Ivy League play starts for Penn with the 86th all-time meeting between Penn and Dartmouth, as two undefeated teams meet with a chance for a big early win in Ancient Eight play in the balance. Each side has won twice against Patriot League foes to begin 2018, each dialing up big plays on defense time and time again. Last year's meeting wasn't decided until the game's final play, one of three one-possession losses in Ivy League games for the Quakers.
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The Penn-Dartmouth Series — 86th Meeting
The all-time series between Penn and Dartmouth stands at 48-35-2 in favor of the Quakers. Penn won the first meeting way back in 1896, 16-0, and the Quakers have won 16 of the last 20 dating back to 1998. Penn is 16-15 all-time at Memorial Field, including a 37-24 win on national television in
Ray Priore's only visit to Hanover as head coach in 2015. That win is the only one in three games against the Big Green for Priore — Dartmouth is the only Ivy League team he does not have a winning record against in his three seasons.
Looking Back On The 2017 Meeting
Penn entered last year's game at Franklin Field in similar fashion — undefeated at 2-0 — but that streak came to an end on the game's final play as Jared Gerbino plowed in from one yard out on fourth down to give Dartmouth a 16-13 win. The Quakers were stagnant on offense in the game, amassing just 248 yards one week after posting 615 at Lehigh.
Sack Lunch
No defense in the country is averaging more sacks per game than Penn's 8.5. The Quakers have racked up 17 total sacks, which is tied for No. 1 alongside Nicholls St. among all FCS teams despite the two-week delayed start. The only team in Division I football with more sacks than Penn is Oklahoma St. with 19. The Quakers are one sack away from matching their total (18) from all of 2018.
A Look at Dartmouth
The Big Green have won five in a row dating back to last season, the second-longest winning streak among Ivy League teams — trailing only Penn's six game run. The Big Green have allowed just 14 points over two games, ranking No. 3 in the FCS in Scoring Defense at 7.0 points allowed per game. In terms of Total Defense, the Big Green rank No. 1 in the FCS, allowing 160.5 yards per game. Dartmouth's 37.5 points scored per game rank No. 15 in the country, and the Big Green are averaging 450.5 yards per game which is No. 24 in the country.
Leading Indicators
Penn has protected leads as well as anyone in the country under
Ray Priore. The Red and Blue are 19-1 when leading at halftime, and 21-1 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 10-0 at home when leading at the half and 11-0 at Franklin Field when leading after three quarters.
The Power Of Positivity
The Quakers ran 39 times for 294 yards in Week Two against Lehigh, but what is more notable is what the Red and Blue did not do — have any rushes for negative yards. The last time Penn officially had a game with no rushes for loss was 88 games prior when Penn ran 46 times for 288 yards in a 30-24 win at Dartmouth (10/3/09). Seven games later, Penn had two kneel downs for -2 yards credited to the team at the end of an Ivy title-clinching win over Cornell (11/21/09), otherwise the Quakers ran 47 times for 251 yards and zero negative rushes in that game.
Brooks Brings It Into The End Zone
For the second year in a row,
Karekin Brooks has rushed for five touchdowns over two games to start a season. Each year, he posted a three-TD game against Lehigh to follow up a two-TD opener. Dating back to the Cornell game to close 2017, Brooks has rushed for 2+ touchdowns in three straight games, totalling seven TD in that span.Â
Back-To-Back Sacks
Penn's 17 sacks over two games are the most in a two-game span since accumulating 13.0 against Harvard (6.0) and Cornell (7.0) in 2003.
Gardner Racks Up Sacks
Senior
Cooper Gardner had 2.5 sacks over 29 career games entering 2017, and he has 4.0 in two games this season. His four sacks over two games are the most in back-to-back outings since Steve Lhotak had 6.5 in the Harvard and Cornell games to close 2003.
Spreading The Wealth
Ryan Glover completed passes to eight different receivers against Lehigh, the most Penn receivers to catch at least one pass in a game since Andrew Lisa completed passes to eight receivers against Fordham in 2015.
Jack Attack
Jack Soslow is 13-for-16 on field goals for his career, and has made nine in a row dating back to 10/21/17 against Yale. His 81.2% field goals percentage for his career has him on pace to be Penn's all-time most accurate kicker. Peter Veldman (2001-03) was 27-for-35 (77.1%) to set the current Penn all-time record. The Ivy League's all-time FG% record (minimum 20 FGs) is held by Princeton's Patrick Jacob who was 29-for-36 (80.6%) from 2008-11.
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. In Week Two, he added an interception against Lehigh, giving him picks in two consecutive games. His two interceptions this season already match Penn's leaders from 2017. The last Penn player to record an interception in three consecutive games was Mason Williams who had a pick in three straight games to open 2016.
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. In Week Two, Penn stopped Lehigh on its first two third downs of the game, before a 3rd-and-3 conversion ended Penn's run of third down stops at 10.
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 against Bucknell, 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.Â
Party In The Backfield
Penn's defense dialed up 10 sacks in Week One, most since a 10-spot against Yale in 2001. The Quakers followed that up with seven against Lehigh on Week Two. 17 sacks through two games is one away from tying Penn's total from all of 2017. 10 different players have at least a half sack, led by
Cooper Gardner with 4.0— already more than any Quaker had in 2018. He leads the Ivy League and his 2.0 sacks per game are No. 1 among all FCS players.
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.
#PennPros
Three Quakers earned spots on NFL 53-man rosters out of training camp, the most since the Ivy League formed in 1959. Greg Van Roten W'12 has started three games at left guard for the Carolina Panthers, while Brandon Copeland W'13 has started three times at outside linebacker for the New York Jets.
Justin Watson W'18, has bene inactive for both of Tampa Bay's first three games after a strong preseason to make the team following his fifth round selection in the 2018 NFL Draft.
