The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/2000/10/27/time-to-be-boring/)
Time to Be Boring
By ryan | October 27, 2000
The Cornell football team finally gets a normal home game this week.
Not a 2 p.m. start time after a Homecoming celebration.
Not a 6 p.m. start time thanks to television.
A normal home game.
And the Red needs one.
Last week the offense forgot to show up before half-time, leaving the squad 42 points behind Brown.
Then came the second half, in which junior quarterback Ricky Rahne led the offense to 34 points, a ton of yards, and one touchdown being called back from making the should-have-been rout a great game.
But that sort of game is exactly what the Red needs to avoid this weekend.
Sure the fourth-quarter fireworks make for exciting games (and better stories), but they don't always make for a quality game.
This weekend the Cornell football team needs a boring win. Extremely boring.
The offense needs to come to play, starting at 1 p.m. Not at 3 p.m.
The team needs to score in the first half, in the first quarter.
The offense can score through the air, or on the ground, but it needs to score.
The squad also needs to control the ball. Either by a short passing game, or by getting a running game going for the first time all year.
But the defense shouldn't be on the field for 35 minutes again this week. It has to step it up as well.
Princeton may very well start it's fourth quarterback of the season tomorrow. This almost guarantees that it will try to run the ball down the throat of the defense. The Red might consider having a bunch of guys close to the line of scrimmage to prevent this.
I've certainly oversimplified the situation. And I have no doubt that Pete Mangurian and his staff know a hell of a lot more about football than I do.
But I do know that this team needs to remember how to win a boring football game. This squad needs to reassert itself in the Ivy League. To prove to everyone in the league, including itself, that this team is a legitimate title contender.
Cornell may be 2-1 on the league, except for a blocked field goal and a missed field goal (both makeable), this team is winless. Not just in the league, on the year.
Tomorrow is a pivotal game for the squad, not just in terms of the standings, but in terms of mettle.
If the Red can do without the fireworks, but quietly and methodically dominate the Tigers, it may be able to take the momentum to a title.
Otherwise, the only consolation for Cornellians will be that hockey starts next week.
Archived article by J.V. Anderton
Stimpson's Strike Saves Men's Soccer in Double Overtime
By ryan October 30, 2000
Cornell Athletic Director Andy Noel was having the kind of day he usually could only dream of. The men's football team had squeaked out a win against Ivy foe Princeton, taking the driver's seat in the race for the league crown, the hockey team had capped its pre-season with a triumphant fifty-plus shot performance and the basketball team showed signs of brilliance during it annual Red-White game. Men's soccer tri-captain Senior Rick Stimpson wanted to make sure to keep Noel smiling. The England native ended a thrilling scoreless soccer match with a dazzling goal in the second over-time session prompting a bench-clearing celebration. The win halted the Red's three-game loosing skid and improved its Ancient Eight mark to 3-2. Asked dropping three in a row, Cornell (6-7) appeared rejuvenated in Saturday's contest. "The Ivy games are very special for us. If you can't get up for those games then you really shouldn't be here. Coming off two consecutive looses we knew we had to get it straight today," Stimpson said. Head coach Bryan Scales was encouraged by his squad's ability to bounce back. "I'm really proud of the way…they were able to battle back," he lauded. The match also saw sophomore Doug Allen return to his post between the pipes. The California native turned in a solid performance, making nine saves in a shutout performance. Allen's counterpart, sophomore Jason White posted an equally impressive outing collecting 11 saves. The teams were deadlocked, each with 20 shots in a scoreless contest until the 113th minute. Senior Adam Skumawitz got the ball and weaved through a defender at midfield. He then connected on a lead pass to Stimpson who beat White on a blistering shot that found the back of the net. Both clubs had several decent offensive opportunities in regulation. Freshman Ian Pilarksi and senior tri-captain Adam Brown preserved Allen's shutout, thwarting two Princeton scoring threats. Scales, who has allowed his rookies increased playing time of late, nearly saw more dividends when Evan Weiner nearly beat White with just over two minutes to go in regulation. The freshman notched his first collegiate goal in the club's 7-2 loss at Hartwick. In the first overtime session the Red had a golden opportunity when the Princeton netminder was caught out of the box, but fanned on at least two shot opportunities. Stimpson was the most prominent target for the Cornell offense and he initiated several offensive threats. Going into the second over-time, Stimpson said the strategy was simple. Pleased with the club's efforts in the first session, he said the idea was "to keep the pressure on and make sure not to give away anything silly." After giving up eleven goals