Football set for winless Bears' visit

As Election Day nears, one it looks as if one northeastern poll is already on the verge of being disproved.

In August, the Ivy League 2002 Football Media Poll projected that Brown would finish in third place, and by a comfortable margin over No. 4-pick Pennsylvania.

Yet, the Quakers (5-1, 3-0 Ivy League) stand to mathematically eliminate -- in the first week of November -- the dismal Bears from championship contention (0-6, 0-3) with a victory on Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field.

It will be tempting for Penn to look past Brown toward next week's contest at archrival Princeton, but the Bears' record is not truly reflective of the team's personnel.

"We're not really looking at their record," Penn safety Vince Alexander said. "We know they're a solid team.

"We just have to realize that they're going to be playing that much harder because they're fighting for that first win. And to knock us out of contention would probably make their season."

Brown has certainly not laid down and surrendered in any of its games to this point.

In fact, four of their six losses have been decided by a touchdown or less, and none of the six has featured a margin of greater than 14 points.

The Bears dropped a 10-7 heartbreaker in overtime last week against Cornell.

Consequently, Penn coach Al Bagnoli knows that Brown is frustrated, but dangerously close to exploding some time soon.

"I don't think anybody would have dreamed we'd be coming into this game and they'd be winless," Bagnoli said. "I think they're in shock and the rest of the league is in shock.

"It'll be interesting to see how the coaches communicate to the kids. They're going to have to do a good job with that, and I believe they will. We also realize that given the history of this thing, we're going to have to play well."

Indeed, Penn has played perhaps its wildest, most memorable and most competitive games with Brown over the last few years.

In 1998, Brown topped the Quakers, 58-51. Two years later, the Red and Blue completed an improbable comeback against the Bears, coming back from 18 down to win, 41-38, at Franklin Field.

The main source of Brown's offense since 1999 has been wide receiver Chas Gessner.

On Oct. 5 of this year, in a game at Rhode Island, Gessner caught a remarkable 14 passes in the first half alone and tied Jerry Rice's NCAA I-AA record of 24 for the game.

But in an indication of how things have gone for the Bears this season, they lost by 10 points that day.

Bagnoli said that Penn will have to know where Gessner is at all times, but senior captain and linebacker Travis Belden suggested that the Quakers might not have too difficult a time containing the star receiver.

"We're not going to adjust our total game plan just for one guy," Belden said. "I think we can keep him out of the end zone. Our defensive backfield this year is far and away the best we've had since I've been here."

Gessner currently leads the Ivy League in receptions with 68, but that is virtually Brown's lone positive statistic this season.

The most lethal combination for the Bears is that Penn averages 35.5 points per game -- by far the most in the league -- while Brown allows 28.3.

Penn has scored 110 more points than it has given up, while Brown racks up a negative-38 in that category.

Further bad news for the visitors is that Brown brings the Ancient Eight's worst running attack into Franklin Field to face a rush defense that allows just 54 yards per game on the ground.

All the numbers are strongly aligned in Penn's favor, as they continue their drive to obliterate yet another key figure -- the "four" that they were tagged with in the pre-season rankings.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.