NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania football team was unable to stop Columbia on Saturday and fell to the Lions, 44-6, at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.
 
Charged up by a sizable homecoming crowd, Columbia announced its intentions on the very first play Saturday, running a flea-flicker which ended with Ty Lenhart finding Mike Roussos behind the secondary for 47 yards. From there, the Lions needed just five plays to cover the 75 yards and made it 7-0 when Lenhart ran it in from a yard out.
 
The tone was set for the entire day.
 
Penn's first drive ended with the Quakers failing on a fourth-down conversion near midfield, and Columbia took advantage with three more points when Alex Felkins split the uprights on a 43-yard field goal. It was 10-0 Lions after one.
 
Penn looked like it might be in business when Kendren Smith picked off Lenhart at midfield and returned it to Columbia's 36. But the Red and Blue could only gain six yards before they were again stopped on downs.
 
Momentum back on their sideline, the Lions took advantage. The hosts needed just six plays to go 70 yards and take a 17-0 lead. Two key plays came consecutively, Lenhart finding Roussos twice for a total of 40 yards, before Dante Miller took it the final 17 yards to the house.
 
Penn's offense finally got going after that, driving to Columbia's 25 before stalling. However, the drive went for naught when David Perkins' 42-yard field goal went wide left. Later in the period, the Quakers started in Columbia territory but on first down Nick Robinson was stripped before he could get a pass off and the Lions recovered.
 
Brian O'Neill quickly got the ball back for Penn when he intercepted Lenhart near midfield, but the Quakers couldn't capitalize and then Perkins was wide left from 36 yards.
 
Columbia's lead was 17-0 at halftime.
 
Penn had the ball to open the second half but came away empty-handed, punting to Columbia's 21. However, on the second play of the Lions' drive Lenhart ran for 29 yards to put the ball in Penn territory and the tone was set. Columbia used nearly five minutes to run 11 plays and took a 23-0 lead when Broderick Taylor ran it in from 11 yards out.
 
Columbia extended its lead on its next drive, going 54 yards to make it 30-0 before the end of the third. It looked like Penn might have its third interception of the day early in the drive, but a pass interference penalty on the Quakers nullified the play and the Lions took advantage.
 
The lead went to 37-0 midway through the fourth quarter, Columbia using 13 plays—10 of them on the ground—to cover 68 yards. Lenhart finished the drive with a one-yard leap over the top. Two plays later, the Lions' defense got in on the scoring act as Zach Evans was stripped at Penn's 20 and Luke Adams scooped it up and took it to the house to make it 44-0.
 
Ryan Glover took over at quarterback after that, and he was unlucky to have a pass intercepted when it slid through a receiver's hands and into the gut of Columbia's Fara'ad McCombs. However, on the very next play the Lions fumbled, Penn's Conor O'Brien scooped it up at midfield and he took it all the way back for the score. The Quakers' PAT was blocked, and the score stood at 44-6.
 
Penn is back on the road next Saturday, traveling into New England to take on Yale. Kickoff is scheduled for noon at the Yale Bowl.