BETHLEHEM, Penn. — “See you in the end zone,” was all senior wide receiver Jesse Baker had to say to his quarterback as they were breaking up the huddle.

About 10 seconds later, that’s exactly where the two met, celebrating Cornell’s 25-24 victory over Lehigh (1-3) that had seemed almost impossible merely seconds earlier.

“It really was a dog fight,” said head coach Jim Knowles ’87, trying to sum up the back-and-forth, rollercoaster feel of the entire afternoon. Seven lead changes, four fourth-quarter touchdowns and a leaping catch by Baker in the front corner of the end zone that won the game with three zeroes on the clock — nothing short of a classic.

BETHLEHEM, Penn. — “I still can’t believe it happened,” said senior tri-captain quarterback Nathan Ford. “I just remember, Jesse looked to me in the huddle and said, ‘I’ll see you in the end zone.’ So that’s when I knew good things were going to happen.”

[video:node=32435] And good things did happen for Ford and the Red Saturday afternoon, especially in the team’s last drive against Lehigh. Trailing 24-19, Ford connected with seniors Zac Canty, Horatio Blackman and junior Bryan Walters to march the Red to the 20-yard line.

Then, with four seconds left, Ford put his trust in senior wide receiver Jesse Baker to bring down the jump ball he threw to the right pylon in the end zone.

Before next weekend’s showdown with co-Ivy League favorite Harvard, the football squad will head to Bethlehem, Pa., tomorrow to take on Lehigh in what can be termed as a set-up game. Coming off a 17-14 win against the other Ivy League favorite Yale and with such a big conference game looming, head coach Jim Knowles ’87 is trying to keep his players focusing on one game at a time.

“This year especially, we have the mentality of one game at a time,” said senior safety Gus Krimm. “We were really happy after the Yale win and we enjoyed it, but by Tuesday, it was time to work. As for the Harvard game, we haven’t even addressed that yet.”

Fresh off one of the biggest upsets in the football program’s recent history, it is almost impossible to find anybody at Schoellkopf Field still reveling in the glory of victory. The message is simple: new week, new game, new opponent.

During the previous four seasons with head coach Jim Knowles ’87 at the helm, the football squad may have succumbed to the hype that comes with defeating a team such as Yale, the preseason Ivy League favorite. Not this year.

Huddled up, but not too hyped up: As opposed to years past, when the football team would dwell on misfortune, the Red has a new attitude this year to remain cool and collected on the sidelines when the game gets close.

If anyone ever made a talking doll of football head coach Jim Knowles ’87, choosing its phrases would not be that difficult. And in the press conference after Cornell’s 17-14 win over Yale on Saturday — an old-fashioned skirmish befitting the drizzle and gloomy clouds — the media pulled the string and Knowles uttered one of his favorite idioms.

“This was not about offense, defense, or special teams,” he said. “It’s about one team.”

As true as that has been through two games this year, with the offense picking up the defense and vice versa, Saturday’s tilt was certainly about the defense.

Head coach Jim Knowles ’87 is trying to take a more even-keeled approach in 2008 than in the past, but it was difficult for him not to get excited after his team beat preseason Ivy League favorite Yale in front of a Homecoming crowd of 11,143. Cornell’s soggy 17-14 upset over the perennial Ancient Eight contenders Saturday afternoon at rain-drenched Schoellkopf Field was primarily the by-product of an aggressive and well-executed defensive scheme that restricted senior All-American running back Mike McLeod to 57 rushing yards and zero trips to the end zone on 20 carries.

The biggest concern for most students regarding tomorrow’s Homecoming game is the likelihood of rain. The football team, however, has bigger concerns, as preseason Ivy League favorite Yale will visit Ithaca with aspirations of spoiling the Red’s return to Schoellkopf Field.

“It’s not just Homecoming, it’s our first home game,” Rihn said. “I love playing at Schoellkopf. I think we are dangerous at Schoellkopf and with Yale being the preseason favorite, that adds a little something to the game.”

LEWISBERG, Penn. — Senior defensive lineman Graham Rihn had seen it before. It was something he noticed while playing Bucknell earlier in his career; something that could mean the difference between a win and loss. Rihn knew there was no second line of defense. If he could somehow slip through the initial blocks from offensive lineman, his path to the kicker would be unimpeded. That is exactly what transpired Saturday evening in the Red’s 21-20 victory at Christy Mathewson Stadium.

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LEWISBERG, Penn. — The football team’s grit was tested Saturday night as the Red defeated the Bison 21-20. Only ahead by one point after a Bucknell touchdown, senior co-captain Graham Rihn and the defense halted the Bison’s attempts with a PAT block and a defensive stop on the ensuing possession. In the past couple of seasons, head coach Jim Knowles ’87 wouldn’t have predicted his squad to fare so well on the road in that type of pressure situation.

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“We had some plays out there that didn’t go our way,” Knowles said. “In the past, we might have gone in the tank, but there was a resolve in the team to stick together”