ITHACA, N.Y. – Cornell built a 10-0 lead but was outscored 41-19 the rest of the way, falling to No. 18/19 Harvard, 41-29, on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field.
Cornell (2-2) scored on each of its first two possessions. Alan Zhao opened the game with a 43-yard field goal, and the Big Red capped an 11-play, 76-yard drive with a 2-yard Garrett Bass-Sulpizio touchdown run to make it 10-0 with 3:54 left in the first quarter.
Harvard (4-0) answered with 41 straight points.
Kise Flannery's 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter cut it to 10-7, and Charlie Smith threw touchdown passes of 36 yards to Tafari Moe and 16 yards to Henry Shoemaker before halftime to put the Crimson ahead, 21-10. Harvard opened the third quarter with a 4-yard Xaviah Bascon touchdown run, added a 51-yard Kieran Corr field goal, and got a 28-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Teigan Pelletier to extend the margin to 38-10. Corr added a 27-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 41-10.
Cornell closed the game with three touchdowns in the final 10 minutes. Ean Pope broke a 61-yard touchdown run, the longest of his career, and Bass-Sulpizio threw scoring passes to Samuel Musungu (3 yards) and JaVon Broussard (21 yards), though two-point conversion attempts after the final two scores both failed, making the final margin 41-29.
Bass-Sulpizio finished 20 of 38 passing for 158 yards and two touchdowns, with two interceptions, and added 46 rushing yards and a score. Jordan Triplett carried 13 times for 69 yards, and Pope finished with 91 yards on seven carries to go with his touchdown. Brendan Lee caught five passes for 46 yards, and Musungu hauled in a team-best six catches on the day. Tommy MacPherson led the defense with 11 tackles, and Tyler Gibson added 10 tackles and an interception.
Smith threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns on 23-of-27 passing for Harvard. Bascon led all rushers with 59 yards and a touchdown, and Nathan Bailey caught seven passes for 64 yards.
The Big Red will host nationally-ranked Lehigh for homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.
