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ITHACA, N.Y. -- Big plays in the passing game ruined Cornell's Homecoming as Fordham knocked off the Big Red 39-27 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The win improved the Rams to 3-3, while the Big Red slipped to 2-3 with the loss.



Fordham's quarterback John Skelton threw four touchdowns of 50 yards and a fifth for 22 yards. Included was a 98-yard strike to Asa Lucas that is the longest pass play in Fordham history and the longest by a Cornell opponent in school history. Skelton ended the afternoon 20-of-27 passing for 421 yards and matched a school record with five touchdowns, and also added a 1-yard leap for a score. Four of his scoring tosses went to Jason Caldwell, who hauled in nine passes for 245 yards overall and match a Rams record for scoring passes caught in a game. The 245 yards receiving was one short of a Fordham record.

The Big Red, without the services of starting quarterback Ben Ganter, still piled up 552 yards of total offense, including a season-high 284 yards on the ground. Cornell also did a nice job stopping the run. After surrendering consecutive games of 250 rushing yards or more, Cornell held Fordham to -4 yards in the first half and 87 yards on 29 carries overall. The Big Red defense had 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, caused three turnovers and blocked a pair of extra points. Senior Chris Costello had 14 tackles, including four behind the line of scrimmage, a sack, two forced fumbles and a pass breakup in the loss. Junior Dempsey Quinn had two tackles, a fumble recovery, a pass breakup and a blocked kick, while Rashad Campbell notched four stops, including one behind the line of scrimmage, to go along with his second career interception and a pass breakup.

Senior Stephen Liuzza posted 166 rushing yards and two late touchdowns, while also passing for 55 yards. Liuzza had a par of runs of more than 50 yards and a pass for 45 more, continuing his string of big plays this season. Three quarterbacks took snaps behind center, with Adam Currie taking a lion's share of the snaps and completing 15-of-28 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted four times. Freshman Chris Amhrein also earned his first playing time at quarterback. Senior wide receiver Bryan Walters hauled in 10 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown and compiled 338 all-purpose yards to move into third place in Ivy League history and second place at Cornell with 5,096 yards. He became just the fifth Ivy Leaguer to supass 5,000 all-purpose yards in a career. Sophomore Shane Savage caught the other eight passes for the Big Red, piling up 90 yards worth.

Cornell's offense set season highs in rushing (284 yards), passing (268 yards), total offense (552 yards), time of possession (38:15)and first downs (29), and senior Randy Barbour became the school's 28th 1,000-yard rusher with 50 yards on 14 carries, joining Liuzza and junior Marcus Hendren (62 yards on 13 carries) as players with at least 50 yards on the ground in the contest for the Big Red. 



Despite all that, Cornell still suffered its third straight defeat.

Fordham seemed to be marching down the field on its first possession, but a holding penalty on the Rams ended up in a punt. Cornell wasted little time flipping the field, using an acrobatic catch from Savage for 24 yards and a flea-flicker pass from Currie to Walters for 43 yards down to the Fordham 9 to eventually set up a 35-yard field goal. Randy Barbour got into the end zone on a 7-yard run, but a holding call nullified it, and Greenway put the home team on the board with 7:01 left in the first quarter. Currie completed 3-of-4 passes for 80 yards on the drive.

A missed tackle on Fordham's next possession led to a 71-yard touchdown pass from Skelton to Jason Caldwell. Skelton's pass hit Caldwell 20 yards down the field and after running out of a tackle, was off to the races for six. The extra point made it 7-3 with 5:45 left in the quarter.

Cornell took the momentum back and marched down to the Fordham 1, but the Rams stopped Nick Mlady on fourth-and-inches from the 1 to take the ball over. Two running plays to end the quarter got the ball out of the shadow of the end zone, but facing third-and-long to open the second quarter. With a few extra minutes between quarters to think about it, the Fordham coaching staff decided to fake a hand-off in the end zone and go deep. Skelton did so, hitting Asa Lucas 40 yards down the field and the senior receiver did the rest, going 98 yards for the longest pass play in Fordham history to make it 13-3. The extra point was blocked by Horatio Blackman, keeping he deficit at 10 points.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Fordham saved a Big Red drive after a third-down trick play was sniffed out and Currie was sacked for a big loss. The ensuing first down gave the home team new life, and Currie found Walters from 33 yards out to cut the Rams lead to 13-10. Walters was boxed out for the ball in the short right corner, but outleaped the opposing defender for his third receiving touchdown of the year. Greenway's conversion kick made it 13-10 with 7:11 left in the half.

Cornell's defense got the offense right back on the field with a three-and-out, but a block in the back penalty on the punt return and a big loss on a reverse on first down buried the Big Red and eventually forced a Drew Alston punt at its own 24 with just over four minutes to play.  The Rams wasted little time going up over the top, as Skelton found Caldwell, this time for 58 yards, on third-and-8 to put the visitors up 19-10 with 1:04 left. Cornell was able to march to the Fordham 44, but Currie's third INT of the game, this one by James Crockett, ended the drive with 13 seconds left in the half.

Cornell put together what looked to be a solid drive to start the second half before bogging down and punting. On the first play from scrimmage, Xavier Martin broke through the line and raced 86 yards for an apparent score, but an illegal block at the Cornell 40 gave the visitors a first down at midfield. Not to be deterred, Skelton found Caldwell on the next play and the receiver broke a tackle down the left side and raced 50 yards for paydirt. The extra-point made it 26-10 with 10:59 left in the third.

A Cornell field goal, Greenway's second of the game, was answered by yet another score in the air. Skelton found Caldwell from 22 yards out after a Zach Crosby 40-yard kickoff return set up the offense with a short field. The lead stayed at 32-13 when Dempsey Quinn blocked the conversion kick with less than five minutes left.

The Big Red turned the ball over on another interception, but two plays later Costello again came up big, stripping the ball from Stephen Skelton. The loose ball was recovered by T.J. Hochanadel to give the home team new life. That drive, which ended in Abdul El-Quddus' third interception of the day, was highlighted by a pretty 23-yard connection from Currie to Shane Savage. Fordham's dagger came when John Skelton dived over a pile with 12:31 left in the game to make it 39-13. Liuzza broke off a pair of long runs, a 54 yarder and a 55 yarder on cosnecutive drives with both ending in short touchdown scores by the senior to close up the scoring.

Cornell closes out its three-game homestand on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 12:30 p.m. when it faces defending Ivy League champion Brown at Schoellkopf Field.