CU Football vs. Penn

[gatitita '05]

i love that there is one person posting on this thread who isnt a band alum.

[cornelldavy]

When was the last time Penn football had a losing conference record? I can't recall it, and I used to go to Penn football games even before I went to Cornell.

Edit: It was '96, when they also went 3-4 (although in '97, they went 0-7 after forfeiting 5 games for an ineligible player)

[Chris \'03]

[Q]cornelldavy Wrote:

 When was the last time Penn football had a losing conference record? I can't recall it, and I used to go to Penn football games even before I went to Cornell.[/q]

'97 they were 4-3 but had to forfeit the wins. '96 they were 3-4. Otherwise 4-3 in '99 is the only time they've lost more than one in recent history before this year.

[cornelldavy]

Beat me by a minute.

[RichH]

FWIW:

Harvard did come back and they won "The Game" in the longest football game in Ivy history, going to 3OTs.  With the light fading (and no lights at the Yale Bowl), the teams combined for 4 turnovers and 1 missed FG in overtime before Harvard ground it in for a TD.

Final Ivy Standings:

Ivy League     Conf     All
1 Brown    6-1    9-1 
2 Princeton    5-2    7-3 
  Harvard    5-2    7-3
4 Cornell    4-3    6-4
  Yale       4-3    4-6
6 Pennsylvania    3-4    5-5 
7 Dartmouth    1-6    2-8 
8 Columbia    0-7    2-8 

[Brian Deerr '04]

Just posting to add to the band alum ratio.

[Will]

[Q]Brian Deerr Wrote:

 Just posting to add to the band alum ratio.[/q]

And I'll post to reduce it again ever so slightly. :-P

[jtwcornell91]

Just posting to say to hell with Pennsylvania.

[Josh '99]

[Q]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

 Just posting to say to hell with Pennsylvania.[/q]To hell with U of P, P U!

(And also props to Deerr.  

[billhoward]

Post-game, post-season thoughts after Cornell's 16-7 win at Penn:

The hockey team would not be thrilled with an 18-12 record, but 6-4 seemed not bad for the football team. The guys on the bench were all psyched and urging the Cornell fans to their feet in the fourth quarter when the Cornell defense needed to (and did) hold. It seemed quite a contrast between the generally good nature of the Franklin Field fans on both sides, vs. the hostilities at Lynah between Cornell fans, Union/RPI fans, and the ushers.

The Cornell fans appeared to outnumber the Penn fans. Total attendance was reported as 6933, which is darn near empty in a 52,000 seat stadium. At least Franklin Field has been kept up (refurbished), which the other Ivy elephant, Yale Bowl, is about to get.

Penn dings you $12 to park, but you can buy $5 general admission tickets (vs. $15 reserved) and still sit anywhere; Princeton and Yale are much stuffier about where you sit based on what you pay.

The Big Red Marching Band certainly outnumbered, outdressed, and outclassed the Penn band. The Penn band also wasted half its halftime show thanking each senior on the band with inside jokes that were lost on just about everybody there. The BRMB seems to have an alumni tent at every game. I think I'm going to look into buying adjunct membership in the band and then eating for free; they certainly do it right.

Oh, right, the game:

Luke Siwula is an amazingly strong runner and/or he has a great line in front of him. He gets his yardage on third efforts.

Every time QB Ryan Kuhn puts his arm up to pass, a collective hush falls over the crowd, because passing is just not his strong suit, including one time when he appeared to fumble the ball up in the air without being hit. (He recovered.) Even if he did pass for one TD. One thing that helped Cornell's running offense was Penn's pretty fair coverage of the Cornell receivers, which led Kuhn to tuck the ball under his arm and run for 6 or 14 yards again and again.

While Cornell stuffed the Penn running game and held Penn to about 100 yards receiving, Cornell benefited mightily from stone hands on the part of Penn receivers. They dropped three or four easily catchable passes that might have turned the tide for Penn. Pass D is something Cornell needs to work on for next year.

Cornell's rushing defense was great.

