Football: Repeat?

After losing 16 starters from its 2001 Ivy League runner-up team, the Penn football team was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League. Using that low ranking as motivation, the 2002 team went on to dominate the Ivies like few units ever had.

The Quakers finished 7-0 in the Ancient Eight, winning by no fewer than 21 points each game. Penn finished 9-1 overall with its only loss coming to eventual national semifinalist Villanova.

This year's Quakers -- who return 15 of 22 starters -- are not going to sneak up on anyone. Penn is ranked No. 20 nationally in Division I-AA by USA Today/ESPN and is the preseason media pick to win the Ivy League.

"I don't think any coach wants to be named preseason anything," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "I would have hoped they picked us third or something. That would have been great. They were insulted by the fourth place" pick last year.

While relatively few starters leave the program this year, they do include five first-team all-Ivy performers from a year ago.

"There's going to be some holes, just not the volume of holes that there was before," Bagnoli said.

The offense will attempt to match last season's 36.3 points per game pace despite losing the program's all-time leading receiver in Rob Milanese.

"The young receivers are going to be pretty good," senior quarterback Mike Mitchell said "I'm really confident."

While the receiving end of Penn's dynamic duo of a year ago is gone, fifth-year senior quarterback Mitchell returns for a second season at the helm of the Quakers' offense. In 2002 -- his first full season as a starter -- Mitchell had the second-highest passing total in the Ivy League with 2,803 yards.

The trio of Joe Phillips, Jonathan Robinson and Daniel Castles -- who combined last season for fewer receptions than Milanese -- will be expected to fill the void in the passing game.

"One of those guys really has to step up and be that" top receiver, Bagnoli said.