Looking Back (Nov. 11) | Steelers 31, Browns 28
The Cleveland Browns traveled to the Steel City to face the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday with first place in the AFC North on the line. Romeo Crennel's surprising Browns team looked to have a win locked up after the first half, but quarterback Ben Roethlisberger led a furious Pittsburgh comeback to give his team a 31-28 win.
The game opened up nicely for the Browns, as Derek Anderson led his team down the field and finished off its first drive with a touchdown pass to tight end Kellen Winslow. The Browns dominated the opening two quarters, with Anderson throwing touchdowns on three of Cleveland's first four drives. The Steelers only answered with three Jeff Reed field goals and were down 21-9 at intermission.
The second half was a different story, however, as Roethlisberger took over. The Steelers' signal-caller threw a touchdown pass to Hines Ward and ran for a big 30-yard score to give Pittsburgh a 24-21 lead early in the fourth quarter. Cleveland momentarily grabbed the momentum with a 100-yard kickoff return from Josh Cribbs to take back the lead, but the Browns were unable to hold it.
Big Ben and the Steelers proved to be too much for the Browns defense, as Roethlisberger found tight end Heath Miller in the end zone with just three minutes left to complete the Steelers' comeback and give his team the victory.
Looking Ahead (Nov. 17) | Cross Country: NCAA Championships At St. Olaf College
Following its most impressive performance of the season at Saturday's New England Regionals, the men's cross country team will make its ninth-ever appearance at the NCAA Div. III Cross Country Championships Saturday. The Jumbos earned one of the 16 at-large bids handed out after an impressive third-place finish at Regionals, in which the team placed three runners - sophomore Jesse Faller and senior tri-captains Dave Sorensen and Chris Kantos - in the top 20.
Tufts will be making its first trip to Nationals since 2005, when the team finished a program-best fifth. Kantos is the only Jumbo on the current roster with national-championship experience, placing 53rd in 2005 and 136th in 2004.
The women's team did not earn an at-large bid to the Div. III Championships after finishing sixth at Regionals last weekend. But the team had a trio of runners - senior tri-captains Cat Beck and Katy O'Brien and freshman Stephanie McNamara - finish in the top 10 and all three will race individually at Nationals.
At last season's Div. III Championships, both Beck and O'Brien finished in the top 35 and earned All-American honors. Their performances were a drastic improvement from their 2005 showings, in which each placed outside the top 100.
