overall record and a 4-2 mark in conference play, a game behind Ivy leader Harvard in the standings.
• The Lions are 3-1 at home, including a win over nationally-ranked Lafayette in the opener.
• Columbia has been built on defense, as it paces the Ivy League and ranks sixth nationally in scoring defense at 16.9 points allowed per contest.
• Its 349.0 yards allowed per game is third in the Ancient Eight and is especially stingy against the pass. The Lions are first in pass efficiency defense (121.83) and second in the conference in passing yards allowed per game (215.2 ypg.).
• Columbia isn't shabby against the run, sitting third in the Ivy League in rushing yards allowed (133.8 ypg.).
• Five different players are averaging at least five tackles per game, with Anthony Roussos leading the way with 66.
• Hayden McDonald has a team-best four interceptions, while teammate Carter McFadden has three with 11 other pass breakups. The duo ranks 1-2 in the conference in interceptions.
• The offense is averaging a healthy 391.7 yards per game with a great balance of rushing (167.4 ypg.) and passing (224.2 ypg.).
• Joey Giorgi's 695 rushing yards this season are second in the Ivy League, while the passing tandem of Chase Goodwin (879 yards, six touchdowns) and • Cole Freeman (755 yards and seven touchdowns) have combined for 1,634 yards and 13 scores, while Caleb Sanchez had also thrown three passes for scores.
• Bryson Canty leads a stable of wide receivers that features four with at least 20 catches, as the senior has 41 receptions for 720 yards and nine scores.
• Place-kicker Hugo Merry has booted 10-of-15 field goals on the season and William Hughes ranks as one of the conference's top punters with his 41.0 yard average this season.
• First-year head coach Jon Poppe, a former assistant coach under legendary coach Al Bagnoli, comes to the Lions after a 10-2 season leading Union College, guiding the Garnet Chargers to the second round of the Division III Tournament a year ago.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 111th meeting between Cornell and Columbia, with the Big Red holding a 66-41-3 lead in the series.
• The two teams first met in 1889, a 20-0 Cornell win.
• The squads have been evenly matched for more than three decades, with the teams nearly splitting the last 34 (Columbia leads 18-16) meetings.
• Cornell had previously won 12 straight contests, the longest streak in the series by either team. 
• The Lions had their two-game win streak snapped in 2019 when the Big Red ran away with a 35-9 victory at Schoellkopf Field, but has now won five-of-six and three in a row after last season's 29-14 victory in Ithaca. 

THE EMPIRE STATE BOWL
• Officially established in 2010, the Empire State Bowl has been the unofficial nickname of the Cornell-Columbia series for many years.
• Columbia leads the series 7-6.
• The trophy currently resides in New York City following Columbia's 29-14 victory last fall in Ithaca, the Lions' third consecutive victory over the Big Red.
• Cornell's other wins in the series came in 2011 (62-41), 2013 (24-9), 2014 (30-27), 2015 (3-0) and 2019 (35-9).
• Columbia won the first-ever Empire State Bowl in 2010 with an exciting last-minute 20-17 victory at Wien Stadium to capture the traveling trophy. 

