Red leaves Schoellkopf on wrong side of 44-3 rout at hands of Raiders.

For the second game in a row, Cornell (1-4) was physically outmatched on both sides of the ball, as Colgate defeated the Red, 44-3, on Saturday afternoon. Throughout the game, the football team was struggling to get its own ground game in sync. Raiders junior running back Nate Eachus, who led his team with 291 yards and three touchdowns, helped earn Colgate its 600th win.

“We knew they were a really good team and we needed to have our best game on both sides of the ball. They are a great team, they run the ball and played well yesterday,” said senior safety Ben Heller.

The Raiders’ (4-2) offensive line powered the team to 440 rushing yards and six touchdowns against the Red. Senior quarterback Greg Sullivan notched 102 rushing yards on eight carries, for three of Colgate’s touchdowns. On the other side of the ball, Colgate clogged up running lanes and held Cornell to 124 yards.

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“Colgate is a really good team and we knew that going in. Year in and year out, they are a really good team that competes with some of the best teams around. They showed up and obviously ran the ball very well, which killed us. They had five big plays that ended the game pretty early on for us,” said senior kicker Brad Greenway.

Throughout the first quarter, the teams traded possession of the ball until the Raiders marched downfield with a nine-play drive, for 37 yards. Cornell’s defense stopped the rush, forcing the Raiders to kick a successful 30-yard field goal, making the score 3-0.

“We didn’t show up to play and it was kind of hard to watch. In the beginning we came out pretty strong. It was 3-0 after the first quarter and then they broke a couple big runs. If you take those big runs away, it’s a different game, but that’s how our season has been going,” Greenway said.

With this early lead in tow, the Raiders began dominating the field, as Sullivan and Eachus connected with one another, scoring four touchdowns and leaving the Red in a 31-0 lurch going into halftime.

Cornell’s only points in the game came from a 36-yard field goal by Greenway. Freshman quarterback Jeff Mathews threw a 29-yard completion pass to Luke Tasker, before Greenway successfully cleared the ball for three points.

Seeming to gain momentum, Cornell freshman Kevin Marchand blocked a Raider’s punt, giving the Red superb field position. Unfortunately, this was wasted by an inopportune interception on the next play. Soon after, Colgate responded and Eachus, once again, ran up the middle of the field for a 63-yard touchdown.

“Special teams were definitely a strength and have been strong every week … we blocked a field goal, we blocked a punt, and we had good kickoff coverage,” Greenway said.

With the special teams having showed great strides this year, Cornell’s young offense has been steadily improving, despite the injuries plaguing the team.

“The offense hasn’t started clicking yet. Jeff [Mathews] has done a great job, especially as a freshman out there, of taking control of the offense. He just needs to start clicking with his receivers and get the running game going. I think there are a lot of injuries now and we need the younger kids to step up and play like starters. It will be interesting to see how people react in the next few weeks and hopefully get a couple of victories,” Greenway said.

Defensively, the Red has been quite successful this year in stopping the bulk of the plays, with some minor setbacks here and there. In addition, starting defensive tackle Matt MacFarlane and safeties Heller and Brian Gee were forced to sit out, due to injuries, which only further stifled Cornell’s defense on Saturday.

“From a defensive standpoint, Colgate had about 60 plays, and scored the majority of their yards in 7 plays, so for the other 52, we successfully stopped them. It was those few seven that we didn’t do our job and be as disciplined,” Heller said.

Hoping to recover from the blow of this loss, the football team is learning from its mistakes and preparing for next week’s game.

“We need to keep listening to what the coaches say we have to do and believing in our coaches and ourselves. In every area of the field, there is room for improvement,” Greenway said.

Football Falls to Colgate, Still Winless at Home
BY JILL MENDELSOHN, The Cornell Daily Sun
http://www.cornellsun.com/section/sports/content/2010/10/18/football-falls-colgate-still-winless-home