Last week, the Penn football team continued its defensive mastery in limiting Yale to a lone field goal in a 21-3 victory.
Prior to that contest, the then-3-1 Elis had averaged 31.5 points per game.
Tomorrow, the Quakers (5-0, 3-0 Ivy League) will face an even stronger challenge when they travel to Brown (3-2, 2-1) for a 1 p.m., kickoff in Providence, R.I.
The Bears juggernaut has scored an average of 36.4 points in its five games this season.
"They have a big-time running back and wide receiver and they've got a great offensive system," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "They may be the best offensive team in the league."
Much like the Quakers do, Brown features star performers at most of its skill positions, led by quarterback Kyle Rowley, running back Michael Malan and wide receiver Chas Gessner.
Rowley, a senior whose brother, Travis, is one of his main targets at wideout, has already passed for 1,428 yards in 2001, completing 61 percent of his attempts.
Of Rowley's nine touchdown passes this year, eight have been caught by Gessner, a junior from Hyattsville, Md. Using his 6-foot-5, 200-pound frame to dominate opposing corners, Gessner has already accumulated 809 receiving yards this season.
The Bears also possess a potent ground attack, spearheaded by Malan. The St. Louis native has averaged six yards per carry and 118 yards per game.
All told, it seems that Brown can keep up with Penn because of the two teams' apparent similarities on offense.
"You're kind of screwed. It's like playing us," said Bagnoli of the prospects of stopping the Bears' balanced approach. "No one has shut them down, but I'd like to think we'll be able to control them."
Limiting Brown's offense to just being good, as opposed to fabulous, will be the defense's task. Yet, the Penn offense understands that it too will need a superior effort if the Red and Blue are to preserve their unbeaten record.
The Quakers have shown flashes of the firepower to which opponents had recently become accustomed, but have looked sluggish and sloppy at other times this year.
Executing in the red zone has been particularly problematic. But Penn's futility inside the 20 to this point has yet to directly impact the outcome of a game.
Still, the Red and Blue can ill-afford to tempt fate against the dynamic Bears.
"I think there's pressure on everybody," Bagnoli said. "There's pressure on the offense to protect the football, score when we have the opportunity and be efficient."
This part of the game plan may prove to be a far easier assignment than the one requiring the defense to combat one of the best statistical offenses in college football.
Brown's defense allows 27.4 points and an astounding 227 rushing yards per game.
This bodes well for Penn running back Kris Ryan, who was held in check against Yale last week but was a dominant force in his team's other four games.
"Regardless of what the defense does, we need to put up big numbers," Ryan said. "We need a breakout game so we can be popping on all cylinders going into the rest of the season. Hopefully, we'll be up to the challenge."
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