PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team could not get untracked offensively on Friday night and fell to Yale, 23-10, at Franklin Field. Friday's game was nationally televised on ESPNU.
 
Penn fell to 4-2 overall and 1-2 in Ivy League play. Yale, which won the Ivy title a year ago, is also 4-2 overall and improved to 2-1 in Ancient Eight play with the victory.
 
Yale took the opening kickoff and immediately announced its presence to a partisan Franklin Field crowd as running back Alan Lamar ripped off a 47-yard run on the game's very first play. That was the harbinger for a 75-yard drive that took just seven plays and ended with Kurt Rawlings taking it into the end zone from four yards out. The Bulldogs then successfully went for two, Patrick Conte finding Quinn Dawson on a pass play to make the score 8-0.
 
Penn attempted to get the points right back, taking its opening drive down to Yale's 6-yard line. A third-down pass play was incomplete, however, and the Quakers settled for a 23-yard Jack Soslow field goal to make it 8-3.
 
Yale made it 15-3 in short order, The drive eerily mirrored the Bulldogs first one, again covering 75 yards and again taking just seven plays, and while Lamar had another 47-yard run this time it ended the drive as he ran out of real estate by crossing the goal line for a touchdown.
 
Yale added to its lead just before the half with a 50-yard drive that took more than three minutes and ended with a Lamar two-yard rush to paydirt. The extra point was blocked, and the teams went to the locker rooms with the Bulldogs up, 21-3.
 
After Penn punted on its first second-half possession, Yale drove the field and had fourth down on the Quakers' 1-yard line. Lamar tried to go over the top and was met there by Zach Evans, who forced a fumble that the Red and Blue recovered. Penn's first play after that was ruled a fumble recovered by Yale; however, a booth review reversed the call to an incomplete pass.
 
The combination of those two plays served to boost the Quakers, who used the next 11 plays to go the length of field—all 99 yards—and score to make it 21-10. Ryan Glover completed six of seven passes after the overturned call, including a nine-yarder to Steve Farrell in the left corner of the end zone that was the scoring play.
 
The defense forced a Yale punt near midfield after that, and took over on its own 9-yard line. Disaster immediately struck, as the snap appeared to be muffed and rolled into the end zone where the Quakers fell on it for a safety. That gave the Bulldogs a 23-10 lead and the ball as the third quarter concluded.
 
There was no scoring in the fourth quarter, although the Quakers put a charge into the crowd late when Glover found Farrell for an 87-yard pass play -- the third-longest completion in Penn Football's 142-year history -- that got Penn from its own 1-yard line to Yale's 12. However, the drive stalled from there and the Red and Blue lost the ball on downs. From there, the Bulldogs ran out the clock to end the game.
 
Penn will be on the road the next two weeks, starting next Saturday when the Quakers play at Brown, Kickoff with the Bears is scheduled for 1 p.m.