Exclamation Point

Sean Morey as a Steeler


Game of the Day (Day 6)

November 23, 1996

Columbia 31 Brown 27

After the 6-0 start to the 1996 season, Columbia suffered two heart wrenching losses in a row to Princeton, (a close one), and eventual Ivy champ Dartmouth, (an embarrassing rout), to fall to 6-2. Most Lion teams of the past would have phoned in the final two games of the season after those two losses, but not this very special Columbia team.

After beating Cornell 24-10 with a stiffling defense in week 9, the Lions faced Brown and the Bears high-powered offense led by quarterback Jason McCullough and future NFL'er WR Sean Morey.

The first half actually was dominated by the defense. Tied at 7-7 late in the second quarter, Columbia recovered a McCullough fumble at the Brown 22 and turned that into a 31-yard field goal by Matt Linit for the 10-7 halftime lead.

Early in the third quarter, the Lions made it 17-7 when Andre Ogundare recovered a fumble by the Brown punter Tom Routt at the Bears' 23. Marcellus Wiley finished that short drive with a one yard TD run.

But then McCullough got going. He led the Bears on two long drives, both ending in TD passes to make it 20-17 Brown early in the 4th. The Bears failed to convert the PAT on the first TD and that would come into play later.

Columbia struck back quickly, going 70 yards for a TD drive that ended with a one yard run by quarterback Bobby Thomason to make it 24-20 with about 10 minutes left.

Then it was McCullough's turn again, he sustained a longer drive ending with a TD pass to Morey with just 4:44 left in the game and a 27-24 Bear lead.

Now back to Thomason, who engineered a 7-play 80-yard drive in less than 3 minutes that ended with an 11-yard TD pass to David Ramirez with 1:55 to go.

McCullough and Brown had one more chance. They got as close as the Lion five, but because of that missed PAT, a field goal would do them no good and the Bears had to for a touchdown. McCullough's pass on the final play of the game was batted down in the end zone by Columbia's Joey Bolder and Jesse Nunn.

Thomason finished the game 27 of 41 for 256 yards. McCullough went 26 of 55 for 368 yards.

Columbia wouldn't beat Brown again for another 10 years.