Al Bagnoli faced the question he must have expected at Saturday's post-game press conference.
Coach, what about the Harvard game?
"Give us 20 minutes to enjoy this one, will you?" Penn's football coach laughed in reply.
It's been well over 20 minutes since the the Quakers completed a 44-13 thrashing at Princeton. Now, it's simply a matter of focusing their attention on this Saturday's contest against Harvard for the Ivy League title.
Either Harvard or Penn -- or both -- will end the season atop the Ancient Eight, and the winner of Saturday's game clinches at least a share of the crown.
The two teams met in Boston in an almost mirror-image situation last year, with Harvard taking the game and the title with a 28-21 come-from-behind victory.
Both squads were 7-0 overall and 5-0 in league play coming into last year's contest. The only difference this season is that the Quakers (7-1, 5-0 Ivy) have one non-conference loss and the Crimson (6-2, 5-0) have two, due to tougher schedules on both sides.
The Crimson's two losses came at the hands of Lehigh and Northeastern. The Engineers trailed for three quarters before coming back to win, 36-35, while the Huskies topped the Crimson, 14-7. Lehigh (7-3) is ranked 23rd in Division I-AA, while Northeastern is 10th.
Penn's lone defeat was a 17-3 decision in the rain at Villanova, who is now ranked 15th.
Lehigh lost to Penn on Sept. 28, 24-21, ending the Engineers' 26-game winning streak. Penn led, 24-7, after three quarters, and was able to hold off a late rally.
One of the factors that helped the Quakers was that their game against Lehigh was at home, where they have won 13-straight, while the Engineers came back to win against the Crimson at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem, Pa.
The Quakers, who are now ranked 18th in Division I-AA in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 and 17th by The Sports Network, have been nothing short of amazing in league play. Penn has outscored its Ancient Eight opponents by 29 points per game.
Harvard squeaked by in wins against Princeton, Dartmouth and Brown.
Still, the Quakers have some issues that will probably need to be addressed before Battle of the Unbeatens II.
Penn's running game was successful through the first several weeks of the season, but has sputtered in the past few games.
The Quakers rushed for only 63 yards against the Tigers, and have had trouble figuring out what to do with the running-back-by-committee they have been using all season.
After gaining 90 yards in his first game, Stephen Faulk has struggled to get close to that number again. Part of that is due to increased carries for rookie Mike Recchiuti and increased defensive responsibility for Faulk, but the running game has still not been very strong all season.
Penn has corrected earlier problems this season regarding the secondary and special teams, but the running game will probably need to be addressed before the matchup with the Crimson.
Saturday's game is at 12:30 p.m., with ESPN College GameDay beginning two hours earlier at Franklin Field.
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