ON THE SIDELINES: Penn bogs down after the half

EASTON, Pa.-- After piling up 28 points in little more than a quarter and a half Saturday, Penn had no reason to worry about running up the score on Lafayette. Just running out the clock -- or running at all, for that matter -- would be problem enough. The Quakers committed four of their six turnovers after halftime, and struggled for only 65 yards of total offense in the final 30 minutes. In Penn's first three second-half possessions combined, the Quakers ran just six plays and nibbled a paltry two minutes and five seconds off the clock. Not exactly an ideal ball-control offense, to say the least. And the Quakers' running-back-by-committee -- minus absentee member Aman Abye, who sat out with a twisted ankle -- likewise went from decent to dismal as the game wore on. The two available musketeers, Dion Camp and Jasen Scott, gained 57 and 21 yards respectively, but combined for only 23 yards in the second half, including a third-quarter net total of minus-eight. "We wanted to run the ball, but Lafayette kept coming with six- and seven-man pressure," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said of the Leopards' second-half defense. "It's real difficult to run the ball with nine men in the box because you can't account for two of them. So I understand they wanted to get the ball back and make some plays, but it kind of put us in an awkward position." It was a position in which Lafayette would dare the Quakers to control the ball through the air, an improbable strategy since Penn had done exactly that early in the game. In the first half, the Quakers' passing attack exploded for 158 yards, as quarterback Mark DeRosa threw touchdowns to three different receivers -- remarkably none of whom were named Miles Macik. Wide receiver Mark Fabish, who did not catch a pass against Dartmouth, erupted for four first-half receptions, including a six-yard touchdown on a quick slant. Fellow wideout Felix Rouse, who always seems to draw single coverage, scored on his only reception of the game when DeRosa dropped a 28-yard bomb over his shoulder in the end zone. And tight end Matt Tonelli redeemed himself after dropping a sure touchdown last week by breaking open in the left corner of the end zone to be on the receiving end of a 15-yard strike. But the second half saw DeRosa play right into the Leopards' paws as he replaced the TNT with INTs -- three to be exact -- that were more the result of errors in execution than any adjustments in the Lafayette defensive scheme. On the second play of the half, DeRosa looked upfield after a play-action fake to see the irrepressible Rouse had beaten man coverage on a post pattern with no safety in sight. DeRosa, who had overthrown Rouse on a similar play in the first half, severely underthrew him this time, allowing Leopards cornerback Tadji Chattman time to recover and make a leaping interception. The Penn offense did improve slightly on its next possession, when it took Lafayette three whole plays to pick off DeRosa, this time on a pass intended for Fabish over the middle. "It was my fault in the second half," DeRosa said. "Both interceptions were on the same play. It's play action and you turn your back to the defense so you really don't know exactly what they're doing until you turn around. I was waiting a little too long on the Fabish ball and the guy was playing robber coverage. He just stepped in front of [Fabish]. "I force the ball in too much and I don't know why I do it. Maybe it's because I'm not a very good runner." That fact wouldn't have distinguished him from anyone else Saturday. In defense of DeRosa, nary a ball that left his hand in the second half hit the ground. It was just that three of his seven attempts were caught by Leopards' defensive backs. The third interception was a short pass drilled over the middle that hit Fabish a little too squarely in the hands and popped up to Lafayette safety Matt Cope. "I'll have to talk to him about that," DeRosa said, grinning. But you can bet Bagnoli won't be grinning in practice this week when the Quakers sit down and watch the films. "We're still looking for 60 minutes of consistency," Bagnoli said. "We showed some progress up until about halftime and then I think we took a step back." What he didn't say was that a better team than Lafayette might have seized the opportunity to take steps forward. And in a closer game, that would be an opportunity the Quakers could not afford to offer.

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