The 142nd season of Penn Football comes to a close with a storied rival on the other side of the ball. Penn vs. Princeton usually needs no extra motivation, but the Quakers can rain on the Tigers' parade and spoil a perfect season with a win in New Jersey in the second-latest meeting out of the 110 games played between the two schools.
The Penn-Princeton Series — 110th Meeting
The Quakers spotted Princeton a 28-0 lead in the all-time series as the Tigers won each meeting from 1876-1891. Since then, the series is a tad more evenly-played, Penn has a 42-38-1 lead since notching its first win in 1892. Since 1993, the Quakers are 19-5 against the Tigers, and
Ray Priore is 2-1 in his three games against Princeton. Today's game will be the second-latest meeting between the two teams — only the 11.25.1876 meeting took place later into a season.
Looking Back On The 2017 Meeting
A wild finish unfolded at Franklin Field last season as the Quakers watched a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter turn into a 35-31 Princeton lead with 4:26 remaining. The Red and Blue would march 80 yards down the field, capping their game-winning drive with a 15-yard
Justin Watson touchdown reception with 1:12 remaining. Things were not quite settled, though. An apparent Penn interception was negated by an offside penalty, and then a would-be Princeton touchdown was found to be out of bounds. All that commotion set up a 31-yard field goal attempt by Princeton with 0:07 remaining. That kick? Sailed wide right. Penn celebrated a 38-35 win on Homecoming.
Pulling Rank
Penn is 3-1 against Top-25 teams under head coach
Ray Priore, including a win at No. 4/5 Villanova in 2015. The Quakers have won their last two games against Top-25 opponents, wins over No. 12/13 Harvard (2015) and No. 22/24 Harvard (2016). Under Priore, Penn is 2-0 in road games against Top-25 opponents.
Strength vs. Strength
The Quakers enter today's game ranked No. 10 in the country in Scoring Defense, allowing 18.6 points per game. Princeton's offense is ranked No. 1 in the nation in Scoring Offense, averaging 47.6 points per game. The Red and Blue are allowing 314.4 yards per game — No. 18 in the country. Princeton is totaling 532.1 yards of offense a game — No. 3 in the nation.
#Winning
Penn's 20-7 victory at Cornell on ESPNU Friday night clinched a fourth consecutive winning season for the Quakers since
Ray Priore took over as head coach. Since 2015, Penn is the only Ivy League team with a winning record each season.Â
A Look at Princeton
The Tigers are ranked as high as they have been since the FCS level began in 1978, sitting as one of three remaining unbeaten teams in all of the FCS. Princeton is staring down just the second undefeated Ivy League season since the Ancient Eight formed in 1956, looking to join the 1964 team. The Tigers are lethal in the red zone — Princeton has 38 red zone touchdowns this season, no other Ivy League team has even reached the red zone 38 times.
Jack Attack
Jack Soslow is 21-for-29 on field goals for his career, and had made nine in a row dating back to 10/21/17 against Yale before a 41-yard attempt hit the right upright at Dartmouth. He is 54-for-55 on career PATs.
Miller Time
Senior linebacker
Nick Miller has 10+ tackles in six of nine games this season and has done so in 14 of his last 19 games dating back to the start of 2017. A first-team All-Ivy linebacker and finalist for Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2017, Miller has six forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries over his last 19 games.
Protect The Quarterback
The Quakers have allowed just seven sacks over nine games in 2018, No. 9 in the nation in sacks allowed per game (0.78). Penn went 67 pass attempts into 2018 before allowing its first sack in Week Three at Dartmouth. Penn's 4.11 TFLs allowed through seven games ranks No. 11 in the country.
Thrown For A Loss (TFL)
The Quakers aren't getting in the backfield only for sacks, Penn's 7.7 TFLs per game rank No. 11 in the country and lead the Ivy League. 16 different players have at least 1.0 TFLS and 12 have more than two.
Third Down Thoughts
The Quakers have converted 39-of-123 (32%) third down attempts, ranking No. 97 in the country. On defense, Penn is getting it done on third down — opponents are 47-of-135 for a conversion rate of 35% — good enough to rank Penn No. 36 in the nation.
Fourth Down Facts
Penn is the only team in FCS football without a fourth down conversion this season, entering this week 0-for-7. The Quakers are winning 4th down on defense, with opponents converting at 33%, going 5-for-15 to rank Penn No. 20 in the nation.
Quakers Go Low To Win Big
As the old saying goes, "They don't ask how, just how many" but for those who may ask "how many" points Penn scored in its wins over Columbia and Brown, the answer is 13 — the fewest points scored by Penn in a victory during
Ray Priore's tenure as head coach and the fewest by any Penn team since a 9-0 win over Yale (10/24/09) — a span of 88 games and 53 victories.
Brooks Serving A Purpose
Karekin Brooks has rounded into a dual-threat out of the backfield this season. He ranks No. 4 in the Ivy League and No. 41 in the country in all-purpose yards per game with 115.8. He had a career-high 65 receiving yards against Columbia in Week Five — he had 61 total receiving yards over his previous four games this season.
