ITHACA, N.Y. - The Ithaca College football team will play its penultimate home game this Saturday, October 10 at 1 p.m. against the University of Rochester as part of Homecoming Weekend on South Hill at Bertino Field at Butterfield Stadium. The Bombers are 4-1 on the season, while Rochester is 3-2.
GAME COVERAGE
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ALL-TIME SERIES: Ithaca and Rochester will play for the ninth all-time meeting this Saturday at Butterfield Stadium. Ithaca is 8-0 against the Yellowjackets dating back to 2017, but last year's contest was the only of the series decided by one possession – a 10-6 win for the Bombers. In the seven previous matchups, IC scored at least 24 points, while UR never scored more than 14.
RECAP FROM GENEVA: IC improved to 4-1 and 3-0 in the Liberty League last Saturday at Hobart as the Bombers came away with a 27-20 win. The Bombers led, 20-3, at the half before the Statesmen attempted a comeback with 10 unanswered points to start the second half. The Bombers increased their lead back to two score midway through the fourth quarter, 27-13, before Hobart scored the final touchdown.
TOP PERFORMERS: The usual suspects guided IC to its fourth straight win last week.
Michael Reed threw for 178 yards and a touchdown on 21-of-27 passing, while rushing for 59 yards on 21 attempts.
Chris Scully scored twice and finished the game with 61 yards on 17 carries, while
Nicholas Lang extended his touchdown streak to seven games as he hauled in seven catches for 84 yards and a score.
On the other side,
Joe Spirra,
RJ Boynton and
Henry Takacs led the charge with seven tackles each.
LEAGUE RECOGNITION: After his nine-point performance against Hobart,
Andrew Rice was selected as Liberty League Special Teams Performer of the Week as he made all three PATs, two field goals from 23 and 32 yards and averaged 58.2 yards on six kickoffs with one touchback.
RUN DEFENSE REMAINS SUPREME: For the fourth straight contest, the Ithaca defense held its opposition to fewer than 100 yards rushing as Hobart finished the day with 97 yards on the ground. Alfred accumulated 22 yards in Week 2, Hilbert rushed for 84 yards and St. Lawrence had 21 yards two weeks ago.
STACKING UP AGAINST THE LEAGUE: Heading into Week 6, Ithaca remained atop the Liberty League in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense, total defense, rushing offense, rushing defense, passing offense, first downs, first down defense, and fourth down defense.
IN THE NCAA RANKINGS: The remains ranked among the nation's best in the following categories: First Down Offense (2nd – 135), Punt Return Defense (3
rd - -1.33), Total Offense (8th – 493.8), Rushing Offense (13th – 259.0), Scoring Offense (17th – 43.4) and Scoring Defense (22nd – 11.8).
BYE WEEK BLUES: The entire Liberty League is on a bye next week, October 17.
HALL OF FAME WEEKEND: On Friday evening, the Ithaca College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics will induct the 56th Hall of Fame Class. Those eight individuals and one national championship team will also be honored at halftime on Saturday.
Prior to the hall of fame inductee recognition, the department will also honor gymnast Grace Murray, who won the national title on floor during the 2026 NCGA National Championship last March in Cortland.
CORTACA TICKETS: The Bombers conclude the season against Cortland in the 67th Cortaca Jug Game presented by Visions Federal Credit Union at Yankee Stadium on November 14 at 1 p.m. Tickets for the game can be purchased on Ticket Master by searching 'Cortaca Jug'.
SCOUTING ROCHESTER: Rochester is 3-2 on the season and 2-0 in the Liberty League. The Yellowjackets opened the season with a 38-20 loss to Case Western and have since defeated Morrisville (21-10), Hilbert (48-6) and Buffalo State (29-18). UR also lost to St. John Fisher on September 19 by a 14-13 outcome.
Rochester comes into Saturday's matchup averaging 26.2 points and 314.2 yards of offense, while allowing 17. 2 points and 342.2 yards.
Cole Raux is the top offensive threat with 669 yards rushing and five touchdowns on 109 attempts for 133.8 yards per game. Quarterback Shawn Bellenger has thrown for 779 yards and eight touchdowns, but has been intercepted seven times on the year.
The two-headed attack of Justin Rizzo-Troxell and T.J. Shifflet will guide the receivers as they have combined for 30 catches for 444 yards and four touchdowns.
Defensively, seven different players have recorded more than 32 tackles on the season. Of those seven, six players have combined for 17 sacks and 39 tackles for loss. Jack Diggins paces the defense with 47 tackles and 7.0 tackles for loss, while Claudio Pinto has 36 tackles, 6.5 TFLs and 4.0 sacks.
Kyle Brainard is the kicker and punter for UR this season as he has 18 punts for an average of 37.2 yards and 23 kickoffs for an average of 56.0 yards.
UP NEXT: Ithaca heads to Union on October 24 at 1 p.m. for the Garnet Chargers' Homecoming Weekend.
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