Like the Woody Allen liine about the food being terrible and such small portions: Franklin Field food was nearly inedible and yet the lines were long. They should be embarrassed to call the cold sliced beef with congealed cheese slices "Philadelphia Cheese Steak." The pretzels were doughy. Etcetera. OK, the fries were crisp.

The field PA system was first rate, which is good, except that the announcer kept up a running rap about all the sponsors, kicking contests between periods, the sponsors again, a Score-O contest (maybe it was something else), a footrace between schoolkids and the Penn Quaker mascot, and, did I hear this right, some charity event where penn fans tossed slices of toast in baskets held by each of the four Penn classes. (The Wharton school declined participation.)

Nice end to the year, and the weather was reasonable given that it could be wet, rainy, snowy, and freezing.

... except that we could have with a couple better bounces against Brown and Princeton, been the Ivy League champ. In fact, given Princeton's loss the previous week, just beating Brown would have been enough to make us at 5-2 league a co-champ. Given that Cornell didn't have a complete offense and a somewhat suspect pass defense, it's amazing to think we came close to winning it all. For what was Cornell's second choice, Jim Knowles has done an amazing turnaround job as head coach.

[ugarte]

[Q]billhoward Wrote:... 6-4 seemed not bad for the football team. [/q]I'm going to have to disagree. Maybe it seemed that way in the preseason, or after the Yale game, but this team could have done so much more. Yes, I know you also said

[q]... except that we could have with a couple better bounces against Brown and Princeton, been the Ivy League champ.[/q]But I think you understate just how close we came to both of these things. The loss to Princeton was stunning. One poorly timed intentional grounding call ended the game winning drive. I still can't believe that we didn't pull that game off.

The Brown game wasn't as close, but the loss can be credited almost entirely to poor kick coverage; Brown started almost every drive in Cornell territory. I know, special teams count, but if Cornell filled the lanes better, Brown would have had a very difficult time scoring. They couldn't stop Siwula or Kuhn on the ground either.

[q]For what was Cornell's second choice, Jim Knowles has done an amazing turnaround job as head coach. [/q]This, I agree with. As disappointed as I am that an Ivy championship got away, I think the team is going to be excellent next year if Kuhn's replacement is competent.

[peterg]

Just a word of congratulations to the football seniors who can proudly say that they are leaving a football "program" on the rise.  Those guys who stuck with it and worked so hard for four (and some for five) years have a lot to be proud of, even if some of the fans here think it should have been a better year.  Coming from 1-9 just a couple of seasons ago, these men have done a GREAT job and, for all the young talent behind them, their contributions to turning the program around should not be understated.

[Brian Deerr '04]

[Q]jmh30 Wrote:

 [Q2]jtwcornell91 Wrote:

 Just posting to say to hell with Pennsylvania.[/Q]
To hell with U of P, P U!

(And also props to Deerr.  )[/q]


::tips hat to Mr. Herman::

[Hillel Hoffmann]

It was sooooooooo enjoyable to watch Cornell's offensive line slowly pound Penn into the Sprinturf in the second half. How cool was it to see Kevin Boothe pull from his left tackle position (!) and lay waste to some LB or safety? After so many years of listening to Penn's D bark like dogs, wasn't it fun to see their D-line's body language crumble? Beating Penn that way -- in their house, totally dominating in the trenches, leaving them with a losing record -- was as satisfying as any regular-season CU sports experience I've had in ages (at least for a game with no title on the line).

Schadenfreudeville, baby. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

A big thanks to John Vitale '89 and Brian Ruhl '94 for putting together a very nice Cornell Clubs of Greater Philadelphia / Delaware tailgate -- and thanks to the band for coming to entertain us.

[Jacob 03]

[Q]Brian Deerr Wrote:

 [Q2]jmh30 Wrote:


(And also props to Deerr.  )[/Q]
::tips hat to Mr. Herman::[/q]

You're both tools :-P

[Q]Hillel Hoffmann Wrote:

 Schadenfreudeville, baby. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

[/q]

Wouldn't it be Shadenfreudeburg?


Thanks for the highlights of "The Game," Rich.  I hope Cornell never sees such an ugly OT affair.