Penn (5-3, 3-2 Ivy) vsHarvard (5-3, 3-2Ivy)
Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005
Noon ? Harvard Stadium
Can be seen live on the YES Network and heard on ESPN 920 AM and www.pennathletics.com
Penn v. Harvard Game Notes
?The Penn football team travels to Cambridge, Mass. on Saturday, Nov. 12 for a noon start. Penn (5-3, 3-2) is coming of a 30-13 loss to Princeton at home, while Harvard (5-3, 3-2) is glowing from a 55-7 win at Columbia. Both teams enter the contest with a 3-2 Ancient Eight mark.
? Saturday's game will be aired on the YES Network. This is the fourth straight year that Ivy League football is being shown nationally on the YES Network, which is available to viewers in New York, Connecticut, and large parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania as well as nationally on DIRECTV (Channel 622).
?This season Penn football games can be heard live on ESPN 920 AM and on the Penn Athletics web site www.pennathletics.com. Matt Leon (play-by-play) and Hench Murray (color analyst) return for their third season in the broadcast booth. Brian Seltzer will provide sideline content. The pre-game show begins approximately 30 minutes before kickoff.
?At halftime of this week's broadcast, Matt Leon will speak with former Quaker Ben Noll. An All-Ivy League honoree and four-year letterwinner from 2001-2003, Noll is currently playing for the National Football League's Dallas Cowboys.
?The University of Pennsylvania football team will be featured on ESPN's "The Season." "The Season" followed Penn football players and coaches around last week, prior to the Penn vs. Princeton game. Penn is the first I-AA football program to be featured on the series. The show will air on Thursday, Nov. 10.
? The entire University of Pennsylvania community suffered a shock on Monday, Oct. 10 with the death of Kyle Ambrogi, a senior at the University and a member of the football team. To honor their fallen teammate, the Quaker football team is wearing a white patch with his number (31) on their helmets for the remainder of the season. A replica of that patch can be found in the upper left side of this page. Ambrogi's death came on the heels of arguably his finest hour on the Franklin Field turf; just two days earlier, he had scored two touchdowns in the Quakers' 53-7 win over Bucknell. Kyle's brother Greg also scored in that game; it is believed to be the first time a pair of brothers scored for Penn in the same game since the official formation of the Ivy League in 1956.
? Head Coach Al Bagnoli is one win away from the century mark at Penn. The 14-year head coach has 99 wins at Penn, while his 185 career wins are second best among active Division I-AA coaches.
? Bagnoli has also made a name for himself in Ivy League victories. He has 72 Ancient Eight wins which ranks fourth among all Ivy League coaches. Joe Restic, who coached at Harvard from 1971-93, is third with 92 conference wins.
? Penn entered the 2005 season with the best winning percentage for all NCAA Division I-AA schools in the decade of the 2000s. The Red and Blue have won 88.1 percent (52-7) of their games so far this decade. Montana was second on that list, and has won 82.8 percent (63-13) of their games this decade.
? The Series ? Saturday's game marks the 76th meeting between Harvard and Penn. The Crimson hold a 42-31-2 advantage in the series that dates back to 1881. The Quakers are 10-3 against the Crimson under Head Coach Al Bagnoli. The Red and Blue have not lost at Harvard Stadium since 2001, a 28-21 defeat on Nov. 10. Last season, Penn fell to the Crimson, 31-10, on Franklin Field. The Crimson went on to finish the season undefeated.
? Penn has allowed only two touchdowns in the first quarter of play all season. Duquesne and Princeton both scored TDs in the first quarter. Brown is the only other team to put points on the board in the first 15 minutes. The Bears went ahead 3-0 against Penn in the first quarter on a 47-yard field goal.
? Juniors Joe Sandberg and Dan McDonald combined to score Penn's two touchdowns in a 30-13 loss to Princeton last week. Sandberg ran in a 25-yard score in the second quarter to pull the Quakers within 14-6. McDonald put the only points of the third quarter on the board when he connected with senior QB Pat McDermott for a 21-yard TD pass.
? Sandberg has scored at least one touchdown in the last four games and has scored in five of the seven games he has played in. The junior running back has six TDs on the season. He scored two touchdowns two weeks ago against Brown. It was his first multi-touchdown game.
? Sandberg is second on the team in rushing and third in receptions and leads the team in all-purpose yards. He has 345 yards rushing on 57 carries (49.3 per game), 23 catches for 338 yards (48.3 per game), and 120 yards on kickoff returns for 803 yards (114.7 per game).
? Junior Kory Gedin led the defense with 12 tackles, including three for loss and one sack against Princeton. This is the second time in his career he has made 12 stops. Gedin is second on the team in tackles with 49. He leads the Red and Blue with tackles for a loss with 9.5 for a loss of 36 yards.
