Coe makes it an even 16 straight

CEDAR RAPIDS - This was the 16th chapter, and you wonder how many more are in this book. By the looks of it Saturday, you're going to be reading for awhile still.

Coe overwhelmed Cornell again, 50-3, at Clark Field to continue keeping the oldest college football rivarly west of the Mississippi River completely lopsided. This was not the most memorable of the 125 meetings between these Linn County schools, that's for sure.

Unless you're from Coe. The Kohawks (1-1) absolutely dominated on both sides of the ball to win for the 16th straight time, extending their series lead to 71-50-4.

Or perhaps it's 70-51-4. There's a discrepancy because both schools claim they won the 1894 game, believe it or not.

No doubt who won this one.

'We're obviously aware of (the streak), but we don't pay too much attention to it,” said Coe receiver Tyler Gunderson. 'We know that we've got to go out there and take care of business every week. It's the same as any other week, I think.”

Coe was embarrassed at home last Saturday by NCAA Division III seventh-ranked Wheaton, 52-14, so you wondered if Cornell (1-1) might have a serious shot to finally get a win. A 38-yard field goal by Kaleb Whiting gave the Rams a 3-0 first-quarter lead, but it was Coe, Coe, Coe, Coe, Coe after that.

Then it was Coe, Coe, Coe, Coe, Coe. The Kohawks piled up an amazing 729 yards of offense, second most in school history.

Coe had 771 yards against Grinnell in 1993. Quarterback Josh Rekers completed 24 of 32 passes for 377 yards and a pair of touchdowns, including a 69-yarder to Gunderson.

Other than perhaps finishing a few more drives, there wasn't much of anything for Coach Steve Staker and his team to quibble about. Brandon Abbas kicked three field goals of 20, 25 and 33 yards.

'I was a little concerned because it took us awhile to get going,” Staker said. 'I was like ‘Uh, oh, what's going to happen?' But we got some things ironed out. At halftime, we went in and changed some blocking schemes up, and, man, it worked to a tee. We had a better idea of what they were going to do.”

Coe rushed for 318 yards, including 165 and a TD from Sam Lahr. In the final two minutes, freshman running back Quincy Porter took a handoff, jetted to the outside and down the sideline 90 yards for a touchdown.

It was his first college carry and summed this one up perfectly.

'They played hard that first quarter, but I think we wore them down,” Rekers said. 'It looked like their line was getting kind of tired. I think their whole defense was getting tired by the end of the game.”

Coe held Cornell to 198 yards, another gigantic improvement from Week 1. Rams quarterback Daniel Brown couldn't find many open receivers, completing just 11 of 30 passes for 126 yards.

Cornell has a bye week before beginning Midwest Conference play.

'I thought we played pretty good the first half,” said Cornell safety Maliek Ketchens. 'The second half, we just started missing assignments and tackles, just weren't playing good as a collective unit. It just went downhill from there.

'We've got two weeks to get better, have a bye week next week to get better. We start playing in conference now, and that's what matters. This game means a lot considering the rivalry, but it doesn't mean anything when it comes to our goal. We're trying to win a conference championship. Keep on playing, keep getting better.”

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