Saturday was an ideal end to what was surely a long offseason for fans of Cornell football. With the weather hovering around 56 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, Cornell started its season with a statement — a 33-9 win over Bucknell that showcased the team’s strengths without revealing many weaknesses. Offensively, head coach Jim Knowles ’87 threw the kitchen sink at Bucknell’s textbook defensive schemes, and was rewarded with both big plays and steady drives. On defense, Cornell bent under the pressure of the Bison’s rush, but never broke, registering two red zone stops and allowing Bucknell to convert only 5-of-18 third downs.

“Not a lot went well for us,” said Bucknell coach Tim Landis. “I thought Cornell did very well in all aspects of the game and they certainly deserved the win today.”

Though the win was largely due to Cornell’s (1-0) big-play weapons on offense, it was the Red defense that actually notched the team’s first points of the season. The teams traded three-and-outs to open the game, then junior Drew Alston’s punt rolled all the way to the Bucknell three-yard line. The Bison (1-2) rushed for two yards on its first play of the drive, but senior running back Josh Lee fumbled in the end zone and then fell on the ball for a safety.Breaking the plane: Sophomore wide receiver Shane Savage (25) dives into the end zone to put the Red up, 33-7, near the end of the third quarter in Saturday’s game against Bucknell.

Alston’s punt was the first act of a field-position battle that favored the Red all game long. Of his eight punts, six pinned the Bison inside their own 20-yard line.

“Field position was huge,” Knowles said, “especially against their option and shotgun-style running attack. ... Field position, converting in the red zone, winning the turnover battle … it’s not rocket science and you need to have a team who believes in it and understands it, and that’s what we did today.”

A 15-yard return by senior Bryan Walters started the Red’s next drive on its own 47-yard line, and set the stage for an eight-play, 53-yard drive featuring clutch passing from senior quarterback Ben Ganter and capped off by a 1-yard rush into the end zone by senior running back Randy Barbour. Ganter, who completed 17-of-25 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns, displayed good pocket presence on the drive, connecting with senior wideout Horatio Blackman twice and sophomore wideout Shane Savage once. Savage, Blackman and Walters each notched five receptions in the game and each had at least one reception over 30 yards.

“I felt pretty comfortable,” Ganter said of his second career start. “I’ve been with these guys for two or three years. And, I kind of try to treat it like a practice. It’s a little bit different at game speed, but I feel like I adjust well after a while and the line did a great job protecting, so I could spread it out there.”

The offensive line only allowed one sack on the 25 pass attempts by Ganter, and helped clear the path for the team’s 143 rushing yards. Senior Stephen Liuzza led the team with 76 rushing yards, thanks to a 65-yard touchdown sprint down the left sideline that broke the game open in the second quarter, 23-7. Liuzza took the direct snap in Cornell’s version of the wildcat offense, faked the hand off, and took off down the sideline, exploiting a key downfield block by Blackman.

“It was just one of the normal things that we end up doing and I happened to pull the ball, so the defensive end, he pressed on it and I was able to receive a great block from our outside receiver,” Liuzza said. “I kind of just followed [him] up the sideline and had some guys trailing, blocking underneath. Basically, if my fellow wide receivers didn’t block down the field, I wouldn’t have gotten a touchdown, so I have to credit those guys with really holding their blocks downfield and opening it up.”

Cornell went to the wildcat offense at least five times in the contest, giving Ganter a breather and further complicating Bucknell’s defensive struggles.

“We knew [the wildcat offense] was coming,” Landis said. “We prepared for it. I think it was a matter of Cornell’s execution being very good to be honest with you. I had a front row seat for that long run and we had guys in position, but we just didn’t make the play. It certainly gives you something extra to worry about in the course of the week.”

The wildcat is just one aspect of the team’s play that Yale, Cornell’s next opponent, might stress over this week. Another is the consistent play of the Red defense. Bucknell’s two-headed running attack, A.J. Kizekai and Tyler Smith, accounted for 121 yards, and scrambling quarterback C.J. Hopson gained 10, largely on draws. There were times late in the game when Bucknell consistently rushed for five or six yards per attempt, but Cornell’s defense eventually shut down each drive.

“We’ve really been emphasizing our [defense] in the red zone,” said senior linebacker Chris Costello. “We try to obviously stop them in the middle of the field, but when they come into the red zone, you really just have to calm down, get things together and just know they can’t get anymore yards. We did that today. I think one of the first times they got in, they scored on us, but I think we did a good job in the second half, especially when they were going for it on fourth down.”

Knowles attributes that ability to tighten up on defense to the team’s conditioning.

“I’m just proud of these guys because they’ve worked hard for it, they suffered, they went through all of the conditioning that we did last winter, and it was nice to see it pay off for them,” he said. “It shows them that it does work. I thought we were just the faster team and the better team from top to bottom.”