Not the time for Penn football to celebrate

Sometimes mental challenges are larger than physical ones, even in the game of football, according to Penn coach Ray Priore.

Last Thursday, the undersized Quakers (1-1) took down a top-five team in the nation on the road when they beat Villanova, 24-13.

And this weekend, the challenges are no smaller. If anything, they are even larger for a Red and Blue defense that is coming off its best performance since 2013 and enters its first Ivy League contest of the season.

Dartmouth (2-0) is led by senior quarterback Dalyn Williams, who is one of the premier passers in the Football Championship Subdivision, having been named to virtually every watch list for national offensive player of the year. The veteran also managed to carve up the Quakers last season, scoring three touchdowns in the Big Green’s 31-13 victory.

Priore, who saw his team fail to contain Lehigh’s dual-threat quarterback Nick Shafnisky in the season opener, hopes Penn can flip the script this weekend in the team’s home debut.

“You have to be patient,” he said regarding limiting Williams. “Everyone has to control rush lanes, and I think what we did not do a year ago that we have to do [Saturday] is contain him especially on the critical downs.”

An enormous difference between the Red and Blue’s matchup with Lehigh two weeks ago, as well as last year’s loss at Dartmouth, is that the Quakers finally have momentum heading into a critical game.

“Now, there’s total belief and trust,” said Priore of the effects of the Villanova victory. “Which, there was before, but now it really validates what we’ve done.”

The first-year head coach feels that Penn’s performance last week was much closer to what the team can do than the squad’s effort when facing Lehigh four days prior.

“I think the greatest development a football team will have in a season is between game one and game two,” he said.

But could the Quakers be even better than they were in their upset win week after week?

“I still believe that this team has come not even close to what they’re capable of doing all the way around,” Priore said.

Of course, the Red and Blue are now in uncharted waters. They haven’t had a .500 record since the middle of the 2013 season and are receiving votes in the FCS Coaches’ Poll after their Big 5 statement.

But Priore doesn’t want the team to get ahead of itself and think about any of that.

“I know everyone looks at it and it’s a long history [of Penn football],” he said. "We look at it in that small little chamber which is called the season.

“And we just try to build, build and build.”

Successfully stopping Williams and the onslaught of offensive weapons Dartmouth throws at opposing defenses would be monumental in bolstering the reputation of Priore’s Quakers.

Junior linebacker Donald Panciello is focused on tackling this daunting task head on.

“When it’s our job to contain [Williams], we just need to make sure we do our job and just be conscious that at any time in the game he could tuck it and go,” said the College Sports Madness National Defensive Player of the Week.

“It’s always in the back of your mind when you’re playing,” Panciello said of Williams’ ability to scramble. “But only make that play when you need to make it. If everyone does their job on defense everything will be taken care of.”

One advantage the Red and Blue have over the Big Green is the luck of the schedule. Because the Villanova game was played on a Thursday due to the papal visit, the Quakers gained two extra days of rest and preparation before their Ancient Eight opener.

The Ivy slate is short but unforgiving. Each team plays ten games without a bye week, and any extra day a squad can get is valuable. As a result the team was able to clear its thoughts over the weekend.

After Tuesday’s practice, Priore explained his team’s mindset.

“This is the Tuesday of game three — round three as we call it — and they’re all individual rounds,” he said. “And by the end of the year, we’ll figure out where things are, but we just need to take it one at a time.”

Saturday’s matchup is Priore’s first home game as coach. But with the way the Red and Blue are playing, the focus is on the game and not him, which is just how he wants it.

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