THE LAST MEETING WITH COLUMBIA
• A group of 30 Big Red seniors were honored prior to Saturday's contest, but Cornell dropped a 29-14 decision to Columbia at Schoellkopf Field on Nov. 18, 2023.
• Cornell fell to 3-7 (2-5 Ivy) while Columbia tallied its first conference win to improve to 3-7 (1-6 Ivy).
• Jameson Wang went 32-for-47 in the passing game, amounting 345 yards and a touchdown on the day. He rushed a team-high 12 times including one ending in the end zone, but only net nine yards gained on the ground.
• Wang became the first Big Red quarterback to pass for 300+ yards in at least three games in a single season since Dalton Banks hit the 300 mark thrice during the 2016 season.
• The 345 yards by Wang marks the most passing yards since Banks passed for 454 against Colgate on Oct. 1, 2016.
• Wang upped his career-rushing touchdowns to 20, tied for seventh-most in Cornell history.
• Davon Kiser's one rush for 10 yards led the running game for the Big Red. Kiser also led receivers with his first-career 100+-yard game. The sophomore totaled 121 yards on six grabs, including a haul in for 48 yards for the longest of either team on the day.
• The sophomore totaled 121 yards on six grabs, including a haul in for 48 yards for the longest of either team on the day.
• Kiser was the first Big Red receiver to hit more than one 100+ yard receiving game across a single season since Thomas Glover did it three times in 2021.
• Nicholas Laboy finished just shy of triple digits, clocking 99 yards on nine receptions. Doryn Smith and Drew Powell each also tacked on significant receiving yards, tallying 52 and 48 yards, respectively. 
• Senior placekicker and punter Jackson Kennedy upped his career point count to 104, finishing his time at Cornell with the 22nd-most points in program history.
• Kennedy's 41 career PATs rank 17th in Cornell history.
• His 41-of-42 PATs rank ninth in school history in terms of percentage (97.6 percent).
• The Big Red held both Lion quarterbacks to 50 percent or worse in completion percentage. The duo of Joe Green and Caden Bell was held to a collective 13-of-29 through the air.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I GALLERY I HIGHLIGHTS I POSTGAME NOTES
• Cornell football's 28 seniors walked off Schoellkopf Field for the final time with a memorable win as all three phases of the game shined in a statement 39-22 victory over No. 24 Dartmouth.
• Senior Jameson Wang accounted for three touchdowns (two passing, one rushing), sophomore place-kicker Alan Zhao tied a single-game school record with four field goals and the defense forced four turnovers with one turning into a Big Red score. 
• Sophomore Samuel Musungu hit the 100-catch plateau with his six receptions for 51 yards and a touchdown. 
• Parker Woodring hauled in his fifth touchdown catch and matched Musungu with his six catches on the day. 
• The running game was also effective, piling up 175 yards against a stout Dartmouth defense, with Ean Pope recording his second career 100-yard game with 111 yards on 26 carries. 
• The offensive line allowed just one sack and kept Wang clean throughout the afternoon.
• The defense made its mark, rebounding the right way after last week's 67-49 loss to Penn. 
• Cornell surrendered just 327 yards of offense, piled up five sacks and scoring on a Luke Banbury strip-sack that turned into a 22-yard return to paydirt for Hunter Sloan in the fourth quarter to essentially put the game away. 
• Banbury ended the afternoon with 11 tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, an interception and a pass breakup. 
• Tyler Gibson and Michael O'Keefe also intercepted passes, with Gibson adding a sack. 
• Special teams had Zhao, who made all four field goal attempts, including a career-long 48-yarder, and also was 3-for-3 on PAT kicks with five of his nine kickoffs going through the end zone for touchbacks.

HALL OF FAME FIGURES
• This year, Cornell honored a class of 11 inductees during halftime of the Homecoming game against Yale.
• Included in this group is two-time All-American quarterback Jeff Mathews '14, who ended his storied Cornell career as the most prolific quarterback in Ivy League history and one of the top in all of college football. He ranks among the top 20 all-time in career passing yards in the FCS and set the Ivy League's all-time passing record by more than 2,000 yards. Mathews owns 47 Big Red school records and 18 Ivy League marks for passing and total offense. The three-year team captain was named one of 16 finalists for the National Football Foundation's William V. Campbell Trophy which recognizes the top football scholar-athlete in the nation. The three-time All-Ivy selection was a Capital One Academic All-District first-team selection and a two-time finalist for the Bushnell Cup for the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year, winning in 2011. Mathews also was a two-time member of the Walter Payton Award Watch List as FCS national player of the year. After the season, Mathews became the fifth Cornellian to accept an invitation to the East-West Shrine game, serving as a team captain for the East team, and also accepted an invitation to the NFL Draft Combine before signing a contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Mathews also spent time on the practice squad with the Indianapolis Colts and the Arizona Cardinals before playing four seasons in the CFL, including winning a Grey Cup in 2017 with the Toronto Argonauts.
• Joining Mathews is special category honoree Bernie DePalma.
• A legendary figure in Big Red athletics, DePalma served generations of student-athletes and shaped one of the nation's most respected sports medicine departments over 42 years. After arriving at Cornell in 1980 as Head of Physical Therapy and Supervisor of Athletic Training and Rehabilitation and taking over as head athletic trainer three years later, DePalma's expertise provided a significant impact on national athletics legislation. He served on numerous NCAA committees, including the Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sport Safety, which he chaired; the NCAA Special Committee on Student-athlete Welfare, access and equity; and the National Athletic Trainer's task force which developed medical coverage guidelines for all intercollegiate athletic programs. He played an important role in the initial development of the Ivy League's collaboration with the Big Ten on concussion research while developing a return to academics and play protocols in the league and nationwide. DePalma was honored in 2001 by the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) with the Most Distinguished Athletic Trainer Award. That same year he was honored with the Thomas Sheehan Award for character, commitment, and achievement in athletic training by the New York State Athletic Trainers' Association. He presented at numerous national conventions, published dozens of papers and written chapters in textbooks that are used in Athletic Training curriculums, and served on professional committees at the university, state, regional, and national levels as a recognized expert in various topics around health and safety. He has been instrumental in developing and implementing various programs, including strength and conditioning initiatives when he arrived at Cornell, graduate assistant internship programs, and undergraduate athletic training student clinical experiences. One of DePalma's outstanding achievements was his innovative approach to injury prevention and rehabilitation as seen in his many publications and invited national presentations. His enduring commitment to athletic training, dedication to the athlete's health, safety, and welfare, leadership in the profession, and pioneering contributions to sports medicine contributed to his impact on the profession of athletic training.

