Full Presentation | Season Stats: Tyler Varga | Zack Hodges | Mike Zeuli | Dalyn Williams

NEW YORK -- An exciting season of Ivy League football culminated in extraordinary fashion with Yale senior tailback Tyler Varga taking home top honors as Offensive Player of the Year and Harvard senior defensive lineman Zack Hodges and Princeton senior linebacker Mike Zeuli sharing the stage as Co-Defensive Players of the Year.

All three were unveiled as 2014 Asa S. Bushnell Cup recipients in front of a capacity crowd at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and before a live audience on The Ivy League Digital Network (ILDN) at a special press conference and reception co-hosted by the National Football Foundation & College Football Hall of Fame (NFF) and presented by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses.

Varga brings Yale its ninth Bushnell Cup recognition and is the eighth different Bulldog to receive this accolade, following Dick Jauron (1972), John Pagliaro (1976, 1977), Tim Tumpane (1979), Kevin Czinger (1980), Rich Diana (1981), Kelly Ryan (1987) and Mike McLeod (2007). He is the 19th running back in Ivy League history to receive the award and the fifth Yale offensive back to do so, joining Jauron, Pagliaro. Diana and McLeod.

Hodges becomes the first player to be twice-named Defensive Player of the Year and just the fourth player in League history to earn the Bushnell Cup twice in his career, joining Pagliaro, Cornell's Ed Marinaro (1970, 1971) and Harvard's Carl Morris (2001, 2002).  He is the eighth different Harvard player to be honored as a Bushnell Cup recipient, following Morris, Jim Stoeckel (1973), Ryan Fitzpatrick (2004), Chris Pizzotti (2008), Gino Gordon (2010), Josue Ortiz (2011) and Colton Chapple (2012). This marks the ninth time in 14 years that a Crimson player has been selected as a Bushnell Cup recipient, but just the third time for a Harvard player from the defensive side of the ball. Ortiz was voted the inaugural Defensive Player of the Year in 2011.

Zeuli is the ninth Princeton player to be bestowed with the Bushnell Cup, following Walt Snickenberger (1974), Jason Garrett (1988), Judd Garrett (1989), Keith Elias (1993), Dave Patterson (1995), Jeff Terrell (2006), Mike Catapano (2012) and Quinn Epperly (2013). He is just the fifth linebacker in Ivy League history to receive the award and just the second Tiger playing that position to do so, joining Patterson.

Varga (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) was a 2014 first-team All-Ivy selection after scoring a school-record 26 total touchdowns and averaging 6.1 yards per carry and 142 yards per game. He finished the regular season leading the Football Championship Subdivision in touchdowns and scoring average while helping the Bulldogs post an 8-2 overall record.

Varga's 2014 season included a pair of five-touchdown games. His most notable performance came in an overtime win over Army on Sept. 27 when he rambled for 185 yards and found the end zone five times. His last score was the game-winner and got him almost every national and regional award for player of the week. That performance also got him mentioned on ESPN's College Football Final and NFL Primetime.

Despite playing just 24 games over the last three seasons, the three-time All-Ivy pick is third on the school's career rushing touchdowns list with 31, fourth in career rushing yards with 2,985 and fifth with 529 rushing attempts. He went over the 100-yard mark 17 times in his 24 career games.

Varga, who has a 3.56 GPA in ecology & evolutionary biology, has an impressive list of awards off the field. He was named a National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame Scholar-Athlete as well as a finalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy, awarded for the nation's top football scholar-athlete. Varga is the Gridiron Club of Boston's FCS winner of the Swede Nelson Award for New England's top scholar-athlete while the New York Athletic Club tabbed him as its first-ever scholar-athlete recipient.

Hodges (Atlanta) earned his third selection to the All-Ivy first team in 2014. Last year's Bushnell recipient as the League's Defensive Player of the Year, Hodges is a two-time finalist for the award. He is also this year's winner of the George "Bulger" Lowe Award, presented to the top defensive player in New England. Hodges played in all 10 games this fall and recorded a League-best 8.5 sacks.

He finished the year with 26 tackles and 10.0 stops for a loss, including 2.0 sacks in the win over Yale in 131st playing of The Game. He also recorded six tackles, 1.5 sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss against Cornell. Hodges will graduate as the school's all-time sack leader with 27.0.

Zeuli (Marlton, N.J.) led the Ivy League with 16.5 tackles for loss, ranked second with 8.7 tackles per game and tied for fifth in sacks with four. He had 16 tackles in his final collegiate game, which moved him over the 200-tackle mark for his career. He anchored a Tiger defensive unit that finished the regular season second in the conference and eighth nationally in rushing defense.

One of only four defensive players to earn unanimous first-team All-Ivy distinction this season, Zeuli ranked 12th nationally with an average of 1.8 tackles for loss per game this season. He had double-digit tackles in four of Princeton's last seven games averaged 13 tackles per game against the top three teams in the standings.

The senior co-captain earned immediate playing time as a freshman and played four different positions during his career.

The three were selected as Bushnell Cup finalists, along with Dartmouth junior quarterback Dalyn Williams, by a vote of the Ivy League's eight head coaches.

Williams (Corinth, Texas) guided the Dartmouth offense to 31.3 points per game and the Big Green's best record in 17 years. He led the Ivy League in completion percentage (.675) and passing efficiency (157.57) while throwing for 2,119 yards and 21 touchdowns with just three interceptions, the best ratio in school history. Williams also led the Ancient Eight quarterbacks with 444 yards rushing plus ran for six scores. The three-time Offensive Player of the Week set a school record with 443 total yards in a 42-7 triumph at Cornell and currently ranks third in both career passing yards (4,866) and total yards (6,135) in the Dartmouth annals.


