Fresh off clinching at least a share of the Ivy League championship, the football team got some recognition yesterday after their 17-7 win
over Harvard.

For the first time since the 2005 season the Quakers entered the national rankings, as their 367 votes earned them 24th in the latest
Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision Media Poll. Penn’s 7-2 record is 18th best of any ranked team, and its two
losses were to No. 2 Villanova (14-3) and No. 22 Lafayette (20-17 in overtime).

In addition, the Quakers got two Ivy Player of the Week awards. Senior linebacker Jake Lewko won Defensive POY after a career-high 15
tackles, while senior quarterback Kyle Olson won Offensive POY after scoring both of Penn’s touchdowns.

With the de facto Ivy championship just two days away, Keiffer Garton’s return to practice couldn’t have come at a better time. Then again, Kyle Olson’s stellar play of late raises an interesting predicament. Do you go with your established starter? Or do you go with your hot hand?

Al Bagnoli sides with the latter, as he already said that Kyle Olson will be his starter. But the question remains: how much playing time will Garton actually see? Bagnoli said “Kyle will take the majority of the snaps and we’ll play it by ear, see what happens. We fully intend to get Keiffer in the game.”

Sure, Garton should get in the game, if not to get the talented quarterback a chance to make some plays, then just to make sure Harvard has it in the back of its mind. But what if Olson continues to light it up, like he has the last two weeks? Harvard’s No. 6 Ivy pass defense shouldn’t be too much of a probem for him, but its No. 2 run defense certainly will be. If Olson plays well and say the team takes a lead, does Bagnoli risk bringing in a completely cold Keiffer Garton?

It seems that “playing it by ear” simply means Bagnoli will have to make the decision on the fly. If Olson can’t get the offense going, Garton will almost definitely see the field. If Olson keeps it up, though, I don’t think Bagnoli can (or will) go to Garton. And when you throw in the consideration of whether he will mix in the wildcat/slash/single-wing/whatever, this will almost definitely be the most interesting element of this game. And Bagnoli’s decision could very well end up determining the next Ivy League champion.

I wouldn’t be telling you anything new if I told you the Penn defense was good. But what’s shocking is just how great the unit has been this season.

Arguably, the Penn defense has been the best in the Football Championship Subdivision. They have allowed only 11 points per game, the fewest in the nation. On top of that, the Quakers are giving up the fewest rushing yards per game in the FCS, with 60.88. In all of Division I football, only BCS No. 3 Texas is giving up fewer yards per game on the ground. I know it’s silly to compare FCS teams with FBS teams, but that’s an impressive stat no matter how you look at it. Penn last led the FCS (then Division I-AA) in these two metrics in 2002.

The Quakers are also second in total defense (227 yards per game), sixth in opponents’ quarterback rating (99.58), and tenth in sacks (three per game). Penn leads the Ivy League in every major defensive category according to the NCAA website.

As far as this weekend’s matchup against Harvard goes, fans shouldn’t expect either team to have too much success on the ground. While Penn has the best rush defense in the nation, Harvard’s is third-best. There’s a good chance the contest could be decided through the air, with Penn’s 88th ranked passing offense against Harvard’s 88th ranked pass defense and Harvard’s 60th-ranked throwing attack against Penn’s 21st-ranked pass ‘D’.

Among the many great things the Quakers can take away from Saturday’s 14-7 overtime victory over Brown, the performance of senior wide receiver Kyle Derham may be among the most crucial.

It’s no secret that the Penn passing game had been nearly non-existent this season, ranking in at 107th out of the 118 teams in the Football Championship Subdivision going into Saturday’s contest. Of course, a lot of that had to do with injuries to nearly every quarterback on the roster and the focus on the impressive running game, but it hasn’t been helped by the inability of any wide receiver to step up. That changed Saturday, as Derham caught 8 passes for 95 yards (both season highs for the Quakers). Two of those came in overtime, including the game-winning score, his first since last year’s opener against Villanova.

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Another Quakers win, another week of What the Other Side is Saying. This time let’s look at the Brown Daily Herald’s coverage, as well as that of the Providence Journal.

The Daily Herald just had a simple recap of the game, leading with a quick recap of Penn’s overtime woes since 2006. Two interesting stats from the article:

1) If the Quakers had shut out Brown — and they were a pick six away from doing so — it would’ve been the first time Brown failed to score since 1996.

2) Brown running back running back Zach Tronti didn’t touch the ball in the second quarter and got only six handoffs in the final two quarters, yet somehow had 63 yards on 11 carries, making him only the second running back to gain over 60 yards against Penn this season.

That second stat about Brown’s limited success running the ball led to two comments on the Pro Jo recap. The two comments astutely called out Bears coach Phil Estes for relying heavily on the pass. Meanwhile, Penn’s vaunted rush D did give up 5.7 yards per carry to Tronti, yet he didn’t even get a dozen carries. Considering Penn — usually a run-first team — focused on its passing game, perhaps if Brown had gone to its rushing game more often it would’ve compensated for the below-average performance of its Ivy-leading passing attack. Then again, it’s easy being a Monday (afternoon) quarterback.

