The Bulldogs will be on the road this week squaring off against the Big Red Saturday at 3 PM ET on the ILDN. Cornell enters the contest at 1-0 after defeating Bucknell last week 24-16. It took some heroics last year to pull off the 33-26 victory at home, but this is once again a very winnable game.
Cornell’s offense features an efficient QB, an above average offensive line, and a solid runningback. Cornell’s QB Dalton Banks went 17/24 for 160 yards passing last week and accounted for all three touchdowns (2 rushing, 1 passing). RB Chris Walker gained 141 yards on 17 rushes. Cornell’s defense was exploited by Bucknell’s rushing attack as Joey DeFloria ran for over 150 yards on the Big Red D. They also had no answer for Bucknell WR Will Carter who gained 122 yards on 9 receptions. Cornell was also only able to sack Bucknell QB Matt Muh once during the game. This bodes well for the Bulldog offense as we have the backs and receivers at our disposal to make life a nightmare for Cornell. If we can get the running game established with Harris/Salter and protect Chapple for a few seconds, our offense should get back on track this week. Defensively, the Bulldogs need to win at the line of scrimmage to slow down Walker and fluster the sophomore QB.
8 replies on “Cornell Preview”
It looks like a lot will be up to the offensive line. This would be a good time to show something.
Am I the only one on this blog?
You are not the only one. We need a huge win to bounce back this week and get the Reno haters to put away their pitchforks
Yale fans were left speechless after last Saturday, but we’re still here. Quite frankly I’m very concerned about Saturday and the whole season.
Cornell is feeling optimistic following their upset victory over Bucknell. They will also have the enthusiasm of a large home coming crowd to feed into. Finally, they can smell blood.
Yale will need to play this game with a lot of emotion on both sides of the ball to match Cornell”s intestity. GO YALE!
I feel we will see a different team play on Saturday. Last week is over and the real season starts now. Reno was outmatched last week and knew it, so he used the game as a scrimmage to get ready for this week. #stilldrinkingthebluecoolaid
The cup is empty, staring at the bottom now. Nothing but empty left.
Richard, you are not the only one here. And Bowwowwow, I wouldn’t say that I am “drinking the Kool aid” but I am definitely still optimistic about our potential outcomes and still in full support of the Bulldogs. I am a late comer to this blog as I just was given this link but glad to be back with those who are interested in talking about Yale football again.
Unfortunately I was not able to attend last week’s game but was able to watch during this week. I must say though along with Son of Eli I am also a bit concerned with this week. Not as much with the opponent as I am with ourselves. I am hoping (with optimism) that we can hit our groove this week and do what I believe we are capable of doing to get this win.
Offensively it seems like we need our supposed strength to be our strengths. Given the present QB situation (which needs I believe to be pared down to 2 guys at most) we are in dire need of the OL and RB’s to take over. We need to be able to sustain drives and move the ball without having to shove the onus on one of the newly appointed QB’s. Obviously teams are going to try to force this through pressure and defensive play calling. However we need to be able to keep ourselves out of 2nd & 3rd and middle to long situations which we seemed to find ourselves in many times last game. With a veteran crew in both units it is incumbent on our success for them to produce.
Same applies for the defense. Given the new players at CB we are in dire need of our supposed strongest units (DL & LB’s) to pressure the QB up front and make him uneasy so the load of work doesn’t fall on our less experienced players having to cover WR’s for an elongated period of time. Last week we had 1 sack for 12 yards and 1 INT (to Colgate’s 5 sacks and 4 INT’s). That is the stat that is going to really need to improve to get us back on track. We will also need pressures, more 3 & out’s, and need to stop the run better (gave up 5.3 yards per carry last week). We will need to rest on the production of our defense to get the offense in some type of groove to get going. In conjunction with the defense we need to win the field position battle. Colgate scored on 9 drives. Of those drives only 3 were under 7 plays or more (with only 1 in double digits).
Given this I believe that we can and will right the wrongs and come out with a win this weekend. In a close and tough one 28-21. Fingers crossed!!
Let’s see what these out of shape Bulldogs can do in Ithaca tomorrow. Cornell (Historically the worst team in the Ivy) coming of a Bucknell win that surprised all 187 of their fans (they have 98 kids on roster, so their parents with one step-dad present) heads into this game with a high confidence, not powered offense facing against a Bulldog team that couldn’t cover my great aunt running down the seam. This atrocious secondary play is backed up with a frail looking interior DLine and some athletic backers, we will see what they can do against an average Cornell offense.
The Yale offense will be left out of this commentary because they aren’t even worth mentioning.