Oct. 2, 2010

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell forced four turnovers, outgained Cornell by nearly 70 yards, totaled three sacks and possessed the ball for nearly six minutes more than the Big Red, but the Bison lost by a 21-12 margin to Cornell Saturday evening in front of a Family Weekend crowd of more than 7,000 at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

Bucknell (0-4) committed seven penalties, missed a pair of field goals, had a punt blocked and was just 4-for-16 on third downs, offsetting some of the positives. The Bison capitalized on just one of Cornell's four turnovers, recording a field goal with 14 seconds left in the first half after acquiring the ball when Josh Eden sacked Big Red quarterback Jeff Mathews and knocked the ball out of his hand at the same time. Bucknell turned the ball over on downs, missed a field goal and threw an interception following the other three times it forced a turnover.

Both teams started freshman quarterbacks and both put up solid numbers. The Bison's Brandon Wesley completed 25 of 45 passes for 267 yards, all career highs. He also ran 14 times for a team-high 49 yards and his first career touchdown. The 45 pass attempts were the most for a Bucknell quarterback since Todd Wenrich was 36-for-67 in a 2001 game at Fordham, while the 267 yards were the most since Marcello Trigg threw for 290 in the 2008 season-opening win against Duquesne. Cornell's Jeff Mathews completed 15 of 28 passes for 180 yards on Saturday.

The beginning of the game featured a number of momentum shifts as Cornell's Luke Tasker returned the opening kickoff 65 yards, giving the Big Red excellent field position. However, Eden picked off Mathews' first pass of the game, swinging momentum to the Bucknell side of the field.

The Bison marched down the field in seven plays, but turned the ball over on downs coming up short on 4th-and-2 from the Cornell 28-yard line. A pair of punts by the Big Red and the first of two missed field goals by Drew Orth followed.

Cornell set up its first score when Emani Fenton blocked a Ryan Gutowski punt, giving the Big Red possession at the Bucknell 19-yard line. Five plays later Nick Booker-Tandy punched it in from two yards out, giving Cornell a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Big Red extended their lead to 14-0 late in the first half when Mathews engineered a 10-play, 60-yard drive that spanned 5:15 on the game clock. Tasker scored on a reverse out of the wildcat formation from 14 yards out.

Bucknell's first points were set up following Eden's sack and forced fumble. The Bison took possession with 1:35 left in the half on the Cornell 41-yard line. Six plays later Orth connected on a 21-yard field goal to make it 14-3 heading into halftime. The big play on the drive was a 27-yard pass over the middle from Wesley to Nick Gatto.

The third quarter featured plenty of long drives as both teams had the ball just twice in the period. The Bison scored on another Orth field goal, his seventh of the season, a career-long 39-yarder, and later cut its deficit to 21-12 on a Wesley 14-yard touchdown run. Wesley's two-point conversion pass was intercepted, however. After have just one first-half drive longer than 2:30, Bucknell's two third-quarter drives were 5:36 and 3:54.

The Bison offense scored on three straight possessions in the second and third quarters, but it came to a halt in the fourth quarter. Bucknell missed a field goal, punted twice and threw an interception on its first four drives in the final quarter.

Cornell (1-2) tallied its third touchdown on a long 11-play, 70-yard drive in the third quarter. The Big Red scored on a Mathews quarterback sneak to make the score 21-6.

Bucknell, which has now lost four in a row to Cornell, outgained the Big Red 372-303. Cornell also committed 10 penalties for 85 yards. However, punter Drew Alston was solid throughout, punting six times for an average of 40.5 yards. Many of his punts had excellent hang time, allowing the Big Red to cover the punts. They allowed just one return, and that went for -1 yards.

Tim Bolte led the Bucknell defense with seven tackles, while Eden totaled four to go along with his sack, forced fumble and interception. Tyler Anderson, Derrick Palmer and Sean Rafferty also posted sacks.

Running back Tyler Smith had a solid day on offense, catching a career-high eight passes for 48 yards out of the backfield. He also rushed 10 times for 45 yards and had four kickoff returns for a solid 123 yards. His 216 all-purpose yards were a game high and just 38 shy of 10th place on the Bison single-game ledger.

Tandy-Booker led Cornell's rushing attack with 61 yards, 41 of which came in the second half after he returned from an apparent first-half leg injury.

Bucknell will look to snap its four-game losing streak next Saturday (Oct. 9) when it wraps up its three-game Ivy League homestand with a 1 p.m. game against Penn.