After finishing 1-9 in the 2015 season, Cornell football was ranked last in the Ivy League in a preseason poll by select media members.
The Red totaled 20 points in the poll, six fewer than last year when the team was also ranked last in the preseason rankings.
In 2015, Cornell’s lone victory came in a 3-0 defensive standoff against Columbia, marking the second straight year the Red avoided a winless season by defeating the Lions in the second-to-last week of the year.
Columbia finished 2-8 last season and was ranked seventh in the poll. The Lions tied for last in the conference with Cornell in 2015, only picking up a victory against Yale, ranked fourth in Tuesday’s poll.
Harvard earned a first place spot in the rankings for the sixth time in nine years. The Crimson, which captured a share of the Ivy crown last year, was ranked first on seven of the 17 ballots.
Penn — last year’s surprise conference co-champion — earned more first places votes than Harvard, but was ranked second in the poll. While they were ranked sixth in the 2015 preseason poll, the Quakers ended last season with a 6-1 in-conference record.
Brown, slotted at sixth in the poll, garnered the final first place vote. Rounding out the top three is Dartmouth, also a co-champion from last season. Princeton took the fifth spot after finishing last year with a 2-5 record.
Cornell will begin its season on September 17 on the road against Bucknell.
In a teleconference Tuesday, head coach David Archer ’05 indicated that sophomore Dalton Banks would start at quarterback if the season began tomorrow, although he made sure to emphasize that “a lot could change during camp.”
“I really look forward to seeing these competitions heating up to keep moving Cornell in the right direction,” Archer said.
| Rank | School | Points |
| 1 | Harvard (7) | 126 |
| 2 | Penn (9) | 119 |
| 3 | Dartmouth | 83 |
| 4 | Yale | 81 |
| 5 | Princeton | 79 |
| 6 | Brown (1) | 61 |
| 7 | Columbia | 43 |
| 8 | CORNELL | 20 |