during its three game loosing streak, the defensive cohesion was a pleasant surprise for the Red. Stimpson attributed the effort to the team's grit. "We showed a lot of character today to be able to come back and turn in a performance like that, and get a shutout," he lauded. Scales agreed, adding that "good individual defending leads to good collective defending." He praised the efforts of the backfield in pacing the all-around team defensive performance. With the class of 1975 Ivy League championship team looking on, the Red had an additional source of inspiration. The booters next host Army on tomorrow at 7 p.m. on Berman Field. Despite the win, Brown's victory over Pennsylvania eliminated the Red from the hunt for an Ivy League title. Perhaps, Cornell was unable to piece all of its components together this year, but one thing it has shown that it is not lacking is heart. With a solid corps of freshman, led by the inspiring play of Pilarski, the future is bright in the Cornell camp. And that will keep Noel smiling for years to come. Archived article by Gary Schueller
Students, CIT Struggle With CoursEnroll Problems
Besides the common reasons for pulling an all-nighter, the recent problems students have had accessing the University's CoursEnroll service are adding one more, according to many Cornellians. Since the CoursEnroll period has begun for upperclassmen, students registering for their spring semester courses have run into problems that that arose from outdated software and low-capacity network servers. "I didn't get into one of my classes for my major even though I stayed up until 1:45 in the morning," said Gretchen Poulos '03. As a result, Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) is monitoring the registration program to alleviate the burden students face. CIT is also continuously adding servers to mitigate the difficulties that have come up. The early hours of Oct. 21 brought a considerable surge in usage of CoursEnroll, mainly because both sophomores and juniors were first allowed to access the program on that day. "Between midnight and 3 a.m., 1,365 students enrolled in 6,721 classes," said Rick MacDonald, director of CIT information technologies. "There was an enormous load on the servers." As a result of the problems with the current software, CIT has steadily increased the number of network distribution servers in order to help handle simultaneous connections. On Oct. 14, the University service provider had one server; on Oct. 21 it was functioning with six. This Saturday, when freshmen begin registering for their courses, CIT will offer 21 servers to the campus community. "We were aware of the delays and difficulties that people were having," MacDonald said. "And we had a large staff [at CIT] tuning the system in response to the load." He added, "The program staff has been working to alleviate potential bottlenecks. It's an ongoing effort and a high priority." According to CIT staff, the continuing problems encountered by students using CoursEnroll are mostly load-related. These concerns deal with a specific type of commercial software that CIT is trying to modify, but the modifications will not be complete by freshman course registration. CIT stated that students may encounter a "create socket failed" error that indicates system overload. CIT suggests that if students receive this error, they should try enrolling later. The reduced number of students using the system combined with steps taken by CIT to lessen the load on the servers should significantly improve the registration process tomorrow. Still, CIT believes that the network servers could suffer if all eligible students use CoursEnroll at midnight tomorrow. "CoursEnroll has been changed to a Java-based application," said David S. Yeh, assistant vice president of student academic services and University registrar. According to Yeh, CoursEnroll was designed with significant feedback, testing and the validation of numerous students. The advantages of the program this year are its navigability and accessibility through a web browser. "The performance, which everyone is working on, is not a result of the new design," said Yeh. "Rather, the culprit may be the Student Information System itself, which is old and will likely need significant modifications." Student leaders say they are aware that CIT is working hard on fixing the computer glitches associated with CoursEnroll and are trying to encourage patience. "CoursEnroll has been revamped since last year, and aside from the three hour delay we all experienced this past weekend, is apparently working better than ever before," said Karl Johnson '03, chair of the Student Assembly (S.A.) Committee on Information and Technologies. "CIT has been working hard on the CoursEnroll program and server, so the S.A. has had no reason to give them a hard time about it," Johnson said. "[A large number of] simultaneous log-ins to any server are going to be difficult to handle." For technical support regarding CoursEnroll, students can contact the CIT HelpDesk from midnight on Friday, Oct. 27 to 2 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, or call 255-8990. The Office of the University Registrar will also be available to answer questions about CoursEnroll during the same hours at 254-4795.Archived article by Ritu Gupta