Scouting Cornell

Cornell and Yale were two of the three Ivy League teams to win on opening day (Columbia was the other).

Yale wore down Georgetown to post a 31-10 win in Tom Williams' first game as Yale's head coach. Cornell had three scoring plays of at least 30 yards to defeat Bucknell 33-9.

It was last year's Cornell game where Yale's flaws were exposed - namely up front. The Big Red sacked Yale quarterbacks Ryan Fodor and Brook Hart five times, had 11 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and forced four turnovers. Ten of Cornell's points in a 17-14 win were a result of Yale turnovers.

The good news is that linebacker Chris Costello and cornerback Emani Fenton are the only two defensive starters in last year's Yale game who also started against Bucknell. Costello had a monster game against Bucknell with 14 tackles while Fenton had three tackles and broke up two passes. Ben Heller, who had a sack against Yale, is also back for the Big Red.

The bad news is that Yale gave up six sacks to Georgetown but bear in mind that there were five first-time starters on the offensive line so some growing pains were expected.

On offense, it was feast or famine for Cornell against Bucknell. Stephen Liuzza had a 65-yard scoring run and Marcus Hendren had a 46-yard run but the other 31 running plays totalled a net of 32 yards. Cornell had 181 yards of passing offense but 93 came on three players.

Game time for the Cornell/Yale game is noon at the Yale Bowl.