Boca Raton, FL -- Payton Award finalist Jamaal Branch rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on 45 carries, leading the fourth-ranked Colgate Raiders to a 36-24 victory over the 13th-ranked Florida Atlantic Owls in a Division I-AA semifinal from Lockhart Stadium.

Chris Brown had a terrific day behind center for Colgate (15-0), which followed up a 28-27 win in a driving blizzard against Western Illinois with an impressive performance.

Brown was 16-of-26 passing for 207 yards and three scores, with one interception, and ran for 78 yards and a touchdown on 14 attempts.

Luke Graham caught six passes for 77 yards and two touchdowns for the Raiders, who will face Delaware, triumphant over Wofford Saturday afternoon, in the Division I-AA final from Chattanooga, Tennessee on December 19th.

Jared Allen was 22-for-39 passing for 266 yards and a touchdown, but also threw three costly interceptions for Florida Atlantic (11-3), which had a 10- game winning streak snapped.

Doug Parker led FAU in rushing with 47 yards and a touchdown on eight carries. Anthony Crissinger-Hill caught six passes for 114 yards for the Owls, who earned a trip to the game with a 48-25 dismantling of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff last weekend.

Colgate jumped out to an early lead on the opening drive of the game, moving 85 yards in 12 plays and hitting paydirt on an eight-yard Branch jaunt. But Luke Schwarzberg's extra point attempt failed, making it 6-0.

The Raiders followed that up with an 11-play, 61-yard drive, capped by a 30- yard Schwarzberg field goal, that gave them a 9-0 lead with almost three minutes to play in the first quarter.

Florida Atlantic turned a Brown interception into a touchdown early in the second quarter, going 45 yards in seven plays with Parker running it in from one yard out.

But Colgate responded with two touchdown strikes from Brown to Graham, just 1:10 apart with less than four minutes to go in the half that grabbed control of the game for the Raiders.

The first was a six-yard pass that ended a 15-play, 80-yard drive with 3:49 to go, and the second followed a recovered kickoff by Colgate, with Graham snaring a 14-yarder with 2:39 remaining to close out a three-play, 30-yard trip.

Colgate held the 23-7 advantage at the half.

The Owls moved 45 yards in 10 plays early in the second half, with Mark Myers hitting a 43-yard field goal to make it 23-10, but Colgate responded with a 17-play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown. Brown hit DeWayne Long with an eight- yard pass with 2:07 to play to give Colgate the 30-10 lead.

Less than two minutes later, Parker caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Allen to make it 30-17, and give FAU a chance in the fourth.

But in the fourth quarter, each team added a touchdown to account for the final score.

Brown ran it in from three yards out with 9:19 to go, but Colgate couldn't convert on the two-point attempt. For FAU, Ertwyn Henry scored on a 14-yard return of a blocked punt with 5:17 remaining.