The annual Cornell-Penn Trustees’ Cup is next up for football after it suffered a 35-9 loss to Princeton on the road. The Red is seeking back to back cup wins, narrowly beating Penn at home last season, 15-12.
Last year’s match was a defensive, low scoring battle. Penn scored the fewest number of points since 2005 — a 16-7 Red victory.
When the two teams met last season, quarterback Jameson Wang was in the midst of a breakout freshman campaign, heading into the week with eight touchdowns, four rushing and four passing, over the past four games.
Wang carries nine passing and seven rushing touchdowns over the entire season into this week.
The Red (4-3, 1-3 Ivy) will have to scrap as hard as it has all season for a win over the Quakers. Penn (6-1, 3-1 Ivy), fields one of its best rosters in recent years, with wins over Dartmouth, Columbia and Yale. The team had been riding its longest win streak since 2003 before being upset by Brown in a nail biter last week.
“We won on their homecoming last year, so, I think that could be a part of it,” said head coach David Archer ’05. “And I think they’re also going to say to themselves, ‘if we win out we’ll be co-champs’ because they play Princeton last, and so I think they have a ton of motivation coming into this game”
Given that Penn has played every team remaining on the Red’s schedule, this week’s game could provide some foresight into what’s in store for the rest of the season.
“I think we have a really bad taste in our mouths from Saturday, and we want to prove to ourselves that we can compete with the teams that are playing at a high level in this league,” Archer said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Schoellkopf Field.
Prediction: Penn 31 Cornell 24
In a must-win game to stay in contention for the top spot in the Ivy League, the Quakers will bounce back from its loss to Brown. In a close game, the Red will struggle to put consistent points on the board against Penn’s aggressive defense.