The oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi is renewed on Saturday night in Mount Vernon as Cornell hosts Coe in a series that dates back to 1891. Coe opened a week ago with a loss to Wheaton College and has won the last 14 games in this series.
“Fortunately for us we’ve had the upper hand here and at some point in time the percentages catch up,” according to Coe coach Steve Staker who hopes having a game under their belt is an advantage. This will be the season opener for Cornell. He says if you’ve got good players and the coaches are coaching them up, then there should be good improvement after the first game and that could be important.
It will be the first night game at Cornell’s Ash Park Stadium and Staker says that will add to the atmosphere. Cornell comes into the season with high hopes after posting a 7-3 record in 2013, the programs first winning season since 2001. Rams coach Vince Brautigam says after not playing last week his team is eager for a game with the rivalry and a lot of new faces that will be in the lineup.
Brautigam says the series has been too lopsided to be considered a true rivalry. “To make it a rivalry again we’ve got to win Saturday night, to get the national attention that it should, because it is cool that we are the oldest rivalry in any division,” Brautigam says.