PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team used a record-setting day by freshman running back
Malachi Hosley—highlighted by a pair of long TD runs, one of those a program record—to defeat Cornell on Saturday, 23-8, at Franklin Field on Homecoming.
Hosley had a scoring run of 68 in the second quarter, but that was a mere precursor to his next score—a 96-yard rush that is the longest offensive touchdown play in program history. Overall, Hosley ran for 261 yards (on just 21 carries, a staggering 12.4 ypg average), the third-best game in program history and the second-best rushing performance by a freshman in Ivy League history.
Penn improved to 6-2 overall and is now tied for second place in the Ivy League standings with Dartmouth, Princeton and Yale—all four are 3-2, one game behind 4-1 Harvard. Cornell fell to 3-5 overall, 2-3 in Ivy play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn earned a second consecutive victory over Cornell, hoisting the Trustees' Cup for the second year in a row.
*Hosley's 261 rushing yards is the third-most in a single game in Penn history, 11 shy of the all-time record (Terrance Stokes; 272 against Princeton in 1993). It's the most by a freshman player in program history and the second-most by an Ivy Leaguer (Harvard's Aidan Borguet; 269 vs. Yale in 2019). It's also the 16th-best rushing game in Ivy history.
*Not only was his 96-yard run the longest offensive touchdown play in program history, but it was also tied for the third longest rushing touchdown in Ivy history, and the longest since Princeton's Charlie Volker's 96-yarder at Brown in 2017.
*Hosley has sky-rocketed up the Ivy leaderboard for total rushing yards this season, totaling 495 yards on 78 carries and five TDs. His yardage is the fifth-most in the conference, playing only seven games for the Red and Blue.
*
Liam O'Brien was the only other Quaker with a touchdown on the day, his team-leading sixth of the 2023 campaign. He's tied for second in the Ivy League for TD runs this season.
*
Logan Nash finished with a team-high 11 total tackles (eight solos) and a pass breakup.
Joey Slackman led the way with two TFLs (for a loss of 11 yards) and a sack.
*
Jaden Key is progress increasingly well in his return from injury, securing his second interception of the year.
*Cornell totaled 431 total yards on offense—329 through the air—and held the ball for 37:47 to Penn's 22:13, but the Big Red couldn't get past the Quakers' red-zone defense, converting only one on four attempts.
Gallery: (11-4-2023) Football vs. Cornell - 11/4/23
How It Happened
Penn took the opening kickoff Saturday and drove right down the field to open the scoring, eventually being stopped at Cornell's 11-yard line and settling for a
Graham Gotlieb 28-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
The Penn defense stopped Cornell's first drive near midfield, and the offense went right back to work. This time the result was a touchdown,
Liam O'Brien converting a QB keeper on fourth down. Penn employed a bit of razzle-dazzle on the 11-play, 79-yard drive and the big play was a Sayin pass down the left sideline that
Bisi Owens caught for a 35-yard gain that set Penn up with first and goal the Big Red's 6-yard line.
A huge momentum shift occurred midway through the second quarter. Cornell had a 17-play drive and took the ball all the way to Penn's 35-yard line, but on fourth and 5 Jameson Wang's pass to Doryn Smith went for three yards and the Big Red lost the ball on downs. On the very next play, Hosley went around the right side and outran everyone to the end zone—a 68-yard rush that (at the time) was the Quakers' longest play of the season. The extra point was blocked, but Penn took a 16-0 lead into the half.
Cornell started with the ball in the second half and immediately got on the board. On fourth and 1 at Penn's 5-yard line, Wang created time in the pocket and found Smith open in the left part of the end zone. The Big Red then converted the two-point conversion on a double-reverse end-around, and less than four minutes into the period this was a one-score game.
Penn went three and out, and Cornell looked like it might score again. The Big Red showed confidence in converting two third downs and a fourth down before opting for a field goal on fourth-and-2 and the Quakers' 8-yard line. However,
Travis McFarling blocked and recovered Jackson Kennedy's 25-yard attempt to keep the score at 16-8.
Starting on its own 4-yard line, Penn needed exactly one play to score. Once again it was the precocious freshman, Hosley, who took the ball to the right, shifted around to the left, and was gone. He was nearly caught as he closed in on the end zone but made a slight turn to the right to shake the defender and reach paydirt. It was the longest offensive play in program history—surpassing a 95-yard rushing TD by Sykes Tucker all the way back in 1914 (vs. Swarthmore) and a 93-yard pass play from Gary Vura to Karl Hall against Cornell in 1981—and tied for the third-longest rushing TD in Ivy history.
Undeterred, Cornell once again drove down the field on Penn's defense. However, just when the Big Red looked like they would punch it in the Quakers stiffened. Cornell had first and goal on Penn's 2-yard line but couldn't get home in four plays, the Quakers doing a great job of extending Smith out of bounds on third down and then Slackman leaping over the line to stuff Wang on a QB sneak at the 1.
On Cornell's next possession, the Big Red again got into Quakers territory and went for it all, Wang firing a pass down the right sideline for Nicholas Laboy that Key intercepted at Penn's 7-yard line.
Penn's offense, meanwhile, was content to stay on the ground and eventually the score took secondary interest to whether or not Hosley would break the Ivy League freshman and program single-game rushing records. He fell just short of both.
Cornell had one final push to get points on the board, orchestrating a 16-play, 72-yard drive down the field, but the Big Red fell nine yards short as the Quakers prevailed for the victory.
Up Next
Penn is at Harvard next Saturday, kicking off with the Crimson at 1 p.m. Harvard sits atop the Ivy League standings at 4-1 after defeating Columbia on Saturday, 38-24.
For the latest on Penn football, follow @PennFB on X (formerly Twitter), @PennFootball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
#BEGREAT
#FightOnPenn
