In his second year at the helm of the football program, head coach Kent Austin has matched last season’s win total through the team’s first four games.

Returning to action after enduring a close defeat at the hands of rival Harvard, 41-31, the Red (2-2, 0-2 Ivy League) travels to Hamilton, N.Y. for its final non-conference matchup of the season — a bout at 1 p.m. on Saturday against the Colgate Raiders (3-3, 1-1 Patriot League) — with an eye toward improving upon the early success.

While Austin’s offense — led by sophomore quarterback Jeff Mathews — posted its second consecutive 31-point performance  last week against Harvard, the head coach continues to find room for development as his young signal caller leads the Red into a new era in Cornell football.

“I thought we played pretty well [against Harvard] … we just had a couple of miscues early and a couple of miscues late … that really cost us,” Austin recalled. “We kind of imploded a little bit, and I can’t allow that as a coach. I have to get our guys over the hump psychologically, and make sure that we’re focused like a laser beam at the most critical times — when we have an opportunity to pull away.”

In the Red’s loss to Harvard, Mathews collected over 300 passing yards for the second time this season, and connected with senior wide receiver Shane Savage for two touchdowns — marking the second straight week that the duo hooked up for a pair of six-point scores.

The offensive effort was also strengthened by sophomore running back Grant Gellatly, who combined for 87 all-purpose yards out of the backfield against Harvard. As one of Mathews’ primary options under offensive coordinator Jeff Fela's scheme, Gellatly recognizes the importance of setting the tone to help open up the field for his quarterback.

“In our offense, we have a great quarterback in Jeff, so we like to pass a lot,” he explained. “I just have to be ready to go out there and make catches because [the coaches] really want to utilize the back out of the backfield … You’re not really going to play unless you can catch the ball out of the backfield.”

Colgate’s four-three defensive unit enters Saturday’s action with six sacks to its credit and an average of 29.7 points per game allowed through six contests. Gellatly noted that the Raiders possess a “good defense,” adding that the offense’s success will depend upon his ability to establish dominance over Colgate’s front seven.

“We have to continue as a staff to keep finding out what our players do the best, and put them in more situations to [succeed] more often,” Austin said of his offensive philosophy. “That’s on us. We have to — as a staff — draw on what they do well, and put them in situations where our probability for execution goes up.”

While Austin intends to play the same 11 starters on offense this week, a look at the Cornell depth chart shows that senior cornerback Nick Booker-Tandy will start opposite senior Rashad Campbell on defense in place of junior DeMarr Moulton. The Red defense allowed Harvard quarterback Colton Chapple to throw for over 400 yards and four touchdowns in last week’s loss.

Austin noted the similarities between Chapple and Colgate signal caller Gavin McCarney, who has completed 66 percent of his passes for seven touchdowns and over 1,000 yards through the air. The mobile McCarney has also rushed for 553 yards and eight more touchdowns — an average of 5.3 yards per attempt.

“It starts up front for [Colgate]. They’re big, they’re athletic,” Austin said of the Raiders’ offensive line. “[McCarney] is a dual threat quarterback, so he can make plays with his legs as well. It’s a pretty simple situation — if we don’t stop the run, it’s a long day for us, and we know that.”

The multi-talented McCarney will also hand the ball off to running back Nate Eachus, who averaged 157 yards per game through his team’s first six games. In last year’s matchup between these two squads, Eachus rushed for 291 yards, reaching the end zone three times in the Raiders’ blowout victory over the Red, 44-3.

Austin called Eachus a “great tailback,” adding that defending the 5-10 senior in addition to the speedy McCarney could “put a lot of pressure on the defense.”

With a challenging task ahead, the second year head coach emphasized progress above all else.  

“What we have to do as a team is learn how to draw from [both good and bad] experiences, and continue to grow both individually and collectively as a football team,” Austin explained. “That’s the only process that matters right now because the results always take care of themselves when you focus on improvement and eliminating mistakes.”  

For Austin’s squad, winning its third game of the year would certainly signal improvement considering the program has failed to register more than two wins in either of the past two seasons.