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Football Hosts Brown on Homecoming |
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Penn Game Notes | Penn Football Twitter | Shop PHILADELPHIA - Unable to engineer another late comeback, the Quakers (2-4, 2-1 Ivy) fell at Yale for the first time since 2006 last week. However, the Red and Blue still control their own destiny toward a third Ivy title in the last four seasons. The first team in their way is Brown (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) as the Bears try to spoil Penn’s Homecoming. The Quakers have won three straight Homecoming games (by a combined score of 103-23), but their last loss at the event was at the hands of the Bears in 2008.
The Penn-Brown Series
Head Coach Al Bagnoli, who has a winning record against every league opponent, has more losses to Brown than any other Ivy school. He is just 11-9 against the Bears and 7-7 against Coach Estes. Though the teams have split the last 16 meetings, Brown has won five of the last seven, including two of the last three at Franklin Field. Overall, since the first meeting in 1895, Penn owns a 56-22-2 lead in the series. Brown has won just nine of the 49 games played at Franklin Field. Homecoming
Penn has won its last three Homecoming affairs by a combined score of 103-23. That broke a four-game losing streak (two of which came in overtime). But other than that stretch, the Quakers have been tremendous in front of the Homecoming crowd under head coach Al Bagnoli, winning 15 of 20 overall, including a 12-1 stretch between 1992-2004. In Bagnoli’s tenure, the Quakers are 2-2 on Homecoming against the Brown Bears. Canned Food
Penn’s Homecoming game versus Brown will also feature a canned food drive. Fans who bring cans of food to the game will receive a free stadium cup. Fans can bring the cans to the ticket office driveway for drop off and to receive their cup. Free Princeton Tickets and Free Round Trip Also on Saturday, Penn men’s basketball student season tickets go on sale. The first 100 students who purchase basketball season tickets will receive a free ticket and free round-trip travel (via bus) to the Penn-Princeton football game at Princeton Stadium on Nov. 3. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. and Penn will hold its annual Red & Blue Scrimmage at 10:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public, as fans can get their first glimpse of the 2012-13 Quakers in action in the annual intrasquad exhibition—just prior to the Homecoming football game against Brown at 1 p.m. 1,000-Yard Rushers
Penn has the luxury of a crowded backfield. Senior Jeff Jack went over 1,000 career rushing yards at Yale last week and the Quakers became one of three teams in the FCS (along with The Citadel and James Madison) to have three active players with 1,000 career rushing yards. In fact, the Quakers have four different players with more than 850 career rushing yards. Brandon Colavita leads with 1,416 yards, followed by Billy Ragone’s 1,312, Jeff Jack’s 1,007 and Lyle Marsh’s 865. If Marsh gains another 135 yards, the Quakers will be the only team in the country with four players over 1,000 career rush yards. Team October
Penn has lost 12 of its last 14 in the month of September, but when the calender turns to October, the Red and Blue have been nearly unbeatable recently. They are 19-3 in the last four Octobers and have not lost an Ivy home game in the month of October since a triple overtime defeat to No. 16 Yale (26-20) on Oct. 20, 2007.
Penn Scoring Trend
Penn has never been shut out at home in the Al Bagnoli era. In fact, the last time the Quakers were held without a point at Franklin Field was Nov. 18, 1989 (24-0 vs. Dartmouth), a span of 116 games. Other Quick Quaker Notes
Penn has scored 20 or more points in 16 of its last 18 Ivy games ... Penn has allowed an opening-drive touchdown just once since Nov. 1, 2008 (38 games)—Lafayette went just 14 yards to do it in the 2012 season opener ... The Quakers broke a streak of 17 quarters without forcing a turnover in the second quarter last week. Ragone in the Record Books
Senior quarterback Billy Ragone, who has 40 career touchdowns at Penn (17 rush, 23 pass) ranks fourth all-time at Penn in career completion percentage. Ragone was 16-for-31 at Yale last weekend and is 87-for-148 (58.8%) this season. Those numbers place him behind just three of Penn’s greatest signal-callers in the school record book (see below). Ragone has completed 311 of his 540 career attempts for a clip of 57.6 percent. That trails only Gavin Hoffman (64.8%), Mike Mitchell (63.7%) and Matt Rader (59.1%). Ragone in the Record Books: Part 2
Ragone is just 54 yards from becoming just the third player in Penn’s 136-year history with 5,000 career yards of total offense. Only Mike Mitchell (5,394) and Gavin Hoffman have accomplished the feat (7,188). In addition, last Saturday, Ragone also moved up in the top 10 all-time at Penn in career pass yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions. His 177 pass yards gave him 3,634 for his career. That passed Malcolm Glover (1987-89) for seventh all-time in school history. Ragone’s 31 pass attempts last week gave him 540 for his career. That moved him into sixth place at Penn as he passed Mark DeRosa (1994-95). Also, Ragone’s 16 completions now give him 311 for his career which also places sixth all-time at Penn. He is four from reaching the Top 5 and matching Pat McDermott (2003-05). A complete list of Quakers approaching milestones is on page five and a list of Ragone in the school record book is below. One Last Note on Ragone The third-year starting quarterback, who is 7-1 at home as a starter against the Ivy League, threw five interceptions in his first 23 attempts of the season. Since that time, he has just one interception in his last 190 plays (125 pass attempts, 65 rushing attempts). He has accounted for 770 pass yards, 217 rush yards, nine receiving yards and six touchdowns in that span (last 21 quarters). Lopano in the Record Books Senior punter Scott Lopano, a four-year starter at the position, is moving up in the school record books. Lopano’s second punt of the game last week moved him into second place on Penn’s all-time punts list. He finished the game with four punts for 169 career punts—leaving him just 17 short of Rob Sims (1990-92) for the school record (186). Lopano is also just 74 yards away from the school record for career punt yards. Rob Sims (1990-92) is currently first at 6,621. In addition, Lopano’s current average of 42.81 yards per punt is just slightly behind Sims’ single-season school record of 43.5. Lopano Ranked No. 15 in the Nation; Penn Ranked No. 6 If you’ve been keeping track of the Quakers this season, it won’t surprise you to learn that entering today’s game, Lopano ranks 15th in the nation in punting average and Penn ranks No. 6 in the FCS in net punting. Lopano has an average of 42.81 yards per punt this year, including five over 50 yards and a 67-yarder in the home opener against Villanova. Of his 31 punts, he has pinned 14 inside the 20-yard line and has forced 10 fair catches. Between Lopano and the coverage unit, the Quakers average 42.81 yards per punt—sixth-best in the country. NCAA Record No program in the history of college football—at any level—has played more games than Penn. Every time they play, the Quakers set an NCAA record. Saturday’s game will be the 1,330th in the Red and Blue’s illustrious history. Penn remains the only program to pass 1,300 games, hitting that mark on Oct. 31, 2009 in an overtime win at Brown. Yale is second all-time with 1,277 games played. Social Media and the 2012 Quakers (@PennFB) Last Time Out
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Courtesy: University of Pennsylvania
