BEYOND THE BOX SCORE: The Dartmouth Game
ITHACA, N.Y. — Take a look back into Cornell football’s 39-22 win over No. 24 Dartmouth at Scheollkopf Field on Saturday, Nov. 16.
PLAYER NOTES
• Sophomore place-kicker Alan Zhao set school record for field goals (four) and kicking points (15) in a game. The four field goals matched efforts by Trevor MacMeekin in 2005 vs. Yale and Scott Lees in 2021 against Columbia, while his 15 points bettered the 14 by Lees in that same contest, as well as Brad Greenway in 2011 against Columbia and Mike Cochrane in 1992 vs. Lafayette.
• His 48-yard make in the first quarter to open the scoring was the longest by a Big Red kicker since 2019 when Nickolas Null booted a 49-yarder at Harvard.
• For the season, Zhao is now 10-for-10 on field goals, the longest stretch without a miss to begin a career in school history.
• Zhao kicked off nine times with five touchbacks, matching the third-most in a game in school history. His 15 kicking points broke the previous mark of 14.
• His 63 points this season are tied for fourth-best all-time alongside Mike Cochrane’s 63 in 1992 – the record is Brad Greenway’s 75 in 2011.
• Zhao’s 33 successful PAT kicks is second in a season to Greenway’s 2011 campaign when he was 36-for-36.
• With 10 made field goals, Zhao is just the eighth Big Red kicker to reach that milestone in a single campaign.
• In all, he’s made 43-of-44 place-kick attempts (10-of-10 FG, 33-3of-34 PATs) for a successful conversion rate of .971 is the best by a Big Red kicker with at least 10 field goal attempts in a season (Scott Lees, .906 in 2021).
• Senior linebacker Luke Banbury became the second player in school history to have a game with double digit tackles (11) that included a sack, forced fumble, interception and pass break, joining Bryan Draga in a 1994 contest with Princeton.
• Senior Hunter Sloan’s 22-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown was the 51st advance of a fumble for a score in school history.
• Banbury’s fumble the first by a Big Red player since Jelani Taylor’s scoop and score went for 87 yards against Colgate in 2019. It was the first fumble return touchdown against an Ivy opponent since James White’s 14-yard return against Yale in 2014.
• For sophomore Ean Pope, his second 100-yard rushing game of the season was the 257th 100-yard game in school history. Both of his were for exactly 111 yards.
• Pope is the 35th player ever at Cornell to record multiple 100-yard rushing games in a career.
• Junior Jeff Woodring caught his fifth touchdown of the season. The last time multiple Big Red receivers had five or more touchdown catches in a year was in 2013 when three (Grant Gellatly 8, Lucas Shapiro 6, Luke Hagy 5) all had at least three.
• The last time two players combined for 15 or more was 2011 when Shane Savage (12) and Kurt Ondash (5) had 17.
• Junior Robert Tucker III rushed three times for 29 yards and is now averaging 8.3 yards per carry. Only one Big Red player with more than 30 rushing attempts in a season has a higher average, with Bernie Babula averaging 9.2 yards (52 attempts for 479 yards) in the 1949 season.
• Senior Jameson Wang scored his 16th career rushing touchdown at Schoellkopf in the win – only 14 other Cornell players have scored that many in their entire career, home and away.
• Only Jeff Mathews (42) threw more touchdowns in front of the Schoellkopf fans than Wang, whose two on Saturday gave him 28.
• With his 36 rushing yards, Wang moved into 12th on the school’s career rushing list, surpassing Scott Oliaro ’93 with his 1,714 yards.
• The 27th rushing touchdown for his career moved him into sole possession of fourth place in the school record book, while his seven on the ground this year match a personal best.
• Wang became the third Big Red quarterback to surpass 1,000 career attempts, ending the day with 1,028 (No. 3 all-time).
• His 239 yards boost his total offense total to 8,510, with his 2,768 yards this season is seventh all-time at Cornell.
• Adding three to his total, Wang’s 78 touchdowns responsible for in his career are three shy of Jeff Mathews’ record of 81. His 31 total this season are already the record.
• His 2,370 passing yards in 2024 are now in the school’s top 10 at No. 9.
• Sophomore wide receiver Samuel Musungu became the 15th player in Cornell history to reach 100 career catches with his six-reception, 51-yard day against Dartmouth.
• His 11th career touchdown catch moves him to No. 9 all-time at Cornell, while his 10 this season match Joe Splendorio’s 1999 total that now rank them No. 3 in a season for the Big Red.
• Musungu now has 75 catches (No. 3 in a season at Cornell) for 852 yards (No. 9 at Cornell)..
TEAM NOTES
• Cornell has scored 39 points or more in three consecutive games, the first time it has done so since 1930 (66 vs. Clarkson, 61 vs. Niagara, 47 vs. Hampden Sydney). The only time it has done so four times in succession – that was in 1892.
• The Big Red is now 15-55-2 all-time against ranked opponents, including 8-23 at Schoellkopf Field.
• The 17-point margin of victory was the most against a top 25 squad since defeating No. 17 Penn 23-0 on Nov. 20, 1982.
• The win was exactly five years to the day from its last victory over a ranked opponent – a 20-17 triumph over #11/12 Dartmouth on Nov. 16, 2019 in Hanover, N.H.
• In the Big Red’s past two games it has been flagged for a combined five penalties for just 30 yards.
• The four forced turnovers were the most in an Ivy game since taking the football away from Brown four times in 2021.
• When the Big Red forces four or more turnovers in a single game all-time, it holds a 172-62-4 record (.731).
• It is the second time this season that the Big Red had at least three interceptions in a game (3 vs. Brown) and the 13th time it has done so in the 21st century.
• The Big Red had three drives of 12 plays or more, the first time it has scored on the end of three drives that long in a game since last year when it did so against Brown. Prior to 2023, that hadn’t happened in a game since 2017.
• The Big Red narrowed the lead in the all-time series with Dartmouth to 63-43-1, though it now has an advantage in the series when played in Ithaca (26-25).
• For the eighth time this season, Cornell has allowed one or fewer sacks – yet another school record.
• The six sacks allowed this season are challenging the record for fewest in a single campaign – Cornell allowed just nine in 2021.
• The Big Red defense surrendered just 60 rushing yards, the fewest in a game since Princeton had just 24 (on 23 carries) in 2023.
• Cornell had five sacks in the contest, giving the team 18 on the year – the most since posting 22 in 2019.