ITHACA, N.Y. — Sun’s out, guns out. In a Saturday afternoon affair, there was not a cloud in the sky as Penn football and Cornell both loaded up for a shootout.
In the 29th Trustees’ Cup, Cornell ultimately couldn’t keep up as Penn smashed the Big Red 67-49 in a performance that saw a number of records fall, including the program mark for touchdown passes and the Ivy League scoring record. The win makes it eight straight for the Quakers (4-4, 2-3 Ivy) when playing Cornell (3-5, 2-3) at Schoellkopf Stadium.
“It’s a little more sweet when you’re going against one of your rivals,” senior defensive back Shiloh Means said. “I think the rivalry intensifies, too, when it’s our old coaching staff as well. It was really fun to be out there — that’s the main thing.”
The Big Red set the tempo early. After picking up 43 yards on their first two plays, Cornell converted on fourth down thanks to a missed tackle from Penn, followed by a short touchdown run from quarterback Jameson Wang.
Not to be outdone, junior quarterback Liam O’Brien found junior wide receiver Bisi Owens on Penn’s first offensive snap. Owens carried his defender on his back before finally being taken down for a 61-yard gain. The drive culminated with O’Brien feeding wide receiver Julien Stokes on a screen for Penn’s first touchdown of the game and Stokes’ first of the season.
After another touchdown drive by Cornell, Penn’s defense forced the Big Red into punt formation on the next possession. The Big Red had other plans, though, and running back Robert Tucker III took the direct snap 74 yards to the house on the fake punt.
“When we got down 21 to seven after the fake punt, their sidelines erupted, and our kids did what they’ve done all year,” coach Ray Priore said. “They just shrugged it off and [moved] onto the next play, and we battled back.”
Last year, sophomore running back Malachi Hosley broke out for a historic 261-yard performance against Cornell. This year, Hosley showed out again, finishing the game with 192 yards and two touchdowns, including a pivotal fourth-down conversion on a must-score drive for the Red and Blue.
To cap off the drive, O’Brien found junior wide receiver Jared Richardson on a comeback route for his first score of the day. After putting up 113 yards last weekend, Richardson continued his hot streak with a 141-yard performance accompanied by three touchdowns. The three scores are good for second-most in a game in program history and tie Richardon’s career high.
“It’s just a team effort,” Richardson said. “Liam believed in me, the coaches believed in me. And at the end of the day, I just had to do my job. I did mine, everybody else did theirs. We had the playmakers make plays, so that’s why we got that result — 67 points on the board. That’s hard to do in college football, and we did it.”
After giving up big play after big play through much of the first half, the Penn defense finally responded with a big play of its own when senior defensive back Julian Talley intercepted Wang’s pass around midfield, giving the Quakers offense great field position that it was able to convert into a field goal. After Cornell marched down the field for their fourth touchdown, the Quakers responded with a 37-yard Richardson score.
Then, following a monster sack from junior defensive lineman Carter Janki, Means was able to beat Cornell’s receiver to the ball for his first interception of the season. A 16-yard catch and run from Richardson and then a 20-yard scramble from O’Brien set up Smith for a 45-yard field goal attempt. The kick was good, and the Quakers headed into the locker room down just two.
“We were just making little mental mistakes, but they look bigger from an outside perspective. I don’t think we were really out of the game, but obviously the score may have seemed like that. When we stopped making little mistakes, we capitalized on our game,” Means said.
Coming out of the break, it was all Penn.
In his second start, O’Brien was lights out. The signal caller finished the day with six passing touchdowns — setting a program record for most passing touchdowns in a game. The previous record was held by Mike Mitchell after he recorded five against Cornell in 2003. O’Brien also had one on the ground for a total of seven, setting the Penn program record for the most total touchdowns responsible for in a game. The previous record was set back in 1998 by running back Jim Finn, who had six.
“It’s great to be part of history, isn’t it?” Priore said. “Just so proud of all the kids: I know we’re peaking now; we’re playing explosive football and getting better and better.”
O’Brien’s emergence bodes well for the Penn team as senior quarterback Aidan Sayin will miss the rest of the season due to injury.
“Unfortunately for Aidan Sayin, he’s not going to be able to come back this season,” Priore said. “The injury is — he’s got more tests to do — but right now it looks not good.”
In an explosive showing, both teams combined for 1,196 yards of total offense. Penn’s 627 total offense yards is the second-most in program history. The 67 points that Penn put up is also the most the team has scored since the start of Ivy League play in 1956. The aggregate score of 116 points also set a program record.
The result was made all the sweeter by the fact that the Quakers were able to dominate an opponent flush with familiar faces. Among them are Cornell head coach Dan Swanstrom, co-offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Sean Reeder, assistant coach/defensive backs/cornerbacks coach/pass game coordinator Eric Franklin, and offensive analyst Trey Flowers, all of whom coached at Penn last season.
“It feels good, but this was a team effort,” O’Brien said. “This one was personal, like we had said — coach Swanstrom is the head coach of Cornell [now], so we came out firing, with a lot of energy, and we were able to execute our game plan really well. And that showed on the scoreboard.”
Penn football will have a week to rest and improve before it returns to Franklin Field for its homecoming game against Harvard. The Quakers will retake the gridiron at 1 p.m. on Nov. 16.
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