NATIONAL NOTICE
• For his efforts against Bucknell, Luke Banbury became the second defensive player in Cornell history to earn the National Player of the Week honors (he joins Chris Zingo '93), and the first Big Red to be honored nationally since the 2022 season when Jackson Kennedy was named the FedEx Ground National Special Teams Player of the Week.
• Banbury became the second player in single-game recorded history at Cornell (since 1995) to tally a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, and a pick-six. In addition to his turnover prowess, the Pittsburgh, Pa., native posted seven tackles including five solo stops. He also tallied three PBUs, the most by a Cornellian since the 2021 season. The fumble recovery, which came on Bucknell's first drive of the game, stopped a Bucknell touchdown after Jeremiah Lewis forced it at the Cornell two-yard line, and Banbury dove on it at the one. The interception came on the subsequent Bucknell drive, which he returned for 26 yards to the house.
• In addition to the national recognition, Banbury was also named the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Week.

 BIG RED BY THE NUMBERS
• The Big Red offensive line has held strong this season, allowing just 0.67 sacks per game and 3.00 tackles for loss per game. The sack number is the fourth-lowest nationally. The TFL mark is fewest in the Ivy and second in the FCS.
• Cornell has lost just two fumbles this season, a mark that leads the Ivy League and is the fourth-fewest nationally.
• The Cornell passing attack ranks 14th nationally and is second in the Ivy League at 271.2 yards per game.
• Sophomore place-kicker Alan Zhao is tied for first place in the nation in field goal percentage with his 10-for-10 effort this season.
• Sophomore Samuel Musungu ranks among the top 10 nationally in receiving touchdowns (10, eighth nationally), receiving yards per game (95.4 ypg., fifth nationally), and receptions per game (8.3 rpg., second nationally).

ALL EYES ON JAMESON WANG
• Wang was named the Phil Steele Ivy League Preseason first team coming off the heels of a season where he ranked atop the Ivy (and 21st nationally) in completion percentage, connecting on 64.8 percent of his throws.
• In his junior season, Wang threw for over 2,400 yards, good for third-most in the conference.
• This year, Wang has become the Ivy's top touchdown passer, accumulating 24 in nine games. His passing efficiency of 139.4 ranks third in the conference, and his completion percentage of .652 ranks second. His 2,370 passing yards ranks second in the Ivy.
• Wang ranks ninth nationally with his 24 passing touchdowns and leads the nation in points responsible per game (20.9). He's also third in total offense (307.6 ypg.).
• The El Segundo, Calif., native has etched his name in the Cornell record books in nearly every major passing category, including passing attempts (1028, third), pass completions (648, third), passing yards (6,796, third), passing touchdowns (51, third), pass completion percentage (.630, first), and pass efficiency (129.3, second).
• He also ranks top 20 in rushing yards (1,714, 12th), and rushing touchdowns (27, fourth).

• Schoellkopf Field has been an indelible mark of Cornell football since it opened in 1915 and this year will be the 108th 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 the 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 be 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. A new era begins in 2024 when Dan Swanstrom takes the helm.

NEXT UP
• The 2024 season is complete.
• The Big Red will get back to spring practice with eyes on preparing for the 2025 season that will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 20 at UAlbany.