Cornell Preview

The Bulldogs host the Cornell Big Red on Saturday at the Bowl for the start of Ivy League play. Kickoff is slated for noon and the game will air on ESPN+.

The Big Red enter the contest with an 0-1 record following a close 10-13 loss last weekend at Albany. Cornell has won the last two matchups against Yale and dominated the Bulldogs last season in Ithaca, although over the last twenty seasons, Cornell is just 2-8 at the Bowl.

Yale’s defense can breathe a sigh of relief that Jameson Wang has graduated as he terrorized Yale’s defense a year ago. The Big Red utilized two quarterbacks in the season opener with junior QB Devin Page (6’4”, 195 lbs.) and junior QB Garrett Bass-Sulpizio (6’5”, 231 lbs.) each seeing playing time. Page finished 8 of 12 for 90 passing yards, a touchdown and an interception while Bass-Sulpizio was 8 of 14 for 63 passing yards. Cornell announced yesterday that Page will be the starter in the Yale contest and earned roughly 70-75% of the first team reps in practice this week. Page is a dual threat quarterback who can be hard to contain in the ground game as he racked up 57 rushing yards (5.7 yards per carry) in the opener. Junior RB Ean Pope (5’7”, 176 lbs.) saw the second most rushing attempts versus Albany behind Page but struggled against a talented defense with just 2.3 yards per carry on 9 carries. Senior RB Robert Tucker III (5’8”, 204 lbs.) found more success last week with 4.3 yards per carry on 6 attempts. Junior TE Ryder Kurtz (6’5”, 233 lbs.) could be the best tight end in the Ivy League this season and was an honorable mention All-American in 2024. Kurtz was the top performer in Cornell’s offense in Week 1 with 6 catches for 68 yards and a touchdown. Senior WR Doryn Smith (6’3”, 194 lbs.) has been a receiving threat since his freshman season and had 3 catches for 39 yards last week. Senior WR Parker Woodring (6’3”, 202 lbs.), senior WR Davon Kiser (5’7”, 173 lbs.), and freshman WR Ja’von Broussard (6’2”, 185 lbs.) round out a very talented receiving corps that will test our cornerback play in Week 2. Cornell’s offensive line averages 297.4 lbs. across the board but failed to consistently open rushing lanes in the ground game last week. The offensive line did not give up a sack in Week 1 although Page’s shiftiness aided this metric. Yale will need to follow the defensive blueprint that Albany deployed as they were able to shut down the effectiveness of the running game and apply the pressure to Cornell’s inexperienced signal callers. Yale’s cornerback play will need to improve markedly to contain talented playmakers on the outside and having a linebacker spy on Page at times could limit the potential to turn a broken play into positive yards.

Cornell’s defense had a tremendous performance at Albany as they limited the completion percentage to 43.3% and held the Great Danes to just 260 yards of total offense. Senior LB Joey Cheshire (6’1”, 235 lbs.) was a third team preseason All-American and racked up 10 tackles and 2 quarterbacks hits in Week 1. Sophomore LB Keith Williams Jr. (6’1”, 225 lbs.) was another key playmaker against Albany with 7 tackles, 2 tackles for loss and half a sack. The defensive line is led by another third team All-American in senior DL Max Van Fleet (6’3”, 280 lbs.) who had 3 tackles and a sack a week ago. Senior DE James Reinbold (6’2”, 245 lbs.) is a very physical end who gave Albany fits as he notched 4 tackles and 1.5 sacks on the afternoon. Senior S Damon Barnes (6’0”, 208 lbs.) earned an honorable mention All-Ivy nod in 2024 and is the top returner in the secondary for the Big Red. Senior CB Michael O’Keefe (6’0”, 196 lbs.) is a seasoned veteran and was all over the field at Albany with 8 tackles and an interception. Cornell’s defense has been very effective against Yale in the last two matchups as the inability to sustain drives doomed the Elis. The offensive coaching staff’s challenge this week will be to come up with a blocking scheme that can allow the Bulldogs to convert on third and short situations, eat up the clock and open passing lanes for Shipp and Brown to exploit the secondary.

Junior K Alan Zhao (6’0”, 197 lbs.) earned an honorable-mention All-Ivy nomination in 2024 and made his lone field goal attempt of 25 yards at Albany. Freshman P Will Buck (6’5”, 225 lbs.) handled the majority of the punting duties last week with a 40.2-yard punting average. Cornell will also field their offense at times on fourth downs and have the quarterbacks punt the ball with no returner present. Senior RB Gannon Carothers (5’10”, 204 lbs.) is a skilled kick returner who returned a kick for 28 yards last week. Poor special teams play put Yale in an early deficit in 2024, so the units will need to play nearly mistake-free to secure a win in this contest.

Go Bulldogs! Beat the Big Red!