For the second year in a row, the Quakers enter a Week Two matchup with Lehigh coming off a win in the opener. Last year, the offense continued its momentum in a record-setting 65-47 win in the Lehigh Valley. The Red and Blue are looking to take advantage of a favorable start, playing back-to-back home games to open a season for the first time since 1999.
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The Penn-Lehigh Series — 61st Meeting
The all-time series between Penn and Lehigh stands at 45-15 in favor of the Quakers, largely based on a 34-0 run for Penn from 1890-1974. Since then, the series is 13-5 in favor of Lehigh. Penn's last win at Franklin Field over Lehigh was a 24-21 win in 2002 over a Mountain Hawk team ranked No. 4 in the country.
Looking Back On The 2017 Meeting
Not much happened last year when the two teams met — it was only the highest-scoring game in the then 141-year history of Penn Football! The Quakers scored 65 points, Lehigh added 47 for 112 combined points and a busy day for the scoreboard operator. Not busy? The punters. Each team punted just once, and Penn's two interceptions on defense gave the Quakers the extra possessions needed to claim the game. It was a breakout day for
Karekin Brooks In his first career start, he carried 29 times for 268 yards (No. 2 all-time by a Penn RB) and three touchdowns. For good measure, he threw a 4yd TD pass. Oh, and there was a 68yd rushing TD called back in the fourth quarter for a holding call which some are still a bit salty about.
Nick Miller was a factor on defense for Penn, finishing with 10 tackles, a sack, an interception, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
Sack Lunch
Penn's defense is coming off a Week One performance which hopefully has set the tone for 2018. The Quakers recorded 10 sacks, most by any team in the FCS this season and most by a Penn team since recording 10 against Yale in 2001.
A Look at Lehigh
The Mountain Hawks enter this weekend with a 1-2 record, the two losses coming to No. 11 Villanova and Navy following a season opening 21-19 win over Saint Francis (PA). Lehigh scored three touchdowns last week at Navy in a 51-21 loss, unable to handle Navy's rushing attack which amassed 484 yards. Rashawn Allen ran for 147 yards and two TDs for Lehigh in place of All-American Dominick Bragalone who was out with injury. Lehigh was 5-7 overall last year, but went 5-1 in the Patriot League to win the championship and advance to the FCS playoffs.
Streaking Into The Season
The Quakers enter today's game riding a five-game winning streak dating back to the end of 2017 — the fifth-longest winning streak in FCS football and longest among Ivy League programs. The longest winning streak for the Quakers under head coach
Ray Priore is six from 10/17-11/21/15.
Leading Indicators
Penn has protected leads as well as anyone in the country under
Ray Priore. The Red and Blue are 18-1 when leading at halftime, and 20-1 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 9-0 at home when leading at the half and 10-0 at Franklin Field when leading after three quarters.
Fast Start To 2018
You think the Quakers were anxious to get 2018 started? It took Penn all of 4:48 against Bucknell to score 17 points and build a 17-0 lead. Penn ran just nine offensive plays for 38 yards to build the lead as he defense and special teams dialed up short fields for the offense. The first play from scrimmage in the game saw
Jacob Martin intercept Bucknell's quarterback, and four plays later
Karekin Brooks plowed into the end zone from five yards out. On the ensuing kickoff,
Justin Morrison recovered a Bucknell fumble, giving Penn the ball at the Bison 27. The drive stalled, but
Jack Soslow hammered home a 49-yard field goal. Bucknell went 3-and-out on its next drive, and
Patrick McGettigan blocked a punt from All-American Alex Pechin.
James McCarthy recovered the block at the Bison 7, and Brooks scampered in on the first play of the drive for his second TD of the game.
Martin, Martin, Martin!
Junior
Jacob Martin picked up right where he left off for the Quakers. The last play of the 2017 season was a pass breakup by Martin in the end zone at Franklin Field, denying a potential Cornell game-tying TD and securing a Quakers win. The first play from scrimmage in 2018 resulted in his first career interception.
Third Down Dominance
The Quakers held Bucknell to 5-for-19 on third down in the game, coming up especially big in the second half. The Bison were 0-for-8 on third down in the second half, including 0-for-6 in the fourth quarter. The Quakers stopped Bucknell on their final nine third down conversion attempts of the game, including a sack and an interception.
Soslow Strikes Again
Senior kicker
Jack Soslow earned Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the second time in his career following a booming debut to 2018. He was good on both of his field goal attempts, first from 49 yards and then from 48.
Soslow Hammers Way Into History Books
Soslow's 49-yard field goal against Bucknell tied for No. 6 on Penn's all-time longest field goal list, and his 48-yarder is No. 10. He is the first player in Penn history to record multiple kicks of 48+ yards in a single game. Add in his 51-yarder at Brown in 2017 — tied for No. 3 all-time by a Quaker — and Soslow is the only Penn player with three of the Top-10 kicks. No other player in the FCS has multiple 48+ yard kicks this season.
Soslow Perfect On PATs
Dating back to the start of the 2017 season when he took over placekicking duties,
Jack Soslow is 40-for-40 on PAT attempts — icluding nine made against Lehigh in 2017 to tie the school record.
Brooks Brings It Into The End Zone
Junior running back
Karekin Brooks scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in Week One, giving him back-to-back games with two rushing TDs dating back to the 2017 finale. He had three games with 2+ TDs last season, including two in the opener followed by three rushing TDs in Week Two against Lehigh.
Party In The Backfield
Penn's defense dialed up 10 sacks in Week One, most since a 10-spot against Yale in 2001 and more than half of Penn's 2017 total of 18. Senior
Cooper Gardner had three sacks in Week One — a number which would have tied for the team high from all of 2017. Seven different Quakers had at least 0.5 sacks in the game.
Pat McInerney (2.0) and
Benji Mowatt (1.5) each were in on multiple sacks.
Fresh Faces Find End Zone
With receiving touchdowns in Week One from
Tyler Herrick and
Kolton Huber — their first career receiving TDs — the Quakers threw touchdown passes to someone not named
Justin Watson for the first time in six games dating back to Week Four of 2017 at Central Connecticut State. Watson had caught Penn's last 10 TD passes since
Christian Pearson's 15-yard TD in the second quarter at CCSU.
New Kids
Due to graduation and injury, Penn had seven new starters on the field in Week One — including freshman
Joe Basiura at right guard.
On The Block
Sophomore
Patrick McGettigan made an impact on special teams in his first varsity game action, blocking a punt from Bucknell's All-American Alex Pechin in the first quarter. The Quakers recovered on the Bison 7 and scored on the next play for a 17-0 lead. McGettigan's block was the first by a Quaker since Oct. 10, 2015 against Fordham.