Good afternoon Quakers fans! This is Joe Sanfilippo with you live from Brown Stadium in beautiful Providence, R.I. The sun is out, the sky is clear and the winds are calm, so it looks like Penn will finally get to play in some good weather. Click the link below to follow along with all the action.

Penn Football at Brown

Last week I started this new feature of linking to the opposing school’s football stories. Week 1 illustrated the Columbia Spectator’s reaction to Penn’s 27-13 win. This week, let’s see what the Yale Daily News — considered one of the better Ivy newspapers – had to say about Penn’s 9-0 shutout.

The YDN only had one article, a standard recap with a sweet quote from Bulldogs coach Tom Williams, who said “we played with great violence.” (Notice the photo credit). Interesting facts from the recap: though Penn hadn’t shut out an opponent since November 2007, Yale was shut out as recently as the last game of 2008, and in fact didn’t score an offensive touchdown for the second straight week.

There were several comments on the article. Some were vehemently against Williams, who hasn’t thrilled Yalies in his rookie year as coach. But the one defense of him that I especially liked went for the French Revolution metaphor: “Roll the guillotine back into storeage for a bit. … Show Mr. Williams a year of mercy, since the unfortunate truth is that his current minions are all holdovers from the ancien régime.

I know it’s been a while, but here’s a Random Ivy notes:

1) Sure it’s been beaten to death many times before, but here’s another column decrying the Ivy League’s ban on football postseason play. I’ve already stated I’m pro-football playoffs, and won’t rehash the arguments. But this column, written by someone from Delaware of all places, emphatically believes it’s “the dumbest, most unfair rule in sports” that the Ivy champion can’t play in the FCS playoffs. (Some background: when he’s talking about Delaware playing Delaware State, he’s referring to the Blue Hen’s refusal to play their in-state rivals.)

2) As a hard-hitting linebacker (and center) for Penn and the Eagles, Chuck Bednarik probably would’ve liked the Penn-Yale game Saturday that ended 9-0. He actually was present at Franklin Field, signing copies of an oral history about him. Although we were told not to talk to him, Soft Pretzel Logic got a short video interview with the Philadelphia legend.

3) The Cornell Basketball Blog has an index of season previews, and not surprisingly the Big Red are the consensus preseason No. 1 Ivy team. Penn’s preseason ranking is extremely more volatile, ranging from second to seventh.

(Ed Note: I spotted Keiffer Garton the other day in Annenberg on crutches. So I asked Staff Writer Eli Cohen to follow up at practice. Here’s what Eli got).

Last Saturday against Columbia, junior quarterback Keiffer Garton — who had missed the previous two games with an elbow injury — rebounded from a two-interception first half to throw two touchdowns and lead Penn to a decisive 27-13 victory.

Coaches as well as spectators were curious as to whether or not Garton would be able to play like he did in the second half when Yale comes to Franklin Field Saturday.

Now, coach Al Bagnoli and the Quakers won’t have to worry about how Garton will perform against the Bulldogs.

Because Garton won’t be playing.

The Castle Rock, Colo., native sustained a knee sprain during Tuesday’s practice, and was heavily bandaged and on crutches by the next day.

Bagnoli is not optimistic about Garton’s chances of playing soon, and doesn’t really know what to expect.

For the time being, however, senior Kyle Olson, who Bagnoli claims is 100 percent healthy and ready to go after recovering from his own knee injury, will start for the Quakers as they try to continue their three-game winning streak.

(Be sure to check thedp.com/sports later today when we post our preview of the Yale game for more info).

I’m going to try a new feature on The Buzz this week. Each Monday I’ll try to find stories on the football game from the past weekend written by the opposing team’s student newspaper (and in the case of the more rural schools the local professional papers as well). Obviously I’m a few days behind, but with Fall Break at Penn earlier this week, The DP only published our own stories today so I didn’t think of this idea until now. So sorry the Columbia Spectator stories are a few days old.

First is the standard recap. Interestingly, while we refer to the Lions quarterback as M. A. Olawale, The Spectator uses his first name, Millicent. Also, Lou Miller led the Columbia defense with 10 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and five tackles for a loss, and earned the inaugural John Toner Columbia Football Homecoming Player of the Game award for his efforts.

They also have a sidebar on turnovers, which is similar to my column that ran today, though of course without opinion. (There was no column.)

In addition, since it’s already Wednesday, The Spectator has their equivalent of an Ivy notebook. They focus on the fact that just three Ivy teams won, including Penn and Brown who beat League foes Columbia and Princeton, respectively. Of note, it also mentions that Princeton star linebacker Scott Britton suffered a knee injury in the loss and probably will miss the rest of the season. That marks the second Tigers standout — after running back Jordan Culbreath – to suffere a season-ending injury.