WASHINGTON, D.C. – The University of Pennsylvania football team got off to a quick start and never really stopped on Saturday, rolling past host Georgetown 59-28 at the Hoyas' Cooper Field. The game was the final non-conference contest for the Quakers.
 
Penn improved to 4-0, continuing its best start since the 2003 team went a perfect 10-0. Georgetown, which had its Homecoming spoiled by the loss, fell to 1-4 on the season.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers notched eight touchdowns on the afternoon, the team's most in a single game since registering nine against Lehigh on Sept. 23, 2017.
 
*The 59 points scored Saturday are the most since that game against the Mountain Hawks in 2017, in which the Quakers put up 65 points on the board at Goodman Stadium.
 
*Sophomore QB Aidan Sayin had five total touchdowns (including four through the air) for his most complete offensive performance of the 2022 season so far. He becomes just the seventh Quaker since 1940 to total at least five touchdowns in a game and the first since Billy Ragone vs. Dartmouth on Oct. 2, 2010.
 
*Senior running back Trey Flowers provided yet another strong effort on the ground, totaling 149 yards with a pair of touchdowns on 17 attempts. Flowers' 149 yards is the most in game by a Quaker since Isaiah Malcome (121) on Oct. 30, 2021 vs. Brown.
 
*Penn finished the contest with 480 yards of total offense, the most since accumulating 491 against Bucknell in the 2021 season opener Sept. 18.
 
*The Quakers were efficient with the football, scoring in nine of their 11 drives on the afternoon. The only times Penn did not score were in back-to-back second quarter drives, punting once and turning the ball over via an interception.
 
*There were 10 different targets for Penn against the Hoyas, led by seven catches for Malone Howley, who totaled 90 yards with a touchdown. There were four receivers who picked up TDs, as Howley was joined in that department by Rory Starkey, Jr., Justin Cayenne and Sterling Stokes.
 
*Jonathan Mulatu's opening kickoff return was a doozy, racking up 43 yards. He finished the contest with three returns for 100 yards on the day.
 
*Jack Fairman led the Quaker defense with eight total tackles and an interception while Fairman and Kendren Smith paced the way with four solo tackles each.
 
*Sticking with the defense, five Penn defenders picked up a sack each with Micah Morris, Joey Slackman, Grant Ristoff, Travis McFarling and Jake Heimlicher. Heimlicher's was his team-leading fourth of the season.
 
*With victories over Colgate, Lafayette and now Georgetown, the Quakers went 3-0 in both non-league play and against Patriot League opponents in 2022.
 
*Penn and Princeton finish the weekend as the only remaining unbeaten Ivy League schools with an unblemished 4-0 overall record.

How It Happened
Penn's success began literally from the opening kickoff on Saturday, Jonathan Mulatu returning the kick 43 yards which had the Quakers' offense starting the game in Georgetown territory. Penn moved the ball to the Hoyas' 20-yard line before stalling, and Graham Gotlieb made it 3-0 with a 37-yard field goal.
 
Georgetown's first possession lasted just three plays, Jack Fairman intercepting Hoyas quarterback Pierce Holley on a third-and-3 play that gave Penn the ball on Georgetown's 30.  The Quakers successfully converted a fourth-and-1 play, Flowers running up the gut to move the markers into the red zone, and then two plays later Aidan Sayin found Malone Howley in the left corner of the end zone for the score. Penn's offense was back on the field just one play later, after Jonathan Melvin forced the Hoyas' Herman Moultrie III to fumble and Chris Rankins recovered it at the Hoyas' 26. Penn scored on the very next play, as Sayin rolled out to the right but then threw back across the backfield to Justin Cayenne. The sophomore tight end followed a convoy along the left sideline and into the end zone and it was 17-0. Penn pinned Georgetown inside its own 20 on the ensuing kickoff, the Hoyas were called for an illegal substitution which put them on their own 13 to start, and on first down a pass play went for minus-3 yards. At that point it was second down and the hosts were on their own 10-yard line. However, Holley was unfazed as he completed passes of 20 and 42 yards on the next two plays to put Georgetown into Penn territory. The confidence rising, the Hoyas continued down the field and got on the board when Joshua Stakely took it up the gut for the final two yards.
 
However, Penn's offense was feeling it and that continued on its next drive. The Quakers needed 13 plays to cover 64 yards but made the plays when needed to move the ball down the field. The drive drifted into the second quarter, Sayin finding Sterling Stokes on the first play of the period to make it 24-7.
 
After a Georgetown three-and-out, it looked like Penn might march down the field for yet another score. However, on a third-down play at the Hoyas' 22-yard line Sayin threw an ill-advised pass that Gtown's Wedner Cadet picked off and returned all the way to the Quakers' 38. Given new life, the hosts were within ten just five plays later when Holley found Dorrian Moultrie in the end zone for the score.
 
Georgetown nearly made it a one-score game at the end of the first half, but the Hoyas attempted a QB sneak on the final play of the half and Penn stuffed Holley shy of the goal line. That proved critical when the second half started, as the Quakers kicked off to the Hoyas' Mason Gudger and he took it 94 yards to the house. At that point, Penn's lead was a precarious 24-21. Penn's offense picked up where it left off, however, and quickly re-established the double-digit margin. Trey Flowers gained a bulk of the yardage on the Quakers' drive when he rushed for 40 yards on a second-and-8 near midfield, so it was only fitting that the senior would cap the drive with a one-yard rush up the middle for his first score of the day.
 
Georgetown went three-and-out on its first official drive of the second half, and Penn's offense went right back to work. Starting in Hoyas territory, this time Mulatu was in the backfield eating up chunks of yardage, and he was the one who carried it into the end zone to complete a nine-play, 43-yard scoring drive that put Penn in front, 38-21. However, Georgetown immediately got that seven back when Gudger took the ensuing kickoff and again ran it back for a touchdown. This time it was an 89-yard return and it made the score 38-28.
 
Penn's offense was rolling, though, and that continued on the next drive after Stokes returned the Hoyas' kickoff 41 yards into Georgetown territory. Just three plays later, Flowers took a third-and-2 handoff, and after it looked like he might get stuffed not once but twice he shook free and found open ground along the right side. The 38-yard gallop took him into the end zone and put Penn back in front by 17, 45-28.  
Georgetown's next possession ended up as three sacks for the Penn defense, forcing the Hoyas to punt from the shadow of their own goal post. The Quakers fair caught the punt at Gtown's 41 and needed just five plays to cover the ground, the final 23 yards coming when Sayin found Rory Starkey Jr. on a bubble screen to the left sideline. The TD was Sayin's fourth through the air of the game and his fifth total.  
Pulling a bulk of its starters in the fourth quarter, Penn extended its commanding lead to 31 points via Tysen Comizio's three-yard rushing touchdown as the Quakers coasted to a 59-28 victory.
 
Up Next
It's all Ivy League games the rest of the way for the Red and Blue, starting next Saturday when they host Columbia (and former Penn head coach Al Bagnoli). Kickoff with the Lions is scheduled for 1 p.m.