PHILADELPHIA – Following a strong 2022 season and an impressive preseason, the University of Pennsylvania football team is back, visiting Colgate Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.
 
Penn went 8-2 overall last year, finishing in a tie for second place in the Ivy League standings and was just one Harvard victory over Yale away from hoisting its 19th Ivy title. This year, much of the team's stingy defense from last season returns including seven All-Ivy selections.
 
GAME 1 – PENN at COLGATE
Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023 | 1 p.m.
Andy Kerr Stadium | Hamilton, N.Y.
Watch Live on ESPN+ ($)  |  Listen Live (QAN)  |  Live Stats
Penn Game Notes (PDF)  | Colgate Game Notes (PDF)

 


Welcome Back, Football!
It's the 147th season of Penn Football as the Quakers open the campaign Saturday at Colgate. It's the second consecutive year Penn is taking on the Raiders, this time on the road in Hamilton, N.Y. After a 25-14 win over Colgate last season, the Quakers are now 4-3 in season openers during the Ray Priore era.
 
The Colgate Series
Saturday will mark the 10th meeting all time between the two squads. Penn leads the all-time series, 6-2-1, including four in a row dating back to 1992. The Quakers are 1-1-1 in games in Hamilton, playing the Raiders on the road for the first time since 1993, a 30-12 victory for Penn.
 
Scouting The Raiders
It hasn't been a glamorous start to the new year for Colgate, going 0-2 to begin the 2023 campaign. The Raiders fell, 65-0, on the road at Syracuse to kick off the season while dropping a 42-19 final at Villanova last week. They have the worst offense in the Patriot League coming into the weekend, averaging 182 yards per game, while allowing 569.5 yards per game on defense, the most in the league by far. Through two starts under center, QB Michael Brescia is 23-for-44 with 254 yards and a touchdown. That TD was thrown to Treyvhon Saunders, who has seven catches for 137 yards.
 
Colgate's Preseason Predictions
Despite their slow start to the year, the Raiders were picked third with 51 points in the Patriot League Preseason Poll, released in late July. Penn's other non-conference opponents were tied for sixth with 19 points in Bucknell and Georgetown, respectively.
 
Penn Again All Patriot in 2023
For the second consecutive season, the Quakers will face Patriot League teams in all three non-conference games, opening with Colgate and Bucknell on the road before hosting Georgetown in Week 4. This is the second straight season to face three PL teams after not doing that since 2000. That season, the Quakers opened with a 17-10 loss at Lehigh; came home the next weekend to beat Lafayette, 45-28; then lost at Holy Cross in Week 4, 34-17.
 
Preseason All-Ivy
Twelve players earned Preseason All-Ivy selections by Phil Steele in early August including first-team honorees Jaden Key, Kendren Smith and Julien Stokes. Smith, a 2022 first-team All-Ivy pick, along with Key will play a large role in anchoring the Penn defense this season. The second team was made up of eight Quakers—Joshua Casilli, Jake Ligos, Jack Purcell, Micah Morris, Joey Slackman, Jack Fairman, Jonathan Melvin and Graham Gotlieb—while junior quarterback Aidan Sayin earned a spot on the third team.
 
Fresh Faces
The Quakers will see a few new names enter the starting rotation to begin the season Saturday, as six players—Jared Richardson, Bryce Myers, Netinho Olivieri, Jake Bingham, Jack Plank and Aidan Nash—are all poised to make their first career starts. One freshman is projected to get a start on special teams as Zach Darche should see a significant amount of time at long snapper this fall.
 
Hey, Coach!
Head Coach Ray Priore has one new face on the coaching staff as Sean Reeder takes over as Tight Ends Coach for the 2023 season. Reeder joins the Quakers following six seasons on staff at Ithaca, the first five working with the offensive line before he was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator in 2022. Prior to his stint with the Bombers, Reeder spent two years at Division II Wayne State before working as a tight ends and offensive line coach at California Lutheran. As a student-athlete, Reeder was a key member of the offensive line at Johns Hopkins, where he graduated with a degree in biomedical engineering in 2013.
 
Oh Captain, Our Captains
Following a team vote heading into the preseason, Priore named five captains for the 2023 Quakers, including a familiar face to the leadership group. For the second straight year, Jonathan Melvin was voted a co-captain, while Joshua Casilli, Aidan Sayin, Joey Slackman and Kendren Smith will join him at the coin toss at the beginning of each game this season.
 
Receiving National Votes
Penn dropped out of the AFCA Coaches Poll heading into the upcoming week but were receiving votes in the preseason iteration of the rankings back in the middle of August. The Quakers had five points in the opening poll, the third-highest Ivy League team receiving votes behind Princeton (26) and reigning champion Yale (64). Following an 8-2 year in 2022, Penn will try to break through into the rankings for the first time since 2010 and for the first time under Priore.
 
The Last Time Against Colgate...
Penn overcame a shaky first half to come away with a 25-14 victory over the Raiders at Franklin Field to kick off the 2022 season. The Quakers outscored Colgate, 22-0, in the second half to win their season opener for the second straight year over a Patriot League opponent. Sayin passed for two touchdowns on 289 yards through the air, while Trey Flowers netted 66 yards on the ground and scored the game-winning TD with 6:40 to play in the third quarter. Means led the defensive effort with seven tackles (four solo), while Key and Kendren Smith both racked up six stops. Slackman, Jake Heimlicher and Grant Ristoff each had two sacks and Gotlieb was a perfect 2-for-2 on field goal tries.
 
Follow The Action
All 10 Penn Football contests will be streamed live on ESPN+ this season, starting with Saturday's showdown at Colgate. Entering his 20th season on the microphone for the Quakers, Matt Leon (PxP) will provide the radio call alongside Hench Murray (Analyst), who begins his 42nd season on the Quaker Audio Network (QAN).
 
For the latest on Penn football, follow @PennFB on X (formerly Twitter) and @pennfootball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com