PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown scored the tying touchdown as time expired in regulation and won it on the first possession of overtime, rallying from a 21-7 deficit to beat Cornell, 38-31, on Saturday at Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium.
Cornell (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) built the early lead behind
Garrett Bass-Sulpizio, who scored on three rushing touchdowns in the second quarte to put the Big Red ahead 21-7. Brown (3-3, 1-2 Ivy) answered with a Drew Crabtree field goal to cut it to 21-10 at the half.
Caden Lesiewicz's 27-yard field goal extended Cornell's lead to 24-10 early in the third quarter, but Brown pulled within a touchdown on a 6-yard Matt Childs touchdown run. Cornell answered right back, as Bass-Sulpizio found
Brendan Lee for a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 31-17 heading into the fourth.
Brown cut the deficit to 31-24 on a 50-yard touchdown pass from James Murphy to Saphir Miller early in the fourth quarter, then capped an 18-play, 84-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass from Murphy to Childs as time expired in regulation, tying the game at 31-31 and forcing overtime.
Cornell won the coin toss and elected to go on defense first. On the Bears opening possession of overtime, Childs broke a 25-yard touchdown run to put Brown ahead, 38-31. Cornell turned the ball over on downs on fourth-and-8, ending the game.
Bass-Sulpizio finished 25 of 42 passing for 277 yards and a touchdown, with two interceptions, and added three rushing touchdowns.
Xavier Bowman caught eight passes for 69 yards, and
Jaxon Long added five catches for 58 yards.
Brendan Lee, who caught three passes for 26 yards and a touchdown, was the Big Red leading rusher with 47 yards on five carries.
Josiah Allen added 34 yards on five carries.
The Big Red defense recorded six sacks, led by two apiece from
Dalten Phelan and
Sam Greenspan, and forced two fumbles, though Brown recovered both.
Tommy MacPherson had nine tackles and an interception, and
Johnny Williamson added an interception as well.
For Brown, Murphy threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns on 31-of-50 passing, and Childs finished with 72 rushing yards and two touchdowns to go with 85 receiving yards and a third score.
Brown outgained Cornell, 405-463, and was 4 of 13 on third down, while Brown converted 5 of 17 third downs and 4 of 5 fourth downs.
Cornell will travel to the Garden State on Saturday, Oct. 31 for a noon kickoff at Princeton on ESPN+.
