Cornell Piles up 604 Yards and Holds Off Unbeaten-until-now Lehigh 48-38
Take away the 100-yard fumble return and this is a 48-31 game with no drama at all. Cornell lost one fumble all afternoon and it went the wrong way for a Lehigh touchdown, which is the only reason a team with 604 total yards had to look over its shoulder.
The Big Red never trailed and never even sat in a tie. Jordan Triplett ran 17 yards for the opening score, Garrett Bass-Sulpizio found Ja'von Broussard from 37 yards out, and it was 14-0 before Luke Denny's fumble return made it 14-7 with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. Brendan Lee scored from a yard out, Alan Zhao kicked a 36-yard field goal, and Bass-Sulpizio scored one himself to make it 31-10 late in the second quarter. Lehigh got a 21-yard touchdown from Derek Morgan to Jamaire Harden with 46 seconds left in the half, and the margin was 14 at the break (31-17).
It never got closer than a touchdown after that. Morgan hit Anthony Feaster from 16 yards to make it 31-24, Bass-Sulpizio answered with a 3-yard pass to Lee, and Luke Yoder cut it to 38-31 at the top of the fourth. Triplett ran in from three yards to push it to 45-31. Morgan found Bryce Werner for 41 yards with 4:07 left to make it 45-38, and Zhao's 32-yard field goal with 1:50 to go ended the argument.
Bass-Sulpizio did everything: 22 of 34 for 366 yards and two touchdowns through the air, plus 17 carries for 103 yards and a rushing score. Cornell had 366 passing yards and 238 on the ground, and never threw an interception. Lehigh had 402 yards of its own, 204 of them passing, and Morgan threw three touchdown passes.
Cornell moves to 3-2. Lehigh, which had been 6-0, drops to 6-1. Fantasy owners who started Bass-Sulpizio got 42.9 points, his best game of the year by a mile.