ASA S. BUSHNELL CUP HISTORY
Presented annually since 1970, The Asa S. Bushnell Cup honors its namesake, a 1921 Princeton alumnus and the commissioner of the Eastern College Athletic Conference from 1938 to 1970. The Bushnell Cup is awarded by a vote of the Ivy League's eight head football coaches to the players who display outstanding qualities of leadership, competitive spirit, contribution to the team and accomplishments on the field.

From 1970 to 2010, the Bushnell Cup recognized an Ivy League Player of the Year (or co-Players of the Year if there was a tie in voting). Beginning with the 2010 season, the award was presented as a part of the festivities surrounding the NFF Annual Awards Dinner with four finalists named a week prior to the presentation. In 2011, the Ivy League began recognizing both an Offensive Player of the Year and a Defensive Player of the Year.

All-Time Recipient List
1970 - Jim Chasey, QB, Dartmouth & Ed Marinaro, RB, Cornell
1971 - Ed Marinaro, RB, Cornell
1972 - Dick Jauron, RB, Yale
1973 - Jim Stoeckel, QB, Harvard
1974 - Walt Snickenberger, RB, Princeton
1975 - Doug Jackson, RB, Columbia
1976 - John Pagliaro, RB, Yale
1977 - John Pagliaro, RB, Yale
1978 - Buddy Teevens, QB, Dartmouth
1979 - Tim Tumpane, LB, Yale
1980 - Kevin Czinger, MG, Yale
1981 - Rich Diana, RB, Yale
1982 - John Witkowski, QB, Columbia
1983 - Derrick Harmon, RB, Cornell
1984 - Tim Chambers, DB, Penn
1985 - Tom Gilmore, DT, Penn
1986 - Rich Comizio, RB, Penn
1987 - Kelly Ryan, QB, Yale
1988 - Jason Garrett, QB, Princeton
1989 - Judd Garrett, RB, Princeton
1990 - Shon Page, RB, Dartmouth
1991 - Al Rosier, RB, Dartmouth
1992 - Jay Fiedler, QB, Dartmouth
1993 - Keith Elias, RB, Princeton
1994 - Pat Goodwillie, LB, Penn
1995 - Dave Patterson, LB, Princeton
1996 - Chad Levitt, RB, Cornell
1997 - Sean Morey, WR, Brown
1998 - Jim Finn, RB, Penn
1999 - James Perry, QB, Brown
2000 - Gavin Hoffman, QB, Penn
2001 - Carl Morris, WR, Harvard
2002 - Carl Morris, WR, Harvard
2003 - Mike Mitchell, QB, Penn
2004 - Ryan Fitzpatrick, QB, Harvard
2005 - Nick Hartigan, RB, Brown
2006 - Jeff Terrell, QB, Princeton
2007 - Mike McLeod, RB, Yale
2008 - Chris Pizzotti, QB, Harvard
2009 - Buddy Farnham, WR, Brown & Jake Lewko, LB, Penn
2010 - Gino Gordon, RB, Harvard & Nick Schwieger, RB, Dartmouth
2011 - Offensive Player of the Year: Jeff Mathews, QB, Cornell
           Defensive Player of the Year: Josue Ortiz, DT, Harvard
2012 - Offensive Player of the Year: Colton Chapple, QB, Harvard
           Defensive Player of the Year: Mike Catapano, DL, Princeton
2013 - Offensive Player of the Year: Quinn Epperly, QB, Princeton
           Defensive Player of the Year: Zack Hodges, DL, Harvard
2014 - Offensive Player of the Year: Tyler Varga, TB, Yale
           Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Zack Hodges, DL, Harvard & Mike Zeuli, LB, Princeton

Player of the Year Finalists
2010 - Trey Peacock, WR, Princeton
           Billy Ragone, QB, Penn
2011 - Nick Schwieger, RB, Dartmouth
           Erik Rask, LB, Penn
2012 - Jeff Mathews, QB, Harvard
           AJ Cruz, DB/RS, Brown
2013 - John Spooney, RB, Brown
           Caraun Reid, DL, Princeton
2014 - Dalyn Williams, QB, Dartmouth

Varga becomes the eighth Bushnell Cup recipient to also have been named a NFF National Scholar-Athlete, joining Jauron (Yale, 1972), Czinger (Yale, 1980), Diana (Yale, 1981), Tom Gilmore (Penn, 1985), Keith Elias (Princeton, 1993), Nick Hartigan (Brown, 2005) and Jeff Mathews (Cornell, 2013). Marinaro is the only past recipient inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Several past Bushnell Cup recipients currently hold impressive coaching positions, including: Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett, Dallas Cowboys Director of Pro Scouting Judd Garrett, Holy Cross head coach Tom Gilmore, Princeton offensive coordinator James Perry and Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens.

About the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame
Founded in 1947 with early leadership from General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and immortal journalist Grantland Rice, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame is a non-profit educational organization that runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in young people. With 120 chapters and 12,000 members nationwide, NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta, the NFF Leadership Hall of Fame, the NFF Scholar-Athlete Awards presented by Fidelity Investments, the NFF High School Showcases, the NFF Hampshire Honor Society, the NFF Faculty Salute Initiative presented by Fidelity Investments, the NFF National Scholar-Athlete Alumni Association, and scholarships of more than $1.3 million for college and high school scholar-athletes. The NFF also collaborates with the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) to release the FWAA-NFF Grantland Rice Super 16 Poll; awards the William V. Campbell Trophy presented by Fidelity Investments and prominently displayed at its official home inside the New York Athletic Club; and bestows several other major awards at the NFF Annual Awards Dinner. NFF corporate partners include the Allstate Sugar Bowl, Fidelity Investments, Herff Jones, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, the Sports Business Journal and Under Armour. Learn more at www.footballfoundation.org.