HAMILTON – In a season piling high with superlatives, No. 17 Colgate turned the 100th football meeting against Cornell here Saturday into another milestone moment.
The Raiders blanked the Big Red 31-0 for their third shutout of the season. It's the first Colgate shutout victory over their Central New York rivals since 1919.
Colgate in the process becomes the first Patriot League team to post three shutouts in one season. The Raiders over their last five games have allowed 3, 0, 0, 3 and 0 points.
Colgate leads the nation in scoring defense at 3.8 points per game.
Colgate's linebacking trio of
T.J. Holl (18),
Nick Ioanilli (11) and
Dillon DeIuliis (10) all recorded double-figures tackle totals – and all three matched personal career highs.
The Big Red ran 77 offensive plays to Colgate's 56 and had the ball for 33:23 to Colgate's 26:37. Still, Cornell couldn't dent the scoreboard against the attacking and ball-hawking Raiders defense.
Cornell's best scoring chance reached the Colgate 16 midway in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders stopped Big Red tailback J.D. PicKell for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2.
James Holland Jr., scored one touchdown rushing and one receiving, finishing with 119 rushing yards and another 33 through the air.
Grant Breneman added his third straight 200-yard passing game, finishing 16-of-25 for 206 yards and the 10-yard TD toss to Holland. The sophomore quarterback also rushed for a 21-yard touchdown to help Colgate turn a 10-0 halftime lead to 24-0 by the end of the third quarter.
Tyler Castillo's 58-yard interception return for a touchdown provided the final margin.
Colgate still trails Cornell in the all-time series 49-48-3, but the Raiders have won nine of the last 10 meetings, 19 of the last 22 and 31 of the last 39.
Bottom Line
• No. 17 Colgate 31, Cornell 0
Won-Lost Records
• Colgate improved to 6-0 for the first time since 2009. The Raiders have won 11 straight.
• Cornell is now 2-3.
Stats of the Game
• Colgate and Cornell played to a 0-0 tie in 1965, but this was Colgate's first shutout victory over the Big Red in 99 years. That score was 21-0 back in 1919.
• Castillo's pick-six was the first of his career and the first tor the Raiders since Ioanilli last year at Lafayette.
• Castillo is the Patriot League's active interception leader with 11. He's tied for ninth on the all-time Colgate interception chart.
• Colgate has outscored its six opponents this season 46-0 in the first quarter and 113-3 in the first half.
• The last time a Colgate team posted three or more shutouts in one season was 1966. That Raiders unit had four.
• Holland rushed for 119 yards to improve his career total to 2,464. He needs 23 yards to overtake
Jake Melville (2013-16) for 13th place on the Colgate chart.
• Holland's 50-yard run in the first quarter was Colgate's longest rushing play this season.
• Saturday was the first time in 12 games Colgate did not win the time of possession category.
•
Chris Puzzi's 23-yard field goal in the second quarter was his ninth of the year and seventh made field goal in a row. He's 9-of-10 this season after going 9-of-12 all of last season.
• In addition to Castillo,
Cortney Mimms and
Dan Ryan also notched their first career interceptions. The Mimms pick came at the goal line and Ryan's was on an attempted fake punt.
•
Coleman Coco had his first career sack.
From the Sources
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Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On the game) "I'm running out of words to describe our defense. We were just real resilient. Cornell did a nice job running the ball on us a little bit, particularly on first down in the first half. The defense was never rattled, never worried – nobody panicked. They came back and made the plays when they had to and got some key turnovers when they needed to.
"Again, just really solid fundamental defense and a good team win."
Listen to the rest of Hunt's comments
HERE.
•
Colgate linebacker T.J. Holl: (On the defense) "We still didn't play a perfect game; we have a lot of room for improvement. But we were able to execute the game plan very well and that allowed me to be able to make a lot of tackles today."
Listen to the rest of Holl's comments
HERE.
•
Colgate tailback James Holland Jr.: (On his catches out of the backfield) "Grant has been looking at us a lot more this year. There were glimpses of it last year but we've been taking advantage of it this year. Every practice, the running backs are working on catching the ball."
Listen to the rest of Holland's comments
HERE.
•
Colgate defensive back Tyler Castillo: (On his pick-six) "To be honest, I don't know why the quarterback threw that pass. I broke on the ball before it was even thrown; I read the route. I just saw there was green grass in front of me and took it back for six."
Listen to the rest of Castillo's comments
HERE.
•
Colgate wide receiver Dan Ryan: (On his interception) "It was unexpected.
Jordan Jefferson was injured on the previous kickoff, so I was thrown in there. They had us outmanned so we sort of expected the fake. It was overthrown and I was in the right place at the right time."
Listen to the rest of Ryan's comments
HERE.
Gate Grab Bag
• Attendance inside Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium was 3,112.
• Colgate Football honored the memory of Jordan Scott '09, the program's all-time leading rusher, by having Holland wear his No. 30 jersey. Scott's JS initials also were painted on the Colgate side 30-yard lines.
• Scott died in a swimming accident this summer while on vacation in Thailand.
Up Next
• Colgate is off next week and then hosts Georgetown Oct. 27 for Senior Day.
• The Hoyas are 2-0 in the Patriot League and 3-4 overall after Saturday's 13-6 win at Lafayette. They host Lehigh next weekend.
• Note that the Oct. 27 is noon, which is a change from the original 1 p.m. start. The Patriot League Network and WKXZ-FM 93.9 are carrying all of the action.
