ELynah Forum

Yeah another tough loss to Harvard today.   I can't even remember the last time Cornell football beat Harvard?   

I was at the game and despite score, the players never stopped playing and reached the end zone a couple of times in the fourth quarter to make the game a little more respectable at 41-29.   

The biggest difference between Harvard and Cornell football, is the Crimson runs their program more like a big time D1 program.  If Cornell athletics treated football like we do ice hockey and lacrosse we would have a much better team.   

Given the recent national and local news regarding the awful Chi Phi incident, I think we can all agree sexual and physical abuse at any level is unacceptable.  About ten years ago, I attended a Cornell athletics presentation where the key note speaker was coach Mike Schafer who said something like, "Big Red Hockey offers our students a couple of hours of non-alcoholic entertainment and escape the academic pressures of Cornell".  As a student I remember bombing a mid-term exam and I was so depressed.   I was ready to drink myself into oblivion, but instead a fraternity brother handed me a ticket to that evening's hockey game.   Cornell won and Larry Tobin pulled off a hat-trick with dozens of fans showering the ice with their hats.   I had so much fun at that game and the next morning I hiked back up to the library to get my academics back on track.

College sports at Cornell and across the country took off during Prohibition in the 1920's.  The Ivy League was founded to promote Division I athletics with academic excellence.   Hey Harvard is playing at Cornell on Saturday.   I hope to see you folks at the game.   GBR!!!

Egg on my face..........after the Colgate game I was too critical of the coach.   Great job Cornell football and a very well deserved win. Also a great crowd for the first home game.   GBR!!!

It's both a Cornell and a coaching problem.   I went to the game on Saturday and we barely in our seats and Cornell was down 14-0 in the first quarter.   Agreed Colgate is a better team and they were on their fourth game, but I thought we would at least be somewhat competitive.   As per my prior post, Cornell is very competitive in both ice hockey and lacrosse, meanwhile we alums are giving money to football year after year with literally no progress.   In the second half Colgate was trying not to run up the score, as they played very conservatively running the ball to eat up the clock.  Agreed our other football coaches have not been very good either, but look at Colgate as their coach is in his second season and they are 4-0.   Why didn't Cornell hire that coach???

I am beginning to think Dan Swanstrom was a terrible hire for Cornell.   He was a good DIII coach at Ithaca College but the Ivy League is a huge step up from that level.   He's now in his third year and nearly all the starters are Archer recruits.   Look at Harvard and Yale as those two schools recruit football players who are Division I caliber and Cornell continues under perform in recruiting.   We certainly don't recruit that way in ice hockey or lacrosse, but year after year football remains in the bottom half of the Ivy League standings.   We have not posted a winning record in 21 years and our last Ivy League title was in 1990.  As a local alum who has donated to this program for many years its very frustrating.

Sure Colgate was on their fourth game, but Harvard blew out UNH 31-7 and Yale beat Holy Cross 38-28.  Those two teams showed up ready to play!

I think it's awesome the Cornell vs. Syracuse game will be played on Long Island on Saturday, April 12th!   Even though it's a travel contest, this venue is in the heart of both the Cornell and Syracuse alumni base.    Last year the Cornell vs. Notre Dame game drew a big crowd for both programs at Bethpage Stadium   The NYC Metro area is in Cornell's DNA.   Go Big Red!

I was at the Columbia game yesterday and it was a fun Cornell crowd.  I am pleased with some of the things Swanstrom did this year as our new head football coach.   The defensive line was short-handed much of the season with injuries and that is one area that needs to be addressed for next year.  

