Yale at Cornell
Sat., Sept. 24 – 2 p.m.
Schoellkopf Field
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Yale Game Notes | Cornell Game Notes
 
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Team 149 begins its quest for an Ivy League title on Saturday. The Yale football team travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to meet Cornell on homecoming at Schoellkopf Field. Kickoff is slated for 2 p.m.
 
The Bulldogs opened the season with a loss at undefeated Holy Cross last week. The Crusaders, who were playing their third game of the season, were an NCAA FCS Playoff team last year and were ranked No. 12 in the nation.
 
With five minutes left in the first quarter, Yale had an 84-8 edge in total yards, but the Crusaders used two big plays – a pair of 36-yard touchdown passes – to build a 21-7 halftime lead. Holy Cross then outscored the Bulldogs 14-0 in the third quarter.
 
Both Yale's offensive and defensive lines made a strong opening impression. The Bulldogs had five sacks in the game, including two from Osorachukwu Ifesinachukwu, while the offensive line did not allow a sack. Quarterback Nolan Grooms rushed for 58 yards and threw for 98 yards, while first year Joshua Pitsenberger added 50 yards on nine carries. David Pantelis had a team-high 54 yards receiving on five catches. Mason Tipton also added five receptions.
 
Yale's touchdowns came on a 1-yard run from Nathan Denney early in the second quarter, and when backup quarterback Austin Tutas connected with Ryan Lindley for an 8-yard scoring play in the fourth quarter.
 
Grooms started the final five games under center last year. He was twice named the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, including after throwing for a career-high 330 yards and three touchdowns in a victory at Brown. Against Harvard in the season finale, he totaled 313 yards, including 262 in the air, and threw for three scores. Grooms finished the year with 1,569 passing yards and 14 touchdown passes.
 
The Bulldogs are coming off a 2021 season that saw them finish with a 5-5 overall record. Four of the five losses came by seven points or less.
 
Yale was picked fourth in the Ivy League's official preseason media poll, which was voted on by 16 media members that cover the league. Harvard and Dartmouth were voted preseason favorites, and just three points separated the top three teams. The Crimson and Big Green each had 108 points in the poll, while Princeton ranked third with 105.
 
HISTORY LESSONS
 
The Bulldogs have won the last four meetings with Cornell, including a 23-17 victory last fall at Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field. Rodney Thomas II, who is currently with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, intercepted two passes and returned an on-side kick for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter to lead the way. Thomas II also had a big day in Yale's last trip to Ithaca when he also had two interceptions, returning one for a 22-yard touchdown, in a 27-16 victory in 2019. Yale has won two straight games in Ithaca. The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 51-30-2. The first meeting between the teams came in 1889.
 
SCOUTING CORNELL
 
The Big Red won its 2022 opener last weekend with an impressive 28-22 victory over a VMI team that had been nationally ranked in each of the past two seasons and is from the powerful Southern Conference. Cornell led 28-2 in the fourth quarter and held on for the victory behind a strong defensive performance that included limiting the Keydets to -2 rushing yards on 25 carries. It was the fewest yards allowed in a game by a Big Red defense since surrendering -5 yards (on 28 carries) at Columbia on Nov. 15, 1986. Cornell had six sacks and nine tackles for loss in the victory. Offensively, William Enneking became the first Cornell tight end to catch multiple touchdown passes in the same game with a pair of 3-yard scoring receptions. 
 
IVY OPENERS
 
Yale has won its Ivy League opener in each of the last four seasons and has started 1-0 in league play in seven of its last eight seasons.