ITHACA, N.Y. -- Sophomore
Jameson Wang accounted for four touchdowns and the Cornell football team gave Ivy League preseason favorite Harvard all it could handle, but fell short in a 35-28 decision on Friday evening in front of a national television audience at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red fell to 2-2 (0-2 Ivy), while the Crimson upped its record to 3-1 (2-0 Ivy).
Wang threw for 185 yards and a touchdown and posted 61 yards on the ground with three scores to lead the never-quit Big Red. His favorite target,
Thomas Glover, hauled in eight passes for 66 yards and a touchdown to become the 25th player in school history to surpass 1,000 yards in the air.
Jake Stebbins notched a season-high 13 tackles, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass to lead the defense, with
Paul Lewis III making seven stops with two pass breakups.
Anthony Chideme-Alfaro also had a pair of pass breakups in the loss.
Cornell owned an advantage in time of possession (33:48-26:12) and kept the game at its pace most of the way, but special teams miscues gave Harvard points that the home team couldn't counteract by forcing turnovers. A 13-point second quarter shifted the momentum to the visitors, and even after the Big Red momentarily secured a second half lead, Harvard stole it right back.
Harvard's defense posted nine tackles for loss, with Truman Jones in on four behind the line of scrimmage with one pass knockdown. Aidan Borguet rushed for 163 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries to lead the Harvard rushing attack, with Charlie Dean completing 15-of-29 passes for 208 yards and two scores - one each to Tyler Neville and Scott Woods II - in directing an offense that piled up 385 yards.
Gallery: (10-7-2022) Football vs Harvard, 10.07.22
First Quarter
• Harvard elected to receive to open the game, and the Big Red defense held after the visitors gained a single first down.
• Going to work on offense from its own 11 with 12:56 to play in the quarter, the Big Red bled nearly the entire clock away in taking the lead.
• A 17-play, 89-yard drive took 10:01 off the game clock, the longest drive by plays since 2018 and the longest in terms of time since 2013.
• Cornell converted four third downs, including conversions of 12, 11 and 9 yards, and finally cashed in one Wang's 1-yard plunge to get the scoring going.
• Reigning national special teams player of the week
Jackson Kennedy booted the first of four PAT attempts through the uprights to make it 7-0 with 2:55 remaining in the first.
• The drive was extended by passes to
Parker Woodring and
Matt Robbert, as well as an ill-timed roughing the passer call.
• Harvard possessed the ball the rest of the quarter, eventually punting it back to the Big Red on the final play.
Second Quarter
• Cornell went three-and-out, and the Big Red punt traveled just 7 yards to the Big Red 45, setting up the Crimson with great field position.
• The Big Red defense held firm, and a second-and-goal at the 1 turned into third-and-goal from the 16 after an unsportsmanlike penalty was called on the visitors.
• Harvard settled for a 32-yard field goal by Jonah Lipel to cut the deficit to 7-3.
• A little more than two minutes later, Lipel again scored for Harvard, but this time the PAT kick came after a Big Red punt was blocked and returned 17 yards for the go-ahead Crimson touchdown to make it 10-7 with 8:06 to go before halftime.
• The teams traded punts until Harvard took over with 3:03 remaining.
• On the second play,
Trey Harris stripped the ball from Tyler Neville on the way out of bounds and
Jake Stebbins pounced on it at the Cornell 35 for the first turnover of the night.
• The Big Red couldn't do anything with it, eventually punting back to the Crimson.
• Cornell took advantage of two Big Red penalties to get into the red zone, but three straight pass breakups - two by
Paul Lewis III - caused Harvard to settle for a 25-yard field goal to head into halftime with a 13-7 edge.
Third Quarter
• Cornell opened the second half with a seven-play drive that got out to the 35, but was forced to punt.
•
Ayden McCarter's kick was muffed by Harvard, and long-snapper
Gavin Heintschel recovered at the Crimson 12.
• On third-and-4 from the 6, Wang gave Cornell the lead back with his legs, getting to the end zone to make it 14-13 after Kennedy's PAT.
• Nine plays and 75 yards later, Harvard was back in front, with five straight runs by Borguet for 32 yards and a 37-yard pass from Dean to Kym Wimberly Jr. setting up Dean's 3-yard scoring strike to Neville.
• Harvard gained possession late in the third at its own 33 and drove to the 8 as time ran out on the quarter.
Fourth Quarter
• Five seconds into the fourth quarter, Harvard had extended its lead to 13 (27-14) after Dean hit Scott Woods II from 10 yards out.
• The Big Red responded with the big strike going for 24 yards to tight end
William Enneking and an 11-yard missle to
Thomas Glover for the touchdown to get backk within 27-21 with 9:03 to play.
• Harvard, trying to simultaneously kill the clock and put the Big Red away, marched down the field for what ended in a 2-yard scoring run by Borguet and the ensuing two-point conversion to make it 35-21 with less that three minutes left.
• Less than two minutes later, Cornell was again in the end zone.
• Three straight good-gainers pushed the ball over midfield, but Cornell ended in a fourth-and-4 from the Harvard 38.
• Like a magician, Wang picked up the yardage and more, going 36 yards down to the 2. Three plays later, the sophomore forced himself into the end zone to get back to within a touchdown.
• With only 56 seconds left, Cornell attempted an on-sides kick, but it was recovered near midfield by Neville.
• Harvard took two kneel-downs in victory formation to remain unbeaten in conference play.
NEXT UP
• The Big Red remains home to face Lehigh on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• It will be the 27th meeting all-time between the teams, though the first since 2014.
• The Mountain Hawks have won four of the past five contests, though the big Red leads 15-9-2, including 12-3-2 in Ithaca.
