Football: one eye on its game, one on The Game

Given a little help, the Penn football team could make tomorrow a banner day at Franklin Field.

Despite this being The Week After for the Quakers (7-1, 5-1 Ivy League), a win over a moribund Cornell (2-6, 2-4) squad tomorrow, combined with a Yale victory over unbeaten Harvard in The Game, would give Penn a share of its 12th Ivy League title.

The Quakers' dreams of an outright Ivy title and an unbeaten season ended last Saturday with a 28-21 loss to Harvard. And a Crimson win over a struggling Yale squad at the Yale Bowl tomorrow would cement Penn's place as second-best in 2001.

Yale has won the last three meetings with the Crimson, but if there were a script to Harvard's magical season, its storybook ending would no doubt be winning The Game.

Five of the last six Harvard or Yale teams to enter The Game with a perfect Ivy League record, however, have come away with a loss.

Penn defensive lineman Steve Moroney, for one, would not look down upon a share of the championship were it to present itself tomorrow.

"I ain't proud," he said. "Shit, I'll take a piece of the pie. I'll be co-champs. I may not have said that two weeks ago, but at this point, I'm a senior, and I want to go out with a ring."

Before anybody can be fitted for jewelry, however, the Quakers will have to take care of business tomorrow versus the woeful Big Red.

"If Yale beats Harvard, and we lose to Cornell on this field, I don't think anyone would ever forgive themselves," Moroney said.

Just a year ago, Penn and Cornell were both 5-1 in the Ancient Eight and playing for the championship in both teams' season finale. The Quakers annihilated the Big Red, 45-15, to capture the title.

Since that cold day in Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell has experienced numerous graduations of key personnel, a coaching change and a new offensive scheme. The Big Red visit Franklin Field much worse off than they were last year.

But Penn coach Al Bagnoli believes Cornell is still a dangerous foe.

"I think we're really catching them at the wrong time," he said. "I think they're a much easier team to play if this was week two or three and [they were] still going through those growing pains, as opposed [to] week 10 and fully understanding [their new] system."

The Big Red feature star quarterback Ricky Rahne.

"He just makes plays," Bagnoli said. "He's not the prettiest thrower, he doesn't have the classic release, he's just very athletic, he's very nimble, and he makes some very, very good plays in an impromptu manner."

Moroney, however, feels that containing the Cornell offense will not be a problem if the Quakers don't overlook their opponents' abilities.

"Let's put it this way," he said. "If the defense plays the way we should play, the way we always play, then we should handle these guys."

On the other side of the ball, Penn running back Kris Ryan -- who needs 77 yards on the ground to become the all-time leading rusher in Penn history -- and the rest of the Penn offense will face a wily Cornell defense that has been porous all year, yet may present a challenge.

"They run some unconventional things that get the offense thinking," Penn quarterback Gavin Hoffman said.

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