Yesterday I asked a friend on the football team if he was going to play Saturday in the Ivy opener against Dartmouth. He’s been battling an injury this week.
Of course, he replied. It’s the playoffs.
For outdated and asinine reasons, the Quakers can’t participate in the FCS playoffs. So the seven-game Ivy season becomes their postseason.
Every league game, starting with Dartmouth Saturday, is win or go home. One off day means sharing a trophy; two bad games and it’s better luck next year.
After one embarrassing defeat and another deflating loss to start the season, it would be easy to write off this season and its associated quest for a three-peat as already lost. That’s simply not the case.
We can draw some valid conclusions from the first two weeks of play: Penn’s offense has not been nearly as efficient as it was last season, and some worrisome holes have appeared in a defense that was one of the nation’s best a year ago.
After the loss to Villanova over the weekend, Wildcats coach Andy Talley was quick to note the difference in his opponent, year to year.
“At this juncture in the season, they were better last year,” he said.
But don’t judge this team based on two early season throwaway games.
The team that ran a freight train through the Ivy League last year deserves the benefit of the doubt, at least until the real Week One. This weekend’s game — not only against a talented team, but also on the road in New Hampshire — should give the Quakers and their fans a solid indication of where the team sits.
Dartmouth returns an Ivy Player of the Year from 2010 in running back Nick Schweiger, who’s already averaging close to seven yards per carry.
When the lights come on in Dartmouth’s Memorial Stadium, the playoffs begin and that mentality takes over.
If the Quakers can’t turn it on with that in mind, maybe the season is lost.
The tough opponent will either prove to the Quakers they are picking up right where they left off, with a 15-game Ivy winning streak, or it could put a serious dent in another title run.
My money’s on the former.
CALDER SILCOX is a senior science, technology and society major from Washington, D.C., and is Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is silcox@theDP.com.
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