History
Separated by less than 21 miles, the Cortaca Jug game has become one of the great rivalry games in small college football. Ithaca leads the all-time series 41-33-3 and 37-24 in 60 Cortaca Jug games.
The Cortaca Jug is the trophy given in the annual college football game played between the Red Dragons of the State University of New York at Cortland and the Bombers of Ithaca College. The match-up is one of the most prominent in small college football. The Cortaca game typically sells out, with thousands of fans packed into see the game and many more watching at viewing parties across the country.
The Cortaca Name
The name “Cortaca” is a portmanteau of the names of the two schools. The "cort" part coming from SUNY Cortland and the "aca" part coming from Ithaca College. The schools are located less than 21 miles apart in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State.
Introduction of the Jug!
The Cortaca Jug was introduced to the already competitive rivalry between Ithaca and Cortland in 1959 by the captains of the two teams. While driving in nearby Homer in 1959, Cortland football captain Tom Decker stopped at a yard sale and purchased a $2 jug from a local farmer, named Freddy Testa, that he thought could be used as a trophy during the annual game between the two teams. After meeting up with friend and Ithaca football captain Dick Carmean, the two painted the jug blue, gold, red, and white in honor of both schools’ colors. The first Jug ran out of room for scores in the mid-1980s, necessitating a second Jug that sports the most recent results. After 2015, Cortaca Jug II was also full, and we are now on Cortaca Jug III.
A bigger stage
The 2019 Cortaca Jug Game was held at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ and set an NCAA single game attendance record of 45,161.
Oct 17, 1959
The first Cortaca Jug game was played on October 17, 1959, at Ithaca’s South Hill Field. Cortland won the game, 13-7, despite being outgained 210-173 in total offense.
October 29, 1960
The Ithaca Bombers win their first jug, 12-6.
October 9, 1965
Coached by Dick Lyon, Ithaca defeats Cortland, 13-12, for 100th win in program history en route to its only undefeated season.
September 29, 1973
Ithaca defeats Cortland, 41-33, in the first of nine straight victories for the Bombers and the longest winning streak in Cortaca history.
1988
The 1988 Cortaca Jug game featured two undefeated teams and was dubbed the “Upstate New York Game of the Century”. 15,000 fans jammed Carl "Chugger" Davis Field, Cortland won the game, 21-20, on a 13-yard TD pass from Rich Keefer to Mark Houghton with 9:44 remaining.
1992
Cortland upsets the Bombers, 22-20, after breaking up a potential game-tying two-point conversion pass with 13 seconds remaining.
2000
In the final Cortaca Jug game played on Davis Field, Ithaca takes a 19-0 lead with 8:31 remaining and holds off a late Cortland rally to win 19-14.
2014
Trailing 20-17, Cortland drove inside the Ithaca 10-yard line with less than a minute left but was held and, with no timeouts left, elected to go for the tying field goal. Confusion reigned when Cortland’s holder, Luke Hinton, was late getting onto the field, and with five seconds left the ball was snapped while Hinton was looking back at the kicker. Hinton picked up the loose ball, rolled out left and threw a 4-yard TD pass to Jon Mannix as time expired to give Cortland the improbable win. The crazy sequence drew national attention as the number three play on that day’s ESPN SportsCenter Top 10.
November 16, 2019
Ithaca and Cortland play the Cortaca Jug at MetLife Stadium. Ithaca wins 32-20 and the game sets a new NCAA single game attendance record of 45,161.