No. 15 Princeton Runs Past Cornell, Moves To 7-0 For Third Straight Time

Calendar

Football

September 20, 12PM

vs San Diego

Football

September 27, 3PM

at Lafayette

Football

October 3, 7PM

vs Columbia

Football

October 11, 12PM

vs Mercer

Football

October 18, 12PM

at Brown

The weather in Ithaca can best be described as nasty. Princeton's play on the field can be described as opportunistic and effective.

What can be described as perfect, though, was Princeton's record when its game Friday night at Cornell ended.

The 15th-ranked Tigers led start to finish against a Big Red team that wouldn't go quietly in what ended up as a 34-16 Princeton win, the seventh straight to start the season. If that sounds familiar, it's should be, since this marks the third straight season where the Tigers have gone 7-0 out of the gate. How rare is that? The last time it happened for the Tigers was in 1901, 1902 and 1903.

Next up for Princeton is another Friday night ESPNU game, this time at Dartmouth, who was also 7-0 in 2018 (a Princeton win) and 2019 (a Dartmouth win) when the teams met. This time around the Big Green will have either one or two Ivy losses, as they play at Harvard Saturday afternoon in one of two games featuring 2-1 league teams (the other is Columbia at Yale).

The game was played in steady rain and temperatures that struggled to reach the 50-degree mark. Princeton was outgained in this one by the Big Red 357-327. In the end, though, neither the elements nor the home team were successful in stopping Princeton's all-around team effort.

Princeton scored the first 21 points of the night, getting three touchdowns in completely different ways to build a lead that Cornell never really threatened to erase. It started when reserve quarterback Niko Vangarelli finished the Tigers' first drive, one that featured three different QBs, with a three-yard touchdown run. The second score came from linebacker Jeremiah Tyler, who scooped up a fumble caused by Matthew Jester and raced untouched 36 yards into the end zone. The third was a bit more conventional, as starting quarterback Cole Smith ended another drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to Carson Bobo.

"I was just trying to run to the ball and one of teammates made a play," said Tyler about the fumble recovery. "I wasn't sure if the ball came out or not, but I saw an object just scurrying along, I caught it and took off."

Cornell would make it a 24-10 game, but Princeton got a 39-yard field goal from Jeffrey Sexton with four seconds to play in the half to make it 27-10 at the break. That drive was helped along by a 13-yard Smith-to-Dylan Classi combination on a fourth-and-7 from the Cornell 40 with 26 seconds left.

Princeton's only second half points came on the first drive of the third quarter. The big play was a 67-yard catch and run from Classi, who was ruled down just short of the goal line after a replay review. Vangarelli punched it in on the next play.

Smith had a very efficient night, finishing 15 for 22 for 191 yards with no interceptions and the TD to Bobo. Classi led the Tigers with 92 receiving yards on four catches, and his running mates Jacob Birmelin (four catches, 32 yards) and Andrei Iosivas (three catches, 52 yards) also had productive nights.

The defense was led by James Johnson, who had 10 tackles, and Tyler, who added five tackles to his fumble return for a score. Daniel Beard also had an interception.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results