NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The University of Pennsylvania football team struggled in the first half Saturday at Yale and never recovered, dropping a 35-13 decision to the Bulldogs at the Yale Bowl.
 
Penn lost for the first time in Ivy League play (2-1) and fell to 4-2 overall. Yale is also 4-2 overall, 2-1 in league play.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Yale halted Penn's three-game win streak as the Bulldogs have now won six of the last 10 meetings between the two rivals.
 
*The Quakers gained just 312 yards of offense—220 through the air, 92 on the ground—while allowing 413 yards on defense and over 200 rushing yards.
 
*While Penn had the edge in first downs, 24-21, it only converted four of its 15 third-down attempts while going 1-of-4 on fourth down.

*The Red and Blue allowed a season-high tying 21 points in the third quarter, and the 28-10 halftime deficit was their largest of the year.
 
*QB Liam O'Brien went 21-of-39 for 220 yards through the air, adding a touchdown. He also rushed 22 times for 45 yards.
 
*Jared Richardson caught six passes for 85 yards and a TD. It was his third consecutive game with a score and now has an Ivy League-leading nine touchdown receptions on the year. That number is the most by a Penn pass catcher since Justin Watson's single-season record 14 in 2017.
 
*Bisi Owens added seven receptions for 65 yards, while Davis Ellis and Sean Williams, Jr. each had a pair of catches.
 
*Defensively, John Lista led the way with 11 total tackles, a TFL, and a fumble recovery.
 
*Kadari Machen and Ty Cortes added nine tackles each, while Cole Olsztyn added seven stops—on four solos—with a half TFL and a forced fumble.
 
*Freshman kicker Mason Walters tallied six of Penn's 13 points on two field goals, both from 28 yards out.

How It Happened
Penn's defense immediately got to work and turned the tables when Dante Reno tossed a six-yard screen pass out to Nico Brown, who fumbled the ball—forced by Cole Olsztyn—which fell into the hands of John Lista.
 
The offense capitalized on quality field position with a 28-yard field goal from Mason Walters to give the Quakers an early 3-0 lead. Yale's next drive was a three-and-out as Penn's defense swarmed the Bulldogs and forced a punt.
 
Penn got the ball back and were energized by Liam O'Brien's 28-yard gain to the Yale 15-yard line, but a holding penalty negated the very positive yardage and ended up bringing up fourth down and long by drive's end.
 
Yale put together an 11-play, 85-yard drive that took nearly five minutes of game time to get on the scoreboard for the first time. Josh Pitsenberger broke a few tackles, rushing 10 yards to the right for the TD and a 7-3 lead.
 
Now trailing late in the first quarter, O'Brien finally got Jared Richardson involved with a 19-yard catch in Bulldog territory as the clock expired. As the second period began, the Quakers' groove got interrupted in a major way as O'Brien danced out of the pocket, was stripped by Abu Kamara who scampered home 63 yards to extend Yale's advantage to 14-3.
 
Penn's next drive was marred by an overthrown ball from O'Brien to Bisi Owens, a false start, an incomplete pass, and then a 15-yard punt to the 35 to give the Bulldogs another chance to pull away.
 
After Pitsenberger rushed nine yards up the middle to the Penn 26, Reno floated a 26-yard fade to Jaxton Santiago to make it a 21-3 ballgame, as Yale went ahead by three scores early in the second.
 
Now in desperation mode to put together something substantial to close out the first half, the Quakers chewed up a ton of yardage and the clock with an 11-play, 77-yard drive that concluded with a 13-yard touchdown pass from O'Brien to Richardson, which cut into the lead, now 21-10.
 
On the ensuing kickoff, Yale's Billy Eastep coughed up the football which was then recovered by kicker Sam Smith, but was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty to lose yardage. Penn couldn't muster much of that turnover, punting away with under five minutes to go.
 
A nearly three-minute drive put more points on the board for the Bulldogs to cap what was a strong first half, as Reno found Nico Brown for 19 yards and a TD to extend the edge to 28-10, the score at halftime.
 
The second half started with an unfortunate turn of events as Jayden Drayton lost the ball on the opening kickoff, resulting in a turnover that gave the Bulldogs prime field position and a chance to up the advantage to four scores. Fortunately, the defense held Yale to a field goal, which went left of the uprights with the deficit remaining 18 points.
 
It looked as if Penn was going to convert a drive into points when O'Brien completed a 28-yard pass to Richardson and Donte West ran right 10 yards for another first down, but it quickly became fourth down and nine and O'Brien was sacked for a five-yard loss to turn the ball over on downs.
 
It was more of the same for the Bulldogs, who picked up a 19-yard gain on a Reno-to-Brown connection but stalled shortly after. Three short-yardage runs went nowhere, and Reno's fourth-down pass to Brown fell incomplete, resulting in another turnover on downs.
 
Penn was able to get three points out of a nine-play, 53-yard drive when Walters converted his second field goal of the afternoon, a 28-yard kick straight down the middle.
 
Yale's offense got back to work on the next possession and continued to eat away at the Penn defense, driving 75 yards down the field as the Reno to Brown connection only got more dangerous when they registered a 33-yard TD grab, now ahead 35-13.
 
Getting the ball back late in the third with work to do, the next drive was riddled with penalties but was headlined by O'Brien's 26-yard deep ball to Davis Ellis for the first down. The Quakers got the ball down to the red zone on O'Brien's heave to Richardson, but it was called back on an illegal formation call. Penn continued its drive to open the fourth quarter, but it stalled on fourth down, handing possession back to the Bulldogs.
 
Penn's final drive ended in similar fashion; the Quakers needed more than six minutes in getting the ball to Yale's 13-yard line but stalled out there. The Bulldogs were then able to run out the game's final 4:20.
 
Up Next
Penn is back at home for its next two games, starting next Friday night when the Quakers host Brown at 7 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.

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