My primary concern is Cornell's style of offense that has never had much success on the East Hill with a no-huddle spread attack.   There were some splashes of excitement but the running game once again struggled for the Big Red.   Ian Pope had a pretty good season rushing for just over 500 yards, but in reality Cornell football has not had a 1000 yard rusher since Luke Siwula back in 2005 when we finished 6-4, which is our last winning team.  Our two best running backs had a combined four rushing touchdowns all season.   The reason I bring this up is Ithaca is not Florida or Texas, with often inclimate weather and that's why our best teams over the years have featured a strong running game.  As I previously mentioned, Jeff Matthews broke all the passing records at Cornell but he never had a consistent running game to keep the other team's offense off the field.  Sadly he did not have a winning season throughout his four year career on the East Hill.   Meanwhile, Columbia's Joey Giorgi rushed 29 times for 165 yards, thus wearing down our defense.   The Ivy team with the best running attack usually wins the Ivy League title.   Go Big Red!

Nice win on Saturday for men's basketball!   Why was the game played at noon though during the football game?  For many alums who visit Ithaca, it's nice to attend the football game in the afternoon and then basketball or hockey game in the evening.  Many of our alums drive several hours to Ithaca for home games and some may want to watch both games, meaning not playing at the same time.   Noon is an odd time for a college or even high school basketball game?

A great win on Saturday against a very good Dartmouth football team.   The key was running the ball for 175 yards and winning time of possession by nearly 10 minutes, thus keeping the Big Green offense off the field.  In terms of the running game, we didn't have many long runs just ongoing gains and enough yardage to move the sticks.  Go Big Red!

Both George Seifert (75-76) and Jim Knowles (04-09) struggled at Cornell but then went on to great success in the NFL and major college football.  Jim knowles had a lot more success at Cornell than Seifert, as the team when 6-4 in his second year as head coach.   Knowles was basically a .500 coach at Cornell but like Seifert he struggled to develop a consistent winning program.  

Dan Swanstrom brings an impressive resume to the East Hill and despite the football teams struggles this season, the Big Red have shown some flashes of brilliance this fall.  Even during the loss to Penn, the team kept playing hard to the end.  It also appears AD Nicki Moore has garnered more support for the football program too.  It's been over thirty years since our last Ivy title.   Go Big Red!

Agreed Dartmouth is very good.  Run the football to keep Dartmouth's offense off the field.  Cornell does not have the defense to host another track meet like the Penn game.  Sure that may mean some three and outs, but Cornell has the passing tools to make a big play if we can run the football.   Going back to Pop Warner football I can remember our coaches saying it's only 10 yards for a first down.   Really not that far to move the sticks.   Run the football and if nothing else the game will be closer at the end.

Dan Swanstrom is a QB guy and I have no doubt he's probably already developing someone after Wang graduates.   Regardless let's enjoy this season's team.   Big game this Saturday at Schoellkopf vs. Penn.   Again run the ball, run it again and again, will free up things for our QB and receivers.   Obviously Penn is favored but you never know.   Go Big Red!

It's always easier for offensive linemen to run block than pass block. The Cornell offensive line are plenty big and strong to open up holes for our running backs.  Run the ball like we did against Yale and Bucknell!   Look at the NY Jets last night, they absolutely stunk in the first half, then they came out running the ball in the second half, and they surprised Houston.   Wang is a proven  Ivy QB, but we have to run the football to open up the passing game a little more.   Run the ball, win time of possession, and we knock off the Tigers.   Go Big Red!

One of the best recent recruits is Ryan Goldstein who last year, like many freshman in college athletics was undersized at 5'9" and 145 lbs.   Time in the weight room and probably just natural growth he has the potential to be a super star for Cornell lacrosse.  My nephew plays for a very strong DIII program and he was pushed all over the league his freshman season, but last spring as a sophomore he scored 40 goals and 20 assists earning all conference honors.   Again he's not playing at the DI level, but just his size, strength, and overall skills skyrocketed with maturity and time in the weight room.   Go Big Red!

Screw the NIL and focus on the academics.   We have a family friend who was three time All Ivy in football and he also ran track.   He received scholarship offers from multiple FBS programs.   Today he's a Managing Director for one of the top banks in the world and his bonus check exceeds multiple times the money he would have earned under at a major football program.   When he was accepted to an Ivy, his single mother said forget the scholarship we'll scape together the funds to go Ivy.   The value of a good education simply cannot be understated.