PHILADELPHIA – It's a twofer for the University of Pennsylvania football team on Saturday—both the home and Ivy League opener—as Penn hosts Dartmouth at Franklin Field.
 
Coming off an impressive non-conference victory over Bucknell last weekend where it gained 515 total yards of offense and the defense allowed just eight yards total on the ground, the Quakers look for their second consecutive 3-0 start to the campaign against the Big Green.
 
GAME 3 – PENN vs. DARTMOUTH
First Years On The Field presented by The Penn Bookstore
Saturday, Sept. 30, 2023 | 1 p.m.
Franklin Field | Philadelphia, Pa.
Watch Live on ESPN+, NBC Sports Philly ($)  |  Listen Live (QAN)  |  Live Stats
Penn Game Notes (PDF)  | Dartmouth Game Notes (PDF)
 

The Dartmouth Series
Saturday marks the 90th meeting between Penn and Dartmouth and is the first matchup since 2018 to not be played on a Friday night. The Quakers lead the all-time series, 49-38-2 dating back to 1896. Last year, the Red and Blue snapped a four-game losing streak to the Big Green with a 23-17, double-overtime victory in Hanover on national television. That kickstarted the first of three consecutive Ivy League victories on the year. The last time these two teams met in Philadelphia, Penn fell to Dartmouth, 31-7, under the lights on ESPNU.
 
We'll Miss You, Coach Teevens
Longtime Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens passed away on Tuesday, Sept. 19 at the age of 66 due to injuries sustained from a bicycle accident in March. A former Ivy League Player of the Year for the Big Green in 1978, Teevens was a head football coach for more than 30 years, including 22 in Hanover, winning Ivy titles in 1990, 1991, 2015, 2019 and 2021.
 
Ivy Opener
Though not the first conference game of the year for all teams in the Ancient Eight, Saturday marks the first for both Penn and Dartmouth, both looking to get off on the right foot to start the year. Since Ray Priore took over as head coach prior to the 2015 season, the Quakers are 2-5 in Ivy openers against the Big Green. The Red and Blue will be looking for their first home victory over Dartmouth in the Priore era when the two teams square off Saturday.
 
Last Meeting With Dartmouth
You might call last season's matchup with the Big Green an "instant classic," because it certainly felt like one. Penn left it all out on the field in a 23-17, double-overtime victory in Hanover last September 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 orchestrated by quarterback Aidan Sayin, kicker Graham Gotlieb booted a 35-yard field goal through the uprights to send the contest to OT at 10-10. A Sayin TD pass to Joshua Casilli gave Penn a 17-10 lead and in the second overtime, Grant Ristoff blocked a field goal attempt and Trey Flowers leaped over the pile to give the Red and Blue the game-winning score.
 
Beating The Bison
Penn is once again 2-0 to start a campaign following a dominant, 37-21 victory at Bucknell Saturday afternoon in Lewisburg. The victory, the Quakers' ninth straight over the Bison since 2003, was guided by 515 total yards of offense and a rush defense that surrendered just eight yards on the ground on the afternoon. Strong-armed by Sayin's career performance under center—35 completions for 354 yards and three touchdowns—Penn scored 20 third-quarter points to cruise to a comfortable victory. Senior defensive lineman Joey Slackman had an impressive day, totaling five tackles with a career-high 3.5 tackles-for-loss.
 
Weekly Honors
You may have wondered if we forgot to mention someone in the previous bullet point. We didn't. Sophomore wide receiver Jared Richardson has been nothing short of amazing through his first two career starts as a critical part of the passing game, catching 12 passes—tied for a single-game NCAA FCS high—for 139 yards and two touchdowns in the Quakers' victory at Bucknell on Saturday. As a result, he was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week on Monday afternoon. Through two games, Richardson has a team-high 19 grabs for 201 yards and three TDs. He's the first Penn player to earn Offensive Player of the Week honors since Sayin after the final game of last season and the first wideout since Justin Watson on Nov. 6, 2017 to win the award.
 
Red and Blue Rush Defense
We mentioned earlier that the Quakers allowed just eight yards of rushing offense Saturday at Bucknell. Through the first two games of the year, Penn has the nation's top run defense (34.0 ypg) and the fifth-best scoring defense (13.5 ppg) in NCAA FCS football. A big part of that defense has been Slackman, who ranks second in the country in TFLs per game with 2.5, also leading the Ivy League in that category.
 
Preseason Predictions
When the Ivy League announced its preseason poll in early August, all eyes were on Penn, as the Quakers were picked third with 90 voting points. Dartmouth was picked to finish sixth with 54 points. Yale was selected to repeat as Ivy League champion with 122 points and 13 first-place votes. Last season, Penn finished in a tie for second place with Princeton, while Dartmouth was tied for sixth with Cornell following a 2-5 campaign.
 
Oh Captain, Our Captains
Following a team vote, Priore named five captains for the 2023 Quakers including a familiar face to the leadership group. For the second straight year, Melvin was voted a co-captain, while Casilli, Sayin, Slackman and Kendren Smith will join him for the coin toss at the beginning of each game this season.
 
Preseason All-Ivy
Twelve Penn players earned Preseason All-Ivy selection by Phil Steele in early August including first-team honorees Key, Kendren Smith and Julien Stokes. A 2022 first-team All-Ivy pick, Smith, 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 Gotlieb—while Sayin earned a spot on the third team.

Remembering Jerry Berndt
Legendary Penn football head coach Jerry Berndt (1981-85) will be honored and recognized with a special halftime ceremony on Saturday. Berndt, who led the Quakers back to glory with four consecutive Ivy League titles from 1982-85, passed away last December at the age of 84 following a lengthy battle with cancer. Berndt was inducted into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame on May 3, 2014 as a member of Class IX.
 
Follow The Action
For the first time this season, the Quakers will be shown on regional television, aired live on NBC Sports Philadelphia as well as ESPN+ on Saturday. Joe Tordy, entering his entering his eighth season doing the play-by-play honors is joined by Joe Valerio C'91, a Penn Athletics Hall of Famer, who makes his analyst debut for the Red and Blue. Matt Leon (PxP) and Hench Murray (Analyst) provide the radio call on the Quaker Audio Network (QAN), while live stats will be provided on pennstats.com.