Football Kicks Off Swanstrom Era at Colgate

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

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• Cornell football kicks off the 2024 season when the team travels to upstate foe Colgate for a Saturday matinee on Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium in Hamilton, N.Y. The contest will go down on Saturday, September 21 at 1:00 p.m.
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+. Eric Malanoski will be on the call.
• The Raiders enter the contest searching for their first win of the season after dropping the first three contests of the year. Colgate has already faced some formidable foes this year, facing off against #5 Villanova in the Raiders home opener, and facing off against FBS opponent Akron last weekend.
• A win this weekend would mark the third consecutive season-opener victory for the Big Red. Cornell bested Lehigh on the road in 2023 and topped #23 VMI in 2022.
• Should the Big Red grab the win, it would mark the first time a Cornell football coach won their first road game since the 1989 season when Jack Fouts led the Big Red to a 20-9 victory over Bucknell in the season opener.
• 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, the best record for the Big Red since a 5-5 finish in the 2011 season. 
• Cornell will take a different approach to the captainship this season compared to years past. Each week, Cornell will name game captains, rather than having a pair host the duties the whole season.

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 COLGATE WOULD...
• mark the third straight season opener win for the Big Red.
• be the first win at the Division I level for Coach Swanstrom.
• up Cornell’s record in the all-time series to 52-50-3.
• give Cornell a 107-69-5 (.594) all-time record in the month of September.
• mark the third win in the past four matchups, and be the second road win during that stretch.
• reset a current four-game losing streak, which happened for the Big Red for the first time since the beginning of the 2021 season to close out the 2023 slate.
• be the 657th in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).

ABOUT COLGATE
• Colgate fell to 0-3 over the weekend with a 31-20 road loss to FBS team Akron.
• Colgate's other losses came at Maine (17-14) and against #5 Villanova (28-3).
• Making his 24th career start this weekend is Raiders' quarterback Michael Brescia. He enters the week with 3,501 career passing yards, 12 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. The 2021 Patriot League Rookie of the Year has rushed for 1,650 yards and 30 touchdowns. He's rushed for two touchdowns so far this season.
• Junior receiver Treyvhon Saunders leads Colgate in catches (16), yards (168), and touchdowns (1) this season after an All-Patriot League first-team season in 2023. Junior Brady Hutchison follows with 9 grabs for 97 yards.
• Colgate returns 2023 All-Patriot League offensive linemen Bardhyl Gashi and Chance Niesner.
• Junior linebacker Cole Kozlowski leads the Raiders with 38 tackles and is coming off a Patriot League Player of the Week nod after clocking 13 stops, including a career-high two sacks, at Akron. Fifth-year All-Patriot linebacker Christian Sweeney ranks second on the team in tackles with 21.
• Senior defensive lineman Andrew Taddeo matches Kozlowski's sack number of two.
• Junior defensive back Asauni Allen has broken up a team-high three passes. Sophomore Justin Lawrence and senior Arthur Hamlin each have an interception.
• Punter Shelby Pruett has punted 16 times for 742 yards for an average of 46.38 yards. He booted a season-high 66-yarder at Akron and has five punts for 50+ yards this season.
• Sophomore kicker Luke Vogeler is 3-for-4 on field goals through three games. This marks his first season taking over the place-kicking duties.


THE SERIES
• Cornell has a 51-50-3 lead in the series, which began in 1896. The Big Red has won two of the last three meetings.
• The Big Red had lost 10 of 11 games against Colgate before starting a two-game win streak in 2021. The Big Red won 34-20 that year in Ithaca and 34-31 in 2022 in Hamilton. Last year, the Big Red dropped a 35-25 decision on Homecoming against the Raiders. 
• Cornell has an 11-11 record against Colgate on the road.
• Cornell has not won more than two games in a row against Colgate since a five-game win streak from 1970-75.

THE LAST MEETING WITH COLGATE
• Fifteen tackles from Noah Taylor and a 100-yard receiving game by Nicholas Laboy were not enough to lift the Big Red over Colgate. The Raiders controlled the fourth quarter, outscoring Cornell 21-8.
• The Big Red held the lead at the end of the first half and played a scoreless third quarter.
• The Raiders responded with back-to-back touchdowns to jump back out in front and secure a lead they never surrendered.
• Laboy’s 104-yard receiving was a career-high, marking his first 100-yard performance.
• With his effort, Laboy surpassed 500 career receiving yards (584) and now has four receiving touchdowns with scoring receptions in each of his past two games.
• Senior Noah Taylor made a career-best 15 tackles, moving his all-time total to 99.
• Taylor’s 15 tackles were the most by a Big Red player in a single game since Lance Blass ‘19 also recorded 15 against Dartmouth in 2018.
• Junior wide receiver Luke Malaga had his first career catch, a 21-yarder.
• Junior linebacker Luke Banbury was credited with a career-high seven tackles, while classmate Damon Barnes posted a career-best five stops. 
• With 1,090 rushing yards for his career, junior Jameson Wang moved into 29th place on the school’s career list, Next up in 28th is former All-Ivy quarterback Ryan Kuhn ‘06 (1,110).
• Wang also upped his career passing yardage total to 2,674 yards, good for 14th at Cornell.
• His 22 passing touchdowns moved him into a sixth-place tie with Mark Allen ‘74, four behind Nathan Ford ‘09 for a top-five mark.
• Wang’s second career two-point conversion made him the 16th player in school history with multiple two-point conversions. The school record of four was set by Rick Furbush ‘71.
• Wang has upped his career scoring total to 94 points and is now one touchdown away from becoming the 24th player in Cornell history to surpass 100 for a career and the first since Harold Coles ‘20.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• 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 Saturday, Nov. 18.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

HALL OF FAME FIGURES
• Over Homecoming weekend last year, Cornell honored the 2023 Cornell Hall of Fame honorees with an on-field ceremony.
• From football, J.C. Tretter ‘13 was inducted in the 2023 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 in 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.

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 2400 yards, good for third-most in the conference.
• The El Segundo, Calif. native has etched his name in the Cornell record books in nearly every major passing category, including passing attempts (677, 6th), pass completions (419, 6th), passing yards (4426, 6th), passing touchdowns (27, 5th), pass completion percentage (61.9%, 2nd), pass efficiency (123.9, 5th), passing yards per game (163.9, 7th).
• He also ranks top-20 in rushing attempts (315, 20th) and rushing touchdowns (20, 7th).

• 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 Big Red kicks off the home slate next weekend when the team returns to Schoellkopf Field to host Ivy foe Yale for Homecoming 2024.
• The game kicks off at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 28. It will be broadcast live on ESPN+.