PHILADELPHIA – After an exciting road victory in double-overtime Friday night at Dartmouth in the Ivy League opener, the University of Pennsylvania football team (3-0, 1-0 Ivy) heads back on the road to our nation's capital, visiting Georgetown (1-4, 0-2 Patriot) Saturday at 2 p.m. for the final non-league contest of the 2022 season.
 
The Quakers are 3-0 for the first time since 2003 and have a chance to ramp the win streak to four straight games, the longest since Penn won four in a row to finish out the 2017 campaign.
 
GAME 4 – PENN at GEORGETOWN
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022 | 2 p.m.
Cooper Field | Washington, D.C.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($)  |  Listen Live (QAN)  |  Live Stats  |  Tickets  
Penn Game Notes   |  Georgetown Game Notes
 
The Georgetown Series
Penn and Georgetown's history is one that dates all the way back to the late 1800's, despite only facing off six times prior to Saturday. The Quakers are 5-0-1 in the all-time series, reeling off the past two wins dating back to 2007. Penn tied Georgetown, 0-0, in 1937 at Franklin Field. The longest Quaker win streak occurred between Oct. 10, 1893 and Nov. 8, 1924.
 
Getting A Tad Streaky
The odds have been stacked against Georgetown as of late, falling in each of its last four matchups after securing a comfortable 43-12, season-opening victory at Marist on Sept. 3. Since then, it's been nearly a month of defeats for the Hoyas. In those four losses, Georgetown have been outscored 167-69 including giving up 59 to Fordham its last time out.
 
Last Time Out
The previous meeting between Penn and Georgetown resulted in a 27-7 victory for the Quakers in Washington on Oct. 11, 2008. Penn scored 27 unanswered points in the first three quarters before the Hoyas broke onto the scoreboard with a late fourth quarter TD. Matt Hamscher gained 102 yards on 21 rushes with a touchdown in the win, while the Penn defense forced two fumbles (recovering both) with an interception for Tony Moses. The win over Georgetown was the second of a season-long four-game win streak (which also came after a win against Dartmouth).
 
Embracing the Moment
Penn left it all on the field on Friday night, following its 23-17, double-OT victory over Dartmouth at Memorial Field in a game that pitted the Quakers against the two-time defending Ivy League champions. Trailing 10-7 in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter in a scoring drive led by sophomore QB Aidan Sayin, junior placekicker Graham Gotlieb booted a 35-yard field goal to send the game to OT at 10-10. A Sayin touchdown pass to Joshua Casilli gave Penn a 17-10 lead and in the second OT, after Grant Ristoff blocked the Big Green's initial field goal attempt, senior Trey Flowers leaped over the pile to give the Quakers the game-winning score.
 
Night Vision
It's a rare occurrence for the Quakers to play a night game nowadays — with Dartmouth being the only one on the 2022 schedule — and head coach Ray Priore seems to coach on a whole other level in those situations. After a victory over the Big Green on national television, the seventh-year head coach is now 6-0 in night games on the road. Overall, Priore is 8-4 in the dark.
 
All Eyes On Us
The win over Dartmouth surely caused quite the stir in the FCS community, apparent by Penn receiving votes in the latest American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches Poll, released to the public on Monday afternoon. Penn joins Princeton as the only two members of the Ancient Eight to make an appearance on the poll. The Tigers are just three places off the Top 25, registering 24 points for the Week 5 iteration of the rankings.
 
Deep Roots
Defensive Coordinator and Associate Head Coach Bob Benson has significant history with Georgetown, specifically as the Hoyas head coach from 1993-05. Benson compiled a career record of 72-64, earning MAAC Coach of the Year honors twice and leading Georgetown to six straight winning seasons (1994-99). Benson won three MAAC titles with the Hoyas, leaving Washington with the second-most wins (72) in program history.
 
History Beckons!
Senior defensive lineman Jake Heimlicher has had a historic start to the 2022 season. Heimlicher was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for the second consecutive week on Monday, becoming the first Quaker in program history to accomplish the feat and the eighth Ivy League student-athlete. He totaled 13 tackles (two for a loss) with eight solos in the victory over Dartmouth Friday night. It's the second straight game Heimlicher has registered double-digit tackles. He continues to pace the Penn defense in a multitude of categories including total tackles (28.0), solo tackles (17), assisted tackles (11), tackles for a loss (7.0) and yards lost (28), sacks (3), quarterback hurries (4) and forced fumbles (1). Heimlicher is the first Ivy player to be named DPOW in back-to-back weeks since Dartmouth's Isiah Swann in 2018.
 
Strong Defense
After holding its first two opponents of the season to under 50 yards rushing, Dartmouth's output on the ground against the Quakers seems to be an outlier, considering the relevance of the Big Green rushing attack in the FCS. Dartmouth had led FCS in rushing yards per game (350.5) heading into Friday and Penn held it to 190 yards on the ground in the win.
 
Even so, the Quakers are ranked second in total defense (235.0 yards/game), fourth in scoring defense (10.0 ppg), fifth in rushing defense (79.0) and eighth in passing yards allowed per game (156.0).
 
Leading Tacklers
Leading the way by a rather large margin, Heimlicher is still just one of a litany of leading tacklers on the Quaker defense, pacing the way with 28 total tackles (with seven tackles for a loss). Jack Fairman and Shiloh Means are tied for second with 19 tackles, while Jonathan Melvin has 17. Aside from Heimlicher, both Fairman (4.0) and Melvin (3.5) are up there in terms of tackles for loss.
 
So Many Targets
Sayin has had quite the arsenal of receivers in his back pocket this season so far, throwing to 13 different targets in three games. Of the 13, Casilli leads the way with 15 catches, followed by Flowers (10), Rory Starkey, Jr. (9), Sterling Stokes (9), Malone Howley (8) and Justin Cayenne (8). Sayin has four TD passes to Casilli, Starkey, Jr., Cayenne and Jonathan Mulatu.