The Cortaca Jug is the trophy given to the annual college football game played between the Red Dragons of the

State University of New York College at Cortland The State University of New York College at Cortland (SUNY Cortland or Cortland State College) is a public college in Cortland, New York. It was founded in 1868 and is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. History The State U ...

and the Bombers of

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

. The match-up is one of the most prominent in

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is a division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that choose not to offer athletic scholarships to their st ...

football. The Cortaca game typically sells out, with thousands of fans packed into the stadium. In 2019, the game set a Division III attendance record when it was held at

MetLife Stadium MetLife Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, 5 mi (8 km) west of New York City. Opened in 2010 to replace Giants Stadium, it serves as the home for the New York Giants a ...

. The 2022 matchup was played at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

and was the second all-time attendance record of Division III football.

History of the game

The name is a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsFinger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

region of New York. The schools have rich football histories. Ithaca has won three

NCAA Division III Football Championship The NCAA Division III Football Championship began in 1973. The Division III playoffs begin with 32 teams selected to participate in the Division III playoffs. The Division III championship game, known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl or Stagg Bowl ...

s and Cortland has nine playoff and 15

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

appearances since 1988. The night before the Jug, it is customary for the staff of Cortland's radio station WSUC to play the staff of Ithaca's radio station 92 WICB in a game called "The Cortaca Mic" which takes place at Cortland. Since 2006, Ithaca College students and alumni residing in Los Angeles have gathered to watch the game in an event dubbed CortaCal. The event originally began in an apartment in Sherman Oaks, California. It was held from 2008 to 2010 at The Casting Office in

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 192 ...

, and since 2011 has been held at its current home, 33 Taps (formerly Dillon's Irish Pub) in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

. Between 300 and 400 Ithaca College alumni attend every year. Ithaca College alumni in New York City have begun watching the game at their own annual event, NYCortaca. The event was started in 2009 by Ithaca alumni living in NYC and was first held at George Keeley Pub on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper West ...

. In 2010, it was held at Berry Park in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

, and in 2011 it took place at

Irving Plaza Irving Plaza (known through sponsorship as Irving Plaza, powered by Klipsch and formerly known as the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza) is a ballroom-style music venue located within the Union Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. ...

in Union Square. NYCortaca 2012 was held at

Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn Bowl is a music venue, bowling alley and restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2009, it is located in the former Hecla Iron Works Building at 61 Wythe Avenue. It is known for its high-tech green co ...

in Williamsburg, and in 2013 NYCortaca returned to Irving Plaza. NYCortaca 2013 was attended by over 800 Cortaca fans and was the biggest off-campus alumni gathering in Ithaca College history. More localized Cortland and Ithaca graduates come together to attend the game, or showings of it at the Lynne Parks Hoffmann Alumni House, in Cortland, NY. Examples include an annual gathering from Slabtown, NY. In 2019, the game was held at

in the New York City area, as part of commemorations of the 150th anniversary of college football. The game had an attendance of 45,161, the highest in NCAA Division III history. On November 12, 2022, the game was played at

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

History of the trophy

The Cortaca Jug was introduced to the already competitive rivalry 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, Jug II was also full.

2013 riot

The Cortaca Jug is usually associated with an assortment of pre- and post-game parties and drinking. Following their 2013 win, SUNY Cortland revelers rioted on the streets of Cortland, throwing beer and other items, flipping cars, and committing other destructive acts that resulted in the arrests of around 30 people. New York State police assisted the crowd control, and a "command post" was set up at the local fire station. SUNY Cortland President Erik J. Bitterbaum issued a formal apology for the students' behavior. In 2017, Students in SUNY Cortland's Student Government Association started a campaign to "Take Back Cortaca", partnering with Mayor Brian Tobin and local authorities to change the outlook on the college after the riot. Their campaign centered around community service initiatives before and after the game.

Game results

Ithaca leads the overall series 41–33–3 and the Cortaca Jug series 37–24. ^#Quarterfinal playoff game. Does not count in Cortaca Jug game count.

References

External links