Brown Football Blows 4th Quarter Lead, Falls to Cornell in 2OT

Brown Football Blows 4th Quarter Lead, Falls to Cornell in 2OT

Brown University football led by 11 points late in the 4th quarter, but could not hold on against Cornell in Ithaca.

Cornell went on to win 30-24 in double overtime on Saturday.

The brutal loss drops the Bears to 3-3 and 0-3 in the Ivy League.

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Cornell used a furious rally to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

The Big Red scored two touchdowns in overtime before getting a game-ending stop at the five-yard line in the second overtime. Brown quarterback James Murphy had a career day with 468 yards passing, while senior receivers Ty Pezza (172 yards receiving) and Solomon Miller (166 yards) also had big days.

 

HOW IT HAPPENED

- Cornell got the scoring going at the 5:42 mark of the opening quarter, taking a 6-0 lead on a six-yard touchdown run to cap a 75-yard drive in just over two minutes, but missed the PAT.
- Brown responded with a 75-yard drive, highlighted by a 43-yard completion down the middle from Murphy to Pezza. The same duo connected three plays later for a 10-yard touchdown strike to give the Bears the 7-6 lead at 2:14.
- Foley (58) and Pezza (52) accounted for 110 of Brown's 123 yards of total offense in the first quarter.
- Drew Crabtree drilled a 38-yard field goal with 7:21 left until halftime to give the Bears some cushion at 10-6.
- The score remained 10-6 going into halftime as both teams came up with big defensive stops inside the 10-yard line on each team's final possession, with Brown's coming on a fourth-down pass breakup in the end zone by Nevaeh Gattis.
- After a roughing the kicker penalty on a missed field goal late in the third, Brown took advantage and put seven points on the board as Qwentin Brown plowed it in from one-yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 17-6. The score capped a 16-play, 90-yard drive.
- John Starman had a third-down sack to force another turnover on downs with 7:03 remaining.
- Cornell fought back within three with 3:44 remaining, driving 69 yards in less than two minutes and converting on a two-point attempt to pull within 17-14.
- Facing a 3rd-and-12 at their own 20-yard line with just over two minutes left, Murphy connected deep down the middle for a critical 45-yard completion to Miller that helped Brown move the chains and run the clock.
- Cornell took over at its own 26 with 1:51 remaining and drove into field goal range to tie the game at 17 with 46 seconds remaining.
- Brown started overtime with possession and scored on its second play on a 25-yard catch and run by Pezza. Cornell answered with its possession to send the game to a second overtime.
- The Big Red scored on a one-yard run to start the second overtime but came up short on the required two-point conversion attempt.
- The game ended on a 4th-and-1 stop for the Cornell defense from the five-yard line.

 

NOTES

- Each team finished with 503 yards of offense, with Brown totaling 471 yards through the air.

- Big plays helped fuel the Bears' offense, as Murphy had five completions of at least 43 yards, with three to Miller and two to Pezza.

- Nine different receivers had at least one reception.

- Murphy finished the game 30-for-46 for a career-high 468 yards and two touchdowns.

Brown’s Pezza finished with a career-and-game-high 172 yards receiving on nine catches and one touchdown.

- Miller had seven catches for a career-high 166 yards.

-Bear’s senior Trevor Foley also had a career-high in receiving yards with 62 on four catches.

 

NEXT

Brown will return to action on a short week with a Halloween night matchup at Penn on Friday, October 31. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPNU.