Saturday may have been Homecoming for Georgetown, but it was the Cornell offense that looked at home on the Multi-Sport Facility.
The Big Red (2-1, 0-1 Ivy) methodically picked apart the Hoyas all afternoon, gaining 458 yards en route to a 45-7 victory. The defeat, Georgetown’s fifth consecutive to start the season, snapped the team’s seven-year Homecoming winning streak. It is the first time since 1976 that the Hoyas have opened the season 0-5.
The lopsided defeat was the Hoyas second in a row, as the team was dropped 55-0 at Holy Cross on Sept. 22. Georgetown has been outscored 100-7 in its last two games and outgained 1072-353.
“We played hard, but we didn’t play good football,” Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Kelly said.
It all began to turn sour on the Hoyas’ opening drive. After receiving the opening kick and marching to the Cornell 29-yard line on the strength of 52 rushing and passing yards from senior quarterback Matt Bassuener, the Hoyas faced a third-and-three. The Big Red sacked Bassuener on two straight plays to take over on downs at their own 44-yard line, and they never looked back.
On Cornell’s second play from scrimmage on the ensuing possession, sophomore wide receiver Stephen Liuzza took the snap and scampered down the right sideline for a 42-yard gain. The Big Red did not pass on the drive, and senior running back Luke Siwula found the end zone on a one-yard fourth-down run.
Liuzza, who was moved to wide receiver this year after being the backup quarterback last season, took several snaps throughout the game and, while not attempting a pass, amassed 72 yards rushing and 36 yards receiving. Cornell has had the package with Liuzza in their playbook all season, but had not used until Saturday.
“[Georgetown’s defensive] end was crashing down hard and I had a chance to read it,” Liuzza said. “We put it in to counter their defense and it gave us more options.”
On the Big Red’s next two possessions, they missed a field goal, and then Hoya senior defensive back Kevin Cherepski intercepted junior Nathan Ford at the goal line after Cornell blocked a Georgetown punt. But the Hoyas could not hold the Big Red on their next drive, as Ford found sophomore wide receiver Nick Zerante on an 11-yard fade to the back of the end zone.
Georgetown’s offense was unable to string together a drive longer than 33 yards in the first half and punted four times and turned the ball over on downs twice.
“It’s a case of us executing,” Bassuener said. “That’s the only thing holding us back,”.
With 1:40 left in the half, Ford and Siwula engineered a 64-yard drive to put the Big Red up 21-0. Confident in his running game, Cornell Head Coach Tom Knowles called a run up the middle for Siwula from the 12-yard line with 10 seconds showing on the clock. Siwula went through the heart of the Hoyas’ defense for his second touchdown of the day.
“That was a real gutsy call from coach and he put it on the offensive line to get it done,” Siwula said. “It put a lot of confidence in our team coming into the second half.”
With the first possession of the third quarter, Cornell took just two and a half minutes for a 63-yard drive capped by another Siwula rushing touchdown. Siwula finished the day with 93 rushing yards and three scores despite leaving the game midway through the third quarter. The Big Red gained 252 yards on the ground.
“[Georgetown] thought we were going to be more of a throwing team because we did that against Yale,” Knowles said. “They spread out to defend our passing and we took the run inside.”
A field goal made the score 31-0 before the Hoyas could get on the scoreboard. Late in the third quarter, Bassuener found senior fullback Kyle Van Fleet streaking across the field in Cornell territory. Van Fleet made a move after the catch and ran all the way to the five-yard line on the 53-yard reception, the longest play for Georgetown all season. Two plays later, Bassuener scrambled and dove into the end zone. Ironically, the drive was the Hoyas’ shortest of the game, lasting only 43 seconds. The touchdown was the Hoyas’ first score in over six quarters.
On Cornell’s ensuing drive, Ford completed four of his five attempts for 47 yards as he led the offense down the field for another score. The Big Red would tack on another touchdown on their final drive when Liuzza scampered in from 14 yards out.
One bright spot for the Hoyas was the play of sophomore quarterback Robert Lane, who spelled Bassuener for six plays at the end of the first half and was under center for Georgetown’s final drive of the game. Lane was 0-for-1, but ran for 59 yards, more than half of the Hoyas’ 115 total rushing yards. Using a nifty fake pitch on an option play, Lane burned Cornell for a 25-yard run in the fourth quarter. Kelly said he liked the spark Lane gave to the team, and that he may use two quarterbacks in the next game.
The Big Red defense bounced back after giving up 51 points last week at Yale, allowing only one score while recording five sacks and eight other tackles for a loss.
“We saw some opportunities to blitz,” Knowles said. “When teams open up and run spread sets, we’re going to come after them.”
The Cornell special teams unit also outdueled their Georgetown counterparts, averaging 19.8 yards per punt return to the Hoyas’ paltry 4.3 yards.
“It’s like every other loss,” Cherepski said. “You just have to put it behind you, watch the film and get better from it.”
Georgetown will face its third Ivy League opponent of the year when it travels to Philadelphia on Saturday to take on the University of Pennsylvania in a battle of winless teams.
