ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) _ Ricky Rahne threw an 18-yard pass to Keith Ferguson and John McCombs' extra point was good with 26 seconds left to give Cornell a 24-23 comeback win over Harvard Saturday in the Ivy League.

Rahne completed 27 of 49 passes for 297 yards as Cornell (4-0, 3-0) stormed back from a 23-10 deficit in the fourth quarter after Harvard scored 20 unanswered points.

With less than eight minutes left in the game Rahne led a 72-yard, 11-play drive that ended with a 2-yard pass to Joe Splendorio. The drive almost stalled, but was kept alive by a Harvard holding penalty when the Big Red faced fourth down on Harvard's 19-yard line.

With 2:53 left in the game, Harvard was ahead 23-17. Then Cornell stopped a drive by Harvard (2-2, 1-1) and the Big Red drove 58 yards for the winning touchdown.

Harvard's quick, 40-yard drive after the kickoff ended when Mike Giampaolo's attempt at a 40-yard field goal was blocked by Splendorio.

"How do you top this?" asked Cornell head coach Pete Mangurian. "We hung in there the whole game. This team has tremendous character ... we were nervous, we were jittery, out of sync, but we hung in there and got it done in the end. I think it came down to special teams in the end."

Harvard ended the day with 419 total yards to Cornell's 380. Harvard's margin comes from a rushing advantage of 236 yards to Cornell's 83.

The game's top rushers were Harvard's Chris Menick who had 115 yards on 22 carries and Chuch Nwokocha who had 110 yards on 14 carries including a touchdown. The Crimson's Brad Wilford completed 17 of 30 passes for 183 yards and ran for 13 more.

"I've never really been involved in anything like that," Harvard coach Tim Murphy said after the game. "Cornell deserved to win. They made the plays ... We had a chance to put them away and we didn't do it ... I don't know what magic Cornell has right now."

Harvard scored on its opening drive with a 20-yard field goal, but Cornell's John McComb's tied the game soon after with a 23-yarder after Cornell's 73-yard drive was stopped.

Minutes later Cornell's Vincent Bates returned a punt 73 yards for a touchdown and an early 10-3 lead.

Harvard scored in the second quarter on a 52-yard drive completed by Nwokocha's 11-yard run for a TD. Harvard continued scoring early in the third quarter when Brad Wilford ran in from the 3-yard line and Giampaolo hit field goals of 32 and 39 yards.

Then Cornell scored 14 points in the last three minutes to steal the game away.

"Basically it was Keith (Ferguson) beating his guy," Rahne said of the final TD. "He made a great catch and great move after he caught it."

At halftime, Rahne said he was down. "The players just came up to me and told me that I was their leader and I was going to take them there. I just thought to myself, `You have nothing to lose, might as well go out there and try to win."'