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ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell football team nearly completed its second miracle win of the season, but the Big Red ran out of time in an exciting 31-26 loss to Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The game featured 945 yards of offense and two touchdowns in the final 1:40 of the game, with nearly a third coming as time expired.

Trailing 31-19 after Tiger quarterback Brian Anderson ran in from 20 yards out with 1:40 to go, the Big Red mounted a five-play, 58-yard drive to get back within 31-26 with 41 seconds to play. After senior Jesse Baker recovered an on-sides kick, the Big Red drove 47 yards to the Princeton 15 before a controversial penalty marched the Big Red back five yards for one quick play. Senior quarterback Nathan Ford's pass for Baker sailed incomplete as the horn sounded, the opposite result from their game-winning connection at Lehigh in week three.

Ford was outstanding throughout the day, completing 33-of-55 passes for 431 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once, ending one of the Big Red's two failed conversions in the red zone. His favorite targets were junior Bryan Walters, who became the 17th Cornell receiver to surpass with 1,000-yard career mark with his eight grabs for 138 yards and a score, and Baker, who hauled in nine passes for 89 yards. Walters ended the day with 202 all-purpose yards in the loss. Both Horatio Blackman and Nick Zerante added touchdown catches. Senior Luke Siwula posted nine carries for a team-high 47 yards, while Randy Barbour rushed 13 times for 39 yards.  

Defensively, seniors Tim Bax (nine tackles) and Graham Rihn (eight tackles, sack) led the unit, while Emani Fenton and Brian Ostrowsky each had seven tackles and a pass breakup in the loss. The Big Red piled up a season-high 555 yards of offense in 90 plays, while Princeton registered 390 yards in just 54 plays. The 36-play differential didn't materialize into a domination in time of possession, as Cornell's advantage was just 31:07-28:53 thanks to an outstanding ground game effort from the Tigers and Jordan Culbreath, the Ivy League's leading rusher. Culbreath had 169 yards and a touchdown on the ground, while quarterback Brian Anderson was efficient, completing 13-of-17 passes for 160 yards and two scores, both going to Will Thanheiser. Steven Cody had a game-high 11 tackles in the victory, whule Cart Kelly had nine tackles and a key interception in the end zone with 12:30 to play in the fourth.

The finale certainly wasn't apparent in the way the game started, as the big Red raced out to a 13-0 lead that could have been even bigger. After forcing a punt on the Tigers' opening possession that saw a nice Walters return set Cornell up at the Princeton 28, Cornell ran nine plays to pick up 21 yards before a penalty stalled the team at the 7 and sophomore Brad Greenway booted through a 25-yard effort to make it 3-0 with 9:28 left. After another Princeton punt, Cornell then marched 90 yards in 11 plays over 4:20 to go up 10-0. A pair of highlight catches by Nick Zerante, including a 17-yard score despite being held in the end zone, made it 10-0 with under two minutes to play in the quarter.

A Princeton three-and-out handed Cornell its third possession, and the first quarter ended with the Big Red holding a commanding 117-47 edge in total yards. On the very first play of the second quarter, Siwula broke open for a 16-yard run before Barry Newell caused the senior to fumble and the loose ball was recovered by the Tigers' Pete Buchignani. The play wouldn't hurt the Big Red on the scoreboard, however, as yet another three-and-out gave Cornell the ball back. Another extended drive, this time a 15-play, 75-yard march down the field stalled out at the Princeton 13, but Greenway split the uprights on a 31-yard effort to make it 13-0.

From there, the Tigers took over. Anderson completed consecutive passes, including a 27-yarder to Thanheiser, followed by a pair of Culbreath runs, the second a 23-yard touchdown, finally got the visitors on the scoreboard with 4:35 remaining. After a Big Red three-and-out, the Tigers got back into scoring position for Ben Bologna as the gun fired to end the half, with the kicker hitting from 18 yards out to make it a 13-10 game at the break.

Another nine-play drive to open the second half resulted in zero points, and Princeton took advantage to take the lead for the first time. The Tigers converted a third-and-7 when Anderson scrambled 11 yards for a first down, then the senior quarterback hit Joe Magro for a 33-yard gain to the Cornell 12. Two plays later, Anderson connected with Thanheiser down the left side to make it 17-13 midway through the third.

The teams traded empty possessions before Cornell opened the fourth quarter with the ball. Two key third-down conversions brought the Big Red to the Princeton 13, but Ford was intercepted for the only time of the day, as Cart Kelly stepped in front of a pass in the end zone to end the drive.

Leading 17-13, the Tigers used the momentum to go 80 yards in just five plays, with a 52-yard run by Culbreath doing a majority of the damage. Anderson put the punctuation mark on the drive with a 20-yard toss to Thanheiser for six, and Bologna's kick made it 24-13 with 9:39 left in regulation.

The Big Red answered right back in just two plays, with Ford finding Zac Canty for 19 yards, then going up top for 43 yards more to Walters for the answer just 36 seconds later. 

Both teams traded two empty possessions before Princeton again got back on the scoreboard on a fourth-and-1 with 1:40 left, as the Big Red defense all bit on a fake and Anderson bootlegged his way into the end zone untouched from 20 yards out to make it 31-19. Needing every second on the clock, Cornell moved the ball 58 yards on five plays to narrow the gap to 31-26. A 15-yard run by Siwula, followed by 12 and 28-yard completions from Ford to Blackman fir the ball to the 4, Two plays later, Ford hit Blackman in the left corner for a score and Greenway's kick made the lead five points.

The on-sides kick with 39 seconds left went just as planned, as the ball ricochoted off a Princeton player and Baker dove on the pigskin at the Cornell 38. The bIg Red converted on a last-chance fourth-and-3 when Ford calmly hit Canty over the middle for nine yards, then used a big 31-yard hookup to Canty down to the 15. With the clock stopped and both teams waiting for the clock to start after the chains were moved, Ford faked a spike and looked for a streaking receiver, but a whistle blew and stopped the play thinking the ball had been downed. A penalty was called on Cornell for "simulating a spike", putting the Big Red back at the 20. This time, Ford needed to spike the ball to stop the clock with five seconds left, and his attempt to find Baker for the second time in four weeks to end a game with a win as time expired was errant as the Tigers collected the win.

The Big Red will remain at home next weekend to meet Dartmouth on Saturday, Nov. 8 at 1 p.m. Cornell will be out to avenge last season' 59-31 loss to the Big Green in Hanover, N.H.