PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The University of Pennsylvania football team made things interesting in the final few minutes of Saturday's game at Brown, but the Quakers made the plays when they needed to and escaped Brown Stadium with a 38-28 win.
The Red and Blue led by 24 points with nine minutes left in the game, but Brown was able to get within 10 points with a chance to make it a one-possession game with 3:13 left. However, the two-point conversion was unsuccessful—one of two the Bears could not convert in the fourth—and Penn's offense got the first down needed to salt this one away.
Penn (3-4, 1-3) earned its first win in Ivy League play, while Brown fell to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the conference.
Quaker Notemeal
*Junior
Liam O'Brien made his first-career start at quarterback for Penn, putting together an efficient performance going 18-for-24 through the air for 247 yards and two touchdowns. He also netted 60 yards on the ground, adding a rushing TD.
*
Malachi Hosley recorded his fourth 100-rushing yard game of the season, carrying the ball 17 times for 102 yards and two touchdowns. He's scored two TDs in three games this season.
*With 735 rushing yards through seven games, Hosley eclipsed his 2023 total by 12 yards (723) and matched his touchdown total (7).
*
Jared Richardson finally looked like himself against Brown, catching seven passes for 113 yards and a TD. It's his first 100-yard game of the year after totaling four such games in 2023.
*
Bisi Owens had six receptions for 89 yards, while
Justin Cayenne scored his first touchdown since Oct. 8, 2022 at Georgetown.
*
John Lista once again paced the Penn defense with 12 total tackles (11 solos) and a sack for a four-yard loss. The Red and Blue had four TFLs on the day with
Jack Fairman,
Kadari Machen, and
Shiloh Means joining Lista.
*Means had a team-high two pass breakups, while Fairman and
David McMorris had the other two.
*
Jacob Cisneros was credited with a punt block, the Quakers' second of the season while
Cole Olsztyn had the recovery.
*Despite the loss, Brown still managed to out-gain Penn, 441-419, in total offense with the edge in passing yards (293-247). Neither team had an interception on the afternoon.
*Time of possession was almost completely even as the Bears held the ball for 30:01 to the Quakers' 29:59.
*
Albert Jang averaged 45.7 yards per punt on three attempts. He had one go for 50 yards.
*Penn now leads the all-time series with Brown, 64-26-2, in what was the 92nd meeting between the two squads. It snapped a two-game losing skid since a loss in 2021 and it marked the Quakers' first victory in Providence since 2018.
How It Happened
It looked like Penn might catch an early break when Samuel Baddoo fumbled
Albert Jang's punt and
Jayden Drayton recovered it in Bears territory.
Malachi Hosley opened the drive with a nice 15-yard rush down to Brown's 24-yard line and another to the 22 on the next play. However, the Quakers went the wrong direction after that and left
Sam Smith with a 42-yard field goal attempt that he pulled just wide left.
The defense forced a three-and-out, though, and the Quakers' next drive was more fruitful. Mixing the run and the throw behind
Liam O'Brien, Penn went 67 yards to paydirt. A key play came on third-and-4 just on the Brown side of midfield, when O'Brien rolled to his right and fed
Bisi Owens who caught the ball on the second effort just before falling out of bounds. The circus catch stood after a review, and two plays later
Jared Richardson performed his own magic as he caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from O'Brien deep in the left corner of the end zone.
The Quakers were called for unsportsmanlike after his TD catch, so the kickoff was moved ten yards back. Brown took advantage, returning it nearly to midfield. The defense once again forced a three-and-out, though, and Penn's lead was 7-0 after one.
Brown tied things up on its first drive in the second quarter. The drive took 11 plays and covered 69 yards, getting some help when Penn was drawn offsides on a fourth-down play. Two plays later, Jake Willcox beat the Red and Blue blitz by firing a pass to the right side of the end zone, where Mark Mahoney leapt over his defender to snare the 31-yard TD catch.
Brown's next drive stalled in its own territory, and then
Jacob Cisneros blocked the Bears' punt attempt and
Cole Olsztyn recovered it at Bruno's 25-yard line. Penn turned the play into points, as two plays later Hosley found a hole through the right side of the line and went straight to paydirt to give Penn a 14-7 lead.
