NEW YORK CITY – The University of Pennsylvania football team dropped a 23-14 decision at Columbia on Saturday afternoon. The Quakers fell to 2-3 overall, 0-2 in Ivy League play, while the Lions are now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Columbia has won three straight games against Penn.
*Penn was held scoreless in the second half for the first time this season.
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Isaiah Malcome rushed for a TD for the third game in a row. He finished with 83 yards on 13 carries.
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Maurcus McDaniel scored his first career TD. He also had a career-high 32 rushing yards.
*The Quakers rushed for 184 yards. It marked the third time this season that the Red and Blue racked up over 180 yards on the ground.
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Garrett Morris had a season-best nine tackles including 1.5 TFLs.
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Ben Krimm averaged over 40 yards per punt. He had a career-long 60-yarder in the first half.
*Both
Shane Sweitzer and
Joshua Casilli each had their first career receptions in the game.
How It Happened
The first quarter was pretty quiet from an offensive standpoint, the only points coming late in the period when Columbia's Alex Felkins kicked a 32-yard field goal.
Penn took advantage of a Columbia error to get on the board with just under five minutes left in the half. The Quakers punted to the Lions' Mike Roussos at the Columbia 29, Roussos muffing the catch and
Luke Hoggard recovering for the Red and Blue. Given a short field, Penn punched it in five plays later when Maurcus McDonald faked a handoff and ran it up the gut from six yards out.
Columbia needed exactly three offensive plays to make it a 17-7 advantage.
The first came after Penn kicked off with the 7-3 lead. Starting with the ball at its own 25-yard line, the Lions' Dante Miller went around the left side and it to the house for a 75-yard score.
Penn went three-and-out after that—undone by a pair of penalties—and Columbia again went into quick-strike mode. After Roussos returned the Quakers' punt into Penn territory, on second down Joe Green chucked a pass down the left sideline that Wills Meyer caught it in the face of a Penn defender who slipped on the play. Meyer was all alone and ran untouched into the end zone. The play covered 41 yards.
Penn might have been deflated by the sequence, but instead the Quakers recovered with a touchdown in the final minute of the half. Facing a third-and-3 at Columbia's 30-yard line,
Isaiah Malcome took a delayed handoff and scampered through the left side of the Lions defense to daylight. Nobody caught him, and it was 17-14 at the break.
Columbia scored the only points of the third quarter on its second possession of the period. Starting at their own 20, the Lions flipped the field on the first play of the drive when Green found Ernest Robertson for a 49-yard reception. The hosts then succeeded on a fourth-down play and eventually made their way to Penn's 13 before Felkins kicked a 31-yard field goal for a 20-14 lead.
Columbia had a chance to make it a two-score game late in the third, but the Quakers defense held at the 26-yard line and then Felkins' 44-yard field goal attempt was wide right. Penn immediately got into Columbia territory, Quinnelly threading a pass to
Christopher Mottillo between double coverage for 32 yards, but the Quakers were forced to punt shortly after that.
Columbia finally got the two-score margin it wanted late in the game. Starting right at midfield with 6:26 left on the clock, the Lions almost immediately chewed up 41 of them when Miller took a second-down handoff and ran around the right side. It was nearly a mirror of his TD run from the second quarter, the only change coming when Chris Ranklins made a touchdown-saving tackle at the 7. Penn held from there,
Brian O'Neill stuffing Gabriel Hollingsworth on third-and-goal at the 2, but Felkins split the uprights from 20 yards out to make it a nine-point game at 23-14.
Penn was unable to get to midfield before giving the ball up on downs, Quinnelly's 4th-and-4 pass to
Owen Goldsberry broken up by Seth Parker.
Up Next
Penn is back on the road next Saturday, traveling to Yale to face the Bulldogs at noon.
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