For the fourth year in a row under head coach Ray Priore, the Penn Quakers are playing meaningful games in November as the Red and Blue enter the penultimate weekend of the 2018 season with Ivy League title hopes still alive. It's a longshot, and the Quakers would need some help, but any season where the games still have implications in November is a successful one. It's Homecoming and Senior Day, so the emotions will be running high for the Red and Blue.
Senior Day
Before this week's game, the Quakers will honor 24 young men who will graduate from Penn in May and join the Penn Football Alumni ranks. This group -- the first class to have played all four years for
Ray Priore -- has won two Ivy League titles and will graduate with winning records all four seasons.
The Penn-Harvard Series — 89th Meeting
The Quakers have won the last three meetings between the two teams, Penn's longest winning streak in the series since a three-game run from 1998-2000.
Ray Priore is 3-0 against the Crimson all-time, while Harvard head coach Tim Murphy is 9-15 against the Quaker — and 3-9 at Franklin Field.
Looking Back On The 2017 Meeting
Penn came out of the gates in fine fashion in Cambridge last season as
Tre Solomon took the first play from scrimmage 77 yards for a touchdown. The Quakers never trailed in the game, and the defense held Harvard to just a pair of field goals in a 23-6 win. The Crimson's six points were their fewest in 80- games since Penn held them to seven in 2009.
The Defense Doesn't Rest
The Quakers enter today's game ranked No. 15 in the FCS in Total Defense, allowing 314.0 total yards of offense per game. The Quakers rank No. 13 in the country in passing yards allowed (183.0) and No. 31 in Rushing Defense (131.0). All added up, Penn ranks No. 8 in the nation in Scoring Defense, allowing 17.3 points per game.
Rushing To Conclusions
The Ivy League's top two running backs lead the offenses into today's game. Harvard's sophomore Aaron Shampklin is averaging 114.5 yards over his eight games, with 916 yards gained over 144 carries with nine touchdowns. Penn's junior
Karekin Brooks is averaging 107.6 yards a game, totaling 861 yards over 153 rushes with eight touchdowns.
#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.
A Look at Harvard
The Crimson sit at 4-4 overall and 2-3 in the Ivy League following a 52-18 thumping of Columbia at Harvard Stadium last week. That win snapped a two-game skid as the Crimson has lost one-score games to No. 18 Princeton and No. 20 Dartmouth the two weeks prior. Senior Tom Stewart has taken over at QB, and has thrown 11 TD passes to zero interceptions — including five TDs against the Lions last week. Wesley Ogsbury has five interceptions to lead the defense. Stone Hart has 11 tackles for loss.
Penn Scoring Trend at Home
Home is where the points are. Penn has gone 144 consecutive games at home without being shut out. The last time the Quakers were scoreless at home was a 24-0 loss to Dartmouth on Nov. 18, 1989.
Leading Indicators
Penn has protected leads as well as anyone in the country under
Ray Priore. The Red and Blue are 22-1 when leading at halftime, and 24-1 when leading at the end of the third quarter. Priore had won his first 13 games when leading at the half and first 15 with a lead after three quarters before an overtime loss at Columbia on October 14, 2016. Priore's teams are 11-0 at home when leading at the half and 11-0 at Franklin Field when leading after three quarters.
Priore Powers Through the Ivy League
With a win over Dartmouth in 2016,
Ray Priore became the third-fastest Ivy League head coach to record his first win over all seven League opponents. Only Ed Zubrow (Penn, 7 games in 1986) and Jordan Olivar (Yale, 7 games in 1956) swept through the Ivy League in fewer games than Priore's eight.
Pearson Propels Penn
Christian Pearson's ability to find the end zone usually results in a Penn win. Pearson has at least one touchdown in 13 career games and the Quakers are 11-2 in those games.
Miller Time
Senior linebacker
Nick Miller has 10+ tackles in six of eight games this season and has done so in 14 of his last 18 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 18 games.
Protect The Quarterback
The Quakers have allowed just six sacks over eight games in 2018, No. 8 in the nation in sacks allowed per game (0.75). Penn went 67 pass attempts into 2018 before allowing its first sack in Week Three at Dartmouth. Penn's 4.38 TFLs allowed through seven games ranks No. 13 in the country.
Thrown For A Loss (TFL)
The Quakers aren't getting in the backfield only for sacks, Penn's 8.0 TFLs per game rank No. 11 in the country. 16 different players have at least 1.0 TFLS and 12 have more than two.
CP, Are You With Me?
Senior
Christian Pearson found his groove at Sacred Heart, hauling in seven passes for 104 yards and two touchdowns after just three catches for 38 yards and no scores over his first two games of 2018. A second-team All-Ivy selection in 2016, Pearson had gone almost a full calendar year since his last touchdown — he found the end zone at Central Connecticut State on 10/7/17, 364 days before he scored at SHU. He battled injury at times since the CCSU game in '17, totalling six catches, 49 yards and no scores in his seven games played since the CCSU game. How productive were Pearson's first two seasons? Despite his lack of production over the last year, he still enters this week No. 10 all-time at Penn in receiving yards (1,381) and No. 6 in receiving touchdowns (16), and No. 12 all-time in receptions (101).
Third Down Thoughts
The Quakers have converted 36-of-112 (32%) third down attempts, ranking No. 93 in the country. On defense, Penn is getting it done on third down — opponents are 41-of-121 for a conversion rate of 34% — good enough to rank Penn No. 32 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-6. The Quakers are winning 4th down on defense, with opponents converting at 31%, going 4-for-13 to rank Penn No. 14 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. 2 in the Ivy League and No. 2 in the country in all-purpose yards per game with 128.4 — 35 ypg higher than his 2017 average of 93.7. 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.
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