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NEW YORK - The Columbia football team fell to No. 18/19 Fordham, 49-7, on Saturday at Robert K. Kraft Field at Wien Stadium.

Junior Toba Akinleye paced the defense with a team-high 11 tackles and added two sacks. 

On the second Rams' drive, quarterback Mike Nebrich completed a 38-yard pass down the right sideline to Sam Ajala to set up first and goal from the six. A Max Keefe sack and an incomplete third-down Nebrich pass forced a 20-yard field goal by Michael Marando that split the uprights.

A Columbia punt on its second possession of the first quarter led to more big plays by Fordham's passing attack. Nebrich converted a third and ten on a shovel pass to Kendall Pearcey for 13 yards and a first down. After two incomplete passes, Akinleye came up with a key sack on third down to limit the Rams to a 46-yard field goal to give Fordham a 6-0 lead with 3:54 to play in the first.

However, Nebrich and Ajala were back at it on the following Rams drive, completing a 42-yard catch-and-run on a post pattern to move into Columbia territory. Three more completions kept the chains moving and advanced inside the 10. With the ball on the Lions' nine, Nebrich was hit hard, but managed to complete a cross-field pass to tight end Dan Light, who caught the ball at the one and fell into the endzone. Light went on to catch a pass on a botched snap during the extra point attempt, giving Fordham a 14-0 edge at the 9:50 mark in the second.

The Rams' Tebucky Jones hauled in a one-handed grab on a post route and ran another ten yards in for a 51-yard strike to push Fordham's advantage to 21-0 with 1:18 to play before intermission. 

On its first drive of the second half, the Rams found the end zone again when Edmonds scored on an eight-yard run up the middle, capping a 13-play, 89-yard drive that put Fordham on top 28-0 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.

The Rams tacked on three more touchdowns in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach, but Columbia broke up the shutout bid in the final minute of play.

Junior quarterback Brett Nottingham hooked up with tight end John Hunton for a 29-yard touchdown to cap an eight play, 78-yard scoring drive. The extra point put the score at 49-7 with 25 seconds remaining in the game.

Edmonds finished with 174 yards rushing on 27 attempts. Nebrich compiled 435 yards through the air, completing 32-of-48 of his passes.

Columbia returns to the gridiron when it makes the trip to Albany Saturday, Sept. 27 for a matchup with the Great Danes.