The Importance of Cornell

Schoelkopf Field with its new Fieldturf


Every year, I make the case that Cornell is really our truest, purest, Ivy rival.

And most every year, the game on the field proves my point even more.

Yes, Cornell and Columbia are very different campuses in very different areas.

But they are both in New York state and for the last 25 years or so, their football fortunes have been quite similar.

In fact, the previous 20 Columbia-Cornell football games have been split right down the middle. 10 Columbia wins, 10 Cornell wins. Four of those Columbia wins have been in Ithaca, four of those Cornell wins have been at Wien Stadium.

Also, Cornell has been Columbia's most played rival. This Saturday's game will be the 98th meeting. (Is it too early to book Yankee Stadium for the 100th game in 2011? That would be fun).

And as Columbia's Ivy rivalries go, the Lions 33-61-3 all-time record against the Big Red is one of the least one-sided.

Sadly, other than bragging rights to in-state Ivy supremacy, it appears this year's winner will only be able to boast about staying out of the Ivy cellar for 2009.

But consider the alternative.

Getting back to the rivalry... there have been dozens of crucial and exciting Lion-Big Red games over the years. Here are 10 of the most memorable:


1971: Cornell 24 Columbia 21

For sheer history, this game has few equals.

The 1971 Lion squad was led by Stuyvesant High School grad Don Jackson '73, a 3-year starter who was a junior that season. Jackson's running and passing stats don't jump out as being very impressive now, but anyone who saw him play from 1970-72 will tell you how exciting he was.

And anyone who watched that 1971 season from wire-to-wire will tell you just how much they've had to spend on heart medication ever since. The Lions went 6-3 that year with only two games decided by more than 3 points! They also finished second in the Ivies behind the Ed Marinaro-powered Cornell Big Red, who barely beat Columbia 24-21 in a barn burner game up in Ithaca. Most people remember that game as the contest where Marinaro broke the all-time collegiate rushing record and later passed the 4,000-yard mark for his career. But it was a back-and-forth game that wasn't decided until the final moments. It was seen by the biggest crowd at Schoelkopf Field in 20 years... and I would assume the biggest since.


Here's a snippet from Time Magazine's coverage of the game:

Significant Gain. For sheer grind-it-out glory, though, the Year of the Runner belongs to Cornell's Ed Marinaro. Though he ran for more than 200 yds. in three of the season's first five games, the brawny (6 ft. 21 in., 214 Ibs.) tailback made his most significant gain against Columbia in the Big Red's sixth game. It was a routine 3-yd. plunge in the first quarter, but it bettered by 2 yds. the career rushing record of 3,867 yds. set by 1969 Heisman Trophy Winner Steve Owens at Oklahoma. Two quarters and 132 yds. later, the Big Red's machine became the first ball carrier in major-college history to top 4,000 yds. Then, with the score tied 21-21 and the ball on Cornell's 32-yd. line, Marinaro chewed out 44 more yds. on nine straight runs to set up a field-goal attempt by Place Kicker John Killian. Killian's 37-yd. boot gave unbeaten Cornell a 24-21 victory and capped a remarkable 272-yd. performance by Marinaro.


1950 and 1951: Close Shaves

Lou Little's 1950 and 1951 Lions were a scrappy bunch that won nine of 17 games in that two year span. Two of those wins were one-point squeakers against the Big Red, 20-19 at Baker Field in 1950 and 21-20 at Schoelkopf Field in 1951.


In the 1950 game, the heavily favored Big Red took a 19-13 lead on a touchdown with 12:31 left in the 4th quarter, but the Lions blocked the extra point and then grabbed a Cornell fumble four minutes later at the opponents' 36-yard line. Seven plays later, Howard Hansen ran it in the end zone and Al Ward's extra point was good.

Cornell did drive it all the way down to the Lions 24 after the kickoff, but two straight sacks by Bill Malone, (the same guy who blocked the extra point earlier), ended the threat and the game.

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