Cornell has had three captains from the start of the season, but for the first time this year, it sent three to the captains' meeting.
The late Jaime McManamon, who died after his freshman year in a car accident, was honored this season as a tri-captain in what would have been his senior season.
And this Saturday, the Big Red and the McManamon family looked on as No. 57 took the field.
Along with the team's regular captains - running back Anthony Macaluso and defensive lineman Jonathan Lucas - lineman Jeff Dicks acted as honorary captain, wearing McManamon's old number.
The McManamon family joined these three for the captains' meeting before the game and gave Cornell coach Jim Knowles ample pep-talk material to inspire his defense to step up against No. 18 Princeton.
And it worked.
The Big Red's defense led the way in a 14-7 upset, giving Cornell its first league win of the season.
And, at the end of the day, with the game ball given to the McManamon family and thoughts of their teammate in their hearts, the Big Red players knew they had one person to thank for the victory.
"Jaime was one of the best people I've ever known," Cornell cornerback Matt Grant told The Cornell Daily Sun. "The way he just loved to live - he loved life, he played the game the way it was supposed to be played, he loved his family, and for them to be in attendance, it was really an emotional win for me."
In a McLeod of smoke
Harvard's Clifton Dawson may be closing in on the Ivy League rushing records, but if Yale's Mike McLeod keeps up what he's been doing, they might not last long.
McLeod leads the Ancient Eight in rushing with 992 yards and became the first player in Yale history to rush for over 100 yards in six-straight games.
McLeod has become the focal point of the Elis offense, stampeding over opposing defenses on his way to a pair of Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week awards and an unlikely ascent to the top of the Ancient Eight for his team.
Not only is McLeod fourth in the nation in rushing yards, but he's got a nose for the end zone, to boot.
He has scored 12 times already this season, including once this weekend in a rout of Columbia.
Flip-flopping
Harvard students may have been dismayed that Princeton overtook them in the U.S. News & World Report, but this weekend, the Crimson returned the favor.
After Harvard dominated Ivy ragdoll Dartmouth, and after Princeton was upset by Cornell on Saturday, the Crimson and Tigers switched spots in the Division I-AA poll. Harvard moved up five spots to No. 18, while Princeton fell from that spot to No. 23.
While these two Ivy heavyweights have been battling in the top-25 rankings, they have allowed unranked Yale to come out of nowhere and rise to the top of the league.
Dawson watch
Former Cornell running back Ed Marinaro knows his career mark for Ivy League rushing is going to fall. Now it's just a matter of when.
After busting out for 164 yards against Dartmouth, Dawson is now just 173 yards from Marinaro's record of 4,715.
If coach Tim Murphy lets Dawson run wild against Columbia, which has now lost 15-straight league games, he could reach the mark next week. However, the more likely scenario is that he will be in a good position to do it in two weeks, when the Crimson come to Franklin Field to take on Penn.
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