Rewind the clock five weeks and all sorts of grandiose goals surrounded the Cornell football team. The words “Ivy Title” were mentioned in nearly every conversation with a member of the squad. The return of standout senior quarterback Ricky Rahne coupled with high hopes of establishing a legitimate ground attack, these preseason aspirations didn’t seem all that unreasonable.
But entering the sixth week of the season the football team is facing its first 0-5 start in more than 15 years.
“Our dream, our goal, our desire of winning the Ivy League championship is probably out of reach…. Our dream of having a winning record overall is not going to happen,” conceded first year head coach Tim Pendergast.
On-field performance at virtually every position has been far from expectations. Pendergast arrived on East Hill with the lofty goal of adding a potent rushing attack to compliment Cornell’s prolific passing game.
The Red’s winless start can be attributed largely to the failure of the run offense. Senior Evan Simmons who notched nearly 700 yards last season, has earned just 194 this year and the team overall has picked up just 495 yards of rushing. The state of affairs on the other side of the ball has been no better. Thanks to a defense that has continued to struggle to stop any offense it
Archived article by Gary Schueller