Cornell Tops Football for First Time in 11 Years

In 2005, Harvard fell to Cornell, 27-13, on the road. In the 11 following years, the Crimson routinely demolished the Big Red. Scores of 45-13 in 2012 and 40-3 in 2015 made Harvard-Cornell matchups less than intriguing—it was a foregone conclusion that the league-leading Crimson would beat up on struggling Cornell.

Twelve years later, however, the Big Red finally came up big.

In front of a small but raucous home crowd at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell stunned Harvard (2-2, 1-1 Ivy) in a 17-14 defeat. The Big Red (1-3, 1-1) propelled itself to victory with a dynamic running strategy, accumulating 233 rushing yards compared to 223 total yards for the Crimson.

“I think we out-Harvarded them,” Cornell coach David Archer said. “I thought we gave up the play-action deep ball, but other than that, I don't think we gave up anything. They averaged a ton of yards on the ground coming in, and I think our defensive line played fantastic.”

The first half was all Harvard, but Cornell clawed back to command its first lead of the game with 9:58 left in the fourth quarter.

Starting at the Crimson’s 34, the Big Red wasted no time getting within scoring range. On the drive’s second play, sophomore running back Harold Coles spied a wide-open hole up the middle and nearly scored, only to be dragged down at the three-yard line. Harvard submitted a goal-line stand, but Cornell kicker Zach Mays still popped a field goal through the uprights. Cornell 17, Harvard 14.

The Big Red’s game-clinching drive was preceded by a punt downed at Harvard’s one-yard line and a staunch run defense that forced the Crimson to punt after three tries. Junior Charlie Booker notched only seven yards on three carries as he and freshman quarterback Jake Smith worked out of their own end zone. That defensive stand allowed for the hosts’ comeback.

One-third of the Big Red’s relentless trio of backs, junior Chris Walker, compiled 157 total yards, 100 on the ground and 57 in the air. He was a key cog in Cornell’s onslaught, which picked up 357 yards on 77 plays. For comparison, Harvard ran 44 plays and had 13 fewer minutes of possession time.

To start the second half, Cornell maintained its strategy of pounding the ball through the Crimson’s defensive line. After forcing Harvard to settle for a 43-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide left, the Cornell quarterback duo guided the Big Red downfield to tie the game.

On the Crimson’s 36, quarterback Dalton Banks spotted wide receiver Owen Peters battling for position with senior defensive back Tim Haehl. Peters quickly hit the brakes and cut behind Haehl to reel in Banks’ toss. Cornell’s running machine took over from there. Supplanting Banks was senior quarterback Jake Jatis, who snuck into the end zone on his second snap. Another marathon of a drive for the Big Red, another touchdown.

Cornell commenced its comeback in the first half with a drive spanning 15 plays and 6:34 of game time. The running back trio of Walker, Coles, and Jack Gellatly paired with the Banks-Jatis quarterback team to cut through Harvard’s line. Jatis punctuated the push when he faked a handoff to Walker, kept the ball, and dove into the end zone to cut the Big Red’s deficit to 14-7.

“I thought for sure that they were going to try to run the ball, if for no other reason than that they’d had so many turnovers in the pass game,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “They had a conservative game plan, they had a solid game plan, and they executed very well.”

Long Cornell drives kept Smith and his offense on the sideline. None of these drives was more important than Cornell’s last. With 6:03 left to play, holding a three-point advantage, the Big Red ran 11 plays for 45 yards, knocking 5:28 off the clock and effectively quashing Harvard’s comeback bid.

Walker extended the drive with a 13-yard effort on third-and-nine. The junior bumped to the outside and ran past the marker. Then came a 15-yard penalty against the Crimson (unsportsmanlike conduct), and all of a sudden Cornell had crossed midfield.

Harvard would not cross back over. With less than 10 seconds left, linebacker Dylan Otolski picked off a desperation pass from Smith, wrapping up the ballgame for the Big Red.

Though Cornell scored only seven points in the first half, it ran wild on the Crimson’s defense. Defensive line mainstays DJ Bailey and Stone Hart did not make the trip to Ithaca, and their absence showed. The Big Red racked up 118 rushing yards in the first half alone, more than the Ithaca, N.Y., program had posted against Harvard in an entire game since 2005.

“When a team is running the ball at you every single play, most of the time, we’ve always been able to stop the run,” senior safety Tanner Lee said. “They did a great job today running it right at us and being consistent and running straight downhill. We have to make sure that we come out next week and fix that because I’m sure other teams will do that down the stretch.”

Harvard’s main offensive weapon in the first two quarters was the deep attack to halfbacks and tight ends.

With just over nine minutes gone in the first period, sophomore running back Lavance Northington punched into the end zone to give the Crimson a 7-0 lead. Northington’s scoring chance was facilitated by a 34-yard connection from Smith to rookie halfback Ryan Reagan.

Later, Smith tossed his first touchdown of the day to senior tight end Jake Barann. After taking Harvard downfield with nine- and 10-yards runs, Smith found a wide-open Barann on a post route. Barann trotted into the end zone for his second career touchdown, staking the Crimson to a 14-0 advantage.

In the second half, however, Harvard’s offense completely stalled. Smith finished the half with three-for-seven throwing, and the Cornell defense saddled him with -40 yards rushing in the final two quarters.

This was the first game in which Smith took every snap under center. Fifth-year senior Joe Viviano remained on the sideline throughout the contest after serving as the backup in previous weeks. Though Smith threw for 161 yards and a touchdown, he also fumbled once, conceded one interception, and was sacked five times.

“[Our offensive approach] didn’t really change very much,” Murphy said. “We didn’t do a particularly good job balancing our offense. I thought Jake did a great job throwing the football. In tight spaces, our guys made some really good plays. But we never really, consistently drove the football.”

The Big Red’s quarterback share, on the other hand, worked out well. Starter Banks led several long drives downfield with accurate passing—he was 11-of-14 for 117 yards—and Jatis served as the red-zone specialist, hammering his way into the end zone for both of Cornell’s touchdowns.

—Staff writer Jack Stockless can be reached at jack.stockless@thecrimson.com.