The Bulldogs travel to Ithaca this week to face the Cornell Big Red on Saturday at 2 PM ET. The game will be televised on ESPN+.
Cornell is coming off a dominating performance at VMI in which the Big Red raced out to a 28-2 lead before a late 20-point comeback in the 4th quarter by VMI tightened the final score to 28-22.
Sophomore Jameson Wang (6’1”, 197 lbs.) started at quarterback for the Big Red finishing 5 of 10 for 42 yards and 2 touchdowns in the passing game and added another 33 rushing yards on 9 attempts. Junior quarterback Luke Duby (6’3”, 222 lbs.) also played extensively completing 67% of his passes for 65 yards and an interception. Sophomore running back Eddy Tillman (5’8”, 168 lbs.) is a very shifty runner with tremendous balance. Freshman running back Gannon Carothers (5’10”, 192 lbs.) was the top rusher in the VMI contest with 57 yards. Carothers offers a solid mix of speed and power in the running game for the Big Red. Cornell utilized a three running back formation in the redzone against VMI and with VMI’s defense focused on stopping the backs, Cornell’s senior tight end William Enneking (6’3”, 258 lbs.) was able to slip past the secondary for an easy touchdown reception. Enneking finished with 2 touchdowns on only 2 receptions for a total of 6 yards, so he’s clearly a favorite target in the redzone and short-yardage situations. Junior wide receiver Nicholas Laboy (6’2”, 189 lbs.) led the receiving corps with 38 yards on 3 receptions. Senior WR Thomas Glover (5’11”, 178 lbs.) had a quiet afternoon at VMI but was a 1st Team All-Ivy selection a year ago. Freshman WR Davon Kiser (5’7”, 146 lbs.) and junior TE Matt Robbert (6’4”, 240 lbs.) are additional receiving threats that we will have to account for defensively. Cornell features a large offensive line averaging just under 304 lbs. across the board but is relatively young with 3 sophomores, a junior and a senior. The offensive line outperformed expectations versus VMI giving up only one sack and paving the way for 159 rushing yards.
Cornell’s front six (3-3-5 base formation) on defense could be the strength of the team. VMI finished with -2 net rushing yards on 25 attempts and their quarterbacks were sacked 6 times. Senior linebacker Jake Stebbins (6’0”, 228 lbs.) was a 1st Team All-Ivy selection in 2021 and led all Cornell defenders with 8 tackles at VMI. Junior linebackers Connor Henderson (6’2”, 228 lbs.) and Noah Labbe (6’3”, 243 lbs.) combined for another 14 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack in the contest. Cornell’s starting defensive linemen senior Wallace Squib Jr. (6’4”, 277 lbs.), senior Max Lundeen (6’4”, 262 lbs.), and junior Connor Morgan (6’3”, 274 lbs.) are large, athletic linemen that posed problems for VMI’s offensive front. VMI did have success through the air with two quarterbacks combining for 358 passing yards and close to a 73% completion percentage. Yale’s aerial attack will need to improve by leaps and bounds from Week 1 to Week 2 to exploit Cornell’s secondary, especially in the wake of Alston’s injury.
Junior kicker Jackson Kennedy (5’11”, 179 lbs.) did not attempt a field goal but was perfect on 4 PATs. Sophomore punter Ayden McCarter (5’10”, 180 lbs.) is a transfer from Coastal Carolina and averaged 37.5 yards per punt against VMI.
This could be a make-or-break game for Team 149’s hopes of an Ivy League Championship, so we’re excited to see how the team will bounce back from the crushing defeat in Worcester.
Go Bulldogs!
18 replies on “Cornell Preview”
Would be nice to see more double TE sets and take advantage of some size mismatches with the LB and secondary
Any chance of someone posting a roster (in numeric order) for those of us who’ll be on ESPN+ tomorrow, not high above Cayuga’s waters?
Good point, with the corrected Numbers, last game I was looking , come to find that numbers were changed at the last minute.
Good Luck, look back for the datgum BALL..!!!
THE 2 DEEP DEPTH CHART AND THE NUMERICAL ROSTER APPEAR ON THE YALE GAME NOTES ON THE HEADING NEWS RE YALE FOOTBALL WEB PAGE.
P.S. IT WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL TO HAVE THE CORRECT WEIGHTS OF THE PLAYERS!
Thank you Ray for the useful directions. Would be nice if the designers of the football web page made information more user friendly.
We will find out this week whether or not Yale can play and win with a 2 o’clock start.
One of the things that stuck out from the Holy Cross broadcast: new numeral font on the jerseys. Rounded numbers…and HUGE.
I don’t care for the new shape – I prefer the classic athletic/block style. The new ones look to trendy…”change for change’s sake.”
But the larger size is a positive – easier to read. Numbers prior to this year seemed microscopic in comparison.
So, of course, since they’re easier to read, Reno had to change a bunch of numbers at the last minute, just to be a mini-Belichick.
Go Bulldogs.!!!
Sure would have been nice to listen to the Radio on WELI . With Ron Vacarro and Jack Seidlecki. But yah no radio Sheez how cheap
Much better first series, on defense and offense
Until that 99 yard Cornell drive. We keep giving up if plays.
Giving up big plays
Horrendous pass defensive as usual resulting i.n a td to css as way too easy 99 yard drive. Stupid penalty also contributed.
Same old same old
18 seconds and the ball at the 40. I would have run a play or two and maybe get in FG range.
Isn’t Yale winning 38-7?
Yeah. Defense has really settled in after that first score. Offense is now running 2s and 3s after the first series of the second half
Anyone else notice that ESPN is way behind the actual game time? LIVE STATS which I always run on my tablet while watching seems to be 5-10 minutes ahead of the ESPN feed.