The Quakers doubled their lead just before halftime. This time the drive took 10 plays and just over three minutes to cover 70 yards, with O'Brien calling his own number on the last two plays—the first a tremendous second effort for a one-yard gain that got Penn a first down at the 10, and the second up the gut into the end zone with 26 seconds left as he shook off a pair of tacklers along the way. O'Brien also found Richardson for 25 yards during the drive.
Penn's lead was 21-7 at halftime.
Penn then received the kickoff to start the second half and needed less than two minutes to again march down the field. The second play of the five-play, 72-yard drive saw Hosley rush for 18 yards into Brown territory, with another 15 yards tacked on by a facemask penalty as he was being tackled. O'Brien found Owens for 21 yards on the next play, and just two plays after that Hosley stepped into the Wildcat formation, took the direct snap, and came around the left side for his second score of the day from 11 yards out.
Brown was in desperate need of a spark, and the Bears found it by running their two-minute offense. The result was an 11-play drive that took just over four minutes and ended with Qwentin Brown plunging into the end zone on third down from a yard out in Bruno's "Kodiak" formation.
Penn put more points on the board on the ensuing drive. The Quakers drove all the way down to Brown's 8-yard line before stalling, Drayton losing five yards on a reverse that the Bears sniffed out. That left Smith with a 30-yard field goal that he put through the uprights to make the score 31-14. The big plays came from O'Brien's arm, as he found Owens for a 28-yard gain on third down from Penn's 26 and later hit
Joshua Casilli for 22 yards to get the Quakers near the red zone.
Brown again drove down the field and looked like it had scored when Mahoney caught a ball from Willcox in the right side of the end zone. However, Mahoney was called for offensive pass interference on the play, and instead the Bears were forced to kick a 42-yard field goal that Christopher Maron pulled wide left.
Penn took its 17-point lead into the fourth quarter in possession of the ball, and that possession eventually yielded another touchdown as the Quaker appeared to put the proverbial nail into Brown's coffin. The nine-play drive took more than four minutes off the clock and ended with O'Brien finding
Justin Cayenne up the middle for a 15-yard score. O'Brien found Richardson twice on the drive, the first for 43 yards and the next for 11 yards and a first down on third-and-nine in Brown territory.
Did we say the final nail had been driven into the coffin? Down 38-14, the Bears responded with a scoring drive that took just 2:19 off the clock, the touchdown coming from a Matt Childs rush up the middle for the final yard. The all-important two-point conversion was no good, however, leaving the score at a three-possession margin, 38-20.
Penn then threw Brown a lifeline on the ensuing kickoff when
Julien Stokes fumbled the ball out of bounds at the Quakers' 7-yard line. After a false start moved the ball back to the 3, Hosley was barely able to get out of the end zone and then O'Brien was less fortunate, getting sacked for a safety as he looked for an open receiver. Suddenly this was a two-possession game at 38-22, there was still 7:37 on the clock, and Penn was giving the ball back to Brown.
Jang's kickoff was fair caught by Brown at its 25, and the Bears again drove down the field for a score. The touchdown play came on fourth down from the 3-yard line as Willcox eluded the Quaker rush by rolling out to his right. Just as he was running out of room, Willcox fired a pass to Solomon Miller who caught it just over the goal line to make the score 38-28. Once again, the Bears went for two to make it a one-possession game but Willcox's pass to Mahoney on the left side never had a chance.
With 3:13 still on the clock, Brown tried an onside kick that went out of bounds, to give Penn the ball on its own 45-yard line. The Quakers were immediately called for a delay of game penalty, but Hosley took over from there, getting the Quakers a first down on three rushes which allowed them to put this game on ice.
Up Next
Penn is back on the road next Saturday, taking on Cornell in the 130th meeting—the fifth-most played rivalry in Division I football— between the two teams in a game that is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. in Ithaca, N.Y.
For the latest on Penn football, follow @PennFB on X (formerly Twitter), @PennFootball on Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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