Gary Lloyd McCullough
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — As high noon approached, the Cornell football team went through its familiar pregame paces under a bright sun and a brilliant blue sky on the banks of the Hudson. Running backs pranced with the ball clutched high and tight. Linebackers went through hit-and-wrap drills. Linemen burst from their stance.
The visitors’ all-white uniforms were crisp, and their candy-apple red helmets were unblemished.
“Like the first Saturday of Little League,” Jelani Taylor, a senior safety, said.
“It’s Christmas morning,” George Holm III, a senior left tackle, said.
The anticipation that accompanies the start of the college football season arrives later in the Ivy League than anywhere else.