No. 12 Princeton Tops Cornell 21-7

Friday, November 1

Ithaca, N.Y.

6:00 PM

Princeton University

7-0 , 4-0

Cornell

2-5 , 1-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Princeton Tigers

Cornell

Kevin Davidson hands to Collin Eaddy in Princeton's 21-7 win over Cornell.

Photo by: Dave Burbank/Cornell Athletics

November 01, 2019 | Football

Box Score

The wind whipped across Schoellkopf Field, taking the temperature from the upper 30s to a wind chill of the mid 20s as there was a definite feel of winter. Cornell, under its home Friday night lights, was looking to play spoiler in the Ivy League football race and refused to go quietly.

Behind Princeton was a tough win over Harvard. Ahead of Princeton was a trip to Yankee Stadium to take on Dartmouth next Saturday.

The game Friday night in Ithaca was not one for style points.

Princeton did everything it needed to do to stay unbeaten with a 21-7 win over Cornell to run its winning streak to 17 in a row, marking only the fifth time in the history of a program that was five days short of turning 150 that there has been a winning streak that long. Collin Eaddy ran for two more touchdowns, and Jeremiah Tyler was again dominant on the defensive side of the ball.

Princeton, now 4-0 in the Ivy League, did its part to ensure a second-straight 7-0 vs. 7-0 matchup with Dartmouth. The Big Green, the only other team unbeaten in the league, is at Harvard (2-1 in the league) Saturday afternoon.

"We knew this one was going to be tough," said Princeton head coach Bob Surace. "We were 100 percent focused on Cornell this week, and we knew they were going to come after us the way they did. This was a good win to get."

Cornell, now 2-5 overall and 1-3 in the league, held Princeton scoreless in the first quarter, marking the first time since the Harvard game of 2016 – a span of 30 games – that the Tigers did not score in the first 15 minutes. The Tigers then had two touchdown drives in the second quarter to build a 14-0 halftime lead.

The first drive started off a turnover, as James Johnson recovered a fumble and returned it four yards to the Cornell 37. It took four plays – two of them back-to-back 15-yard runs from Ryan Quigley – to get it in the end zone, the touchdown on a three-yard Eaddy run.

The next Princeton drive went 80 yards in 15 plays, including three huge plays that kept the chains moving. Michael Polk had his first career reception for 11 yards for one first down, and then Andrew Griffin made a nice catch on a third-and-long to pick up 33 yards and get the ball into Cornell territory. As the half started to wind down and Princeton found itself with a four-and-3 at the Cornell 18, Surace decided to go for the touchdown, and it paid off when Kevin Davidson found Jacob Birmelin for seven yards. The TD on that drive came with 22 seconds left , as Davidson connected with Griffin, who did a nice job of keeping his feet inbounds for the score.

Cornell put together an 85-yard scoring drive in the third to cut it to 14-7, but Princeton answered immediately, going 75 yards in eight plays, scoring on a four-yard run by Eaddy.

The key play – of the drive and maybe the night - was a third-and-5 at the Princeton 30, when Davidson connected with Dylan Classi on a well-executed catch-and-run that would go 49 yards.

That touchdown came with 3:50 left in the third quarter, and neither team would score again.

Tyler, the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, made a serious bid for another honor with his night of 11 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

Notes

* Davidson finished 20 for 29 for 186 yards. His touchdown pass to Griffin was the 24^th of his career, tying him with Matt Verbit for seventh place on Princeton's career list

* Griffin's TD reception was his team-best sixth.

* Eaddy leads the Ivy League with nine rushing touchdowns. He and Quigley did what they do, combining for 177 yards on 37 carries.

* Trevor Forbes and Sultaan Shabazz had interceptions for Princeton; Shabazz leads the team with three . James Johnson had nine tackles and the fumble recovery.

* Uche Ndukwe had a sack, and Joey DeMarco teamed with Tyler on another.

* Birmelin caught nine more passes, giving him a team- and Ivy-best 44 for the season.

* The game was played five days before the 150^th anniversary of the first college football game ever played, between Princeton and Rutgers, on Nov. 6, 1869.