? Senior Michael Johns recovered a fumble on the 1-yard line against the Tigers. Princeton's Rob Toresco was headed into the end zone with the ball in his hands when the ball fell loose and Johns picked it up. Johns also had seven tackles in the game including four solo.
? Senior captain Ric San Doval leads the team in tackles this season. San Doval has 59 stops to his credit including 32 solo. He has 7.5 tackles for a loss of 36 yards, three sacks and three fumble recoveries. He had 12 tackles against the Tigers last week.
? Senior Sam Mathews rushed for 46 yards on 20 carries against the Tigers. His performance moves him into a tie for fourth in all-time rushing yards at Penn. Mathews has 2,479 career rushing yards. He needs 239 yards to surpass Terrance Stokes and move into third.
? Combined with 677 receiving yards, Mathews is seventh all-time in all-purpose yards with 3,156. In his Penn career, he has scored 25 touchdowns.
? Senior Pat McDermott is another Quaker climbing the all-time charts in his last season. McDermott threw for 229 yards against Princeton, giving him 3,546 career passing yards which is sixth all-time. He needs 313 to move into fifth and 340 for fourth.
? McDermott has thrown for more than 200 yards nine times in his career. He reached 200 or more yards in five games last season and has done so four times in 2005. He is averaging 192.4 yards per game which ranks fifth in the Ancient Eight.
? The Penn defense is fifth in Division I-AA in rushing defense. The Quakers, who held the top spot for two weeks, have let up only 89.8 yards per game. The Red and Blue are second in the Ancient Eight in rushing defense and first in total defense (11th in I-AA).
? Junior wide receiver Matt Carre has had at least one catch in every game this season. He has 24 catches for 376 yards (47.0 yards per game), an average of 15.7 yards per catch, and five touchdowns.
? The Quakers is second in the Ancient Eight in net punting. Penn averages 33.26 yards per punt, which also ranks 39th in I-AA.
? Kicker Derek Zoch is 18th in I-AA in field goals. The sophomore has made 10 field goals this season and averages 1.25 field goals per game. The school record for field goals in a season is 15, held by Rich Friedenberg, who accomplished that feat in 1988, and Jason Feinberg who did the same in 1999 and 2000.
? This is the first season since 2000 in which Penn and Harvard have both lost Ivy League games to opponents other than each other.
? Flashback ? On Nov. 15, 2003 Penn clinched its 10th Ivy League title with a 32-24 victory at Harvard Stadium. Penn jumped out to a quick 22-0 lead on Mike Mitchell touchdown strikes to Brian Adams (11), Dan Castles (44) and Kevin Desmedt (7) 16:26 into the contest. That lead was extended to 29-7 to start the second half when Michael Recchuiti scored his first touchdown of the season on a 2-yard run. Veldman then converted a 35-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter in heavy cross winds to give Penn a 32-16 advantage with less than eight minutes to play. However, Penn still needed some late-game heroics from senior captain Steve Lhotak, as the linebacker pulled down Harvard's Matt Frotto on the Quakers' six-yardline as time expired to seal the win. Lhotak recorded a career and game-high 16 tackles (including nine solo) and career and game-high 4.5 sacks to pace the Penn defense.
? Harvard's Passing Game ? Sophomore QB Liam O'Hagan has taken the majority of the snaps for the Crimson this season. O'Hagan was gone 113-of-191 for 1,461 yards and 10 touchdowns. O'Hagan averages 182.6 yards per game and rushed for 357 yards and seven touchdowns. Fourteen different receivers have catches this season. Alex Breaux and Ryan Tyler each have three TD catches.
? Harvard's Running Game ? Clifton Dawson is the Crimson's running game. The junior running back has 10 touchdowns and 906 yards to his credit. He averages 4.4 yards per carry and 113.2 yards per game. Other than O'Hagan, only one other player has rushed for more than 100 yards ? Neil Sherlock, who has 123 yards on 25 carries. Back-up QB Richard Irvin has one rushing TD, as well.
? Harvard on Defense ? The Crimson have the best rushing defense in the nation. Harvard has held its opponents to just 86.1 yards per game on the ground. Matt Thomas leads the team in tackles with 54, including 28 solo. Thomas has 10 tackles for a loss, three sacks, an interception, three pass breakups and two fumble recoveries. Keith Howell and Ryan Tully have 47 and 45 tackles, respectively. Tully has 10 tackles for a loss and one sack. Doug Hewlett has five interceptions on the season. The defense leads the Ancient Eight with 27 sacks.
? Harvard on Special Teams ? Matt Schindel is a perfect 7-for-7 in field goals this season. His longest of the season was a 39-yarder against Princeton. Neil Sherlock has been the kickoff return man this season with 495 yards on 25 returns, a 19.8 average which is third in the Ivy League. Clifton Dawson returned a kickoff 92 yards for a TD against Dartmouth.
Download: harvard.pdf
