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.
Cornell will try to bounce back at home next Saturday against Lehigh at 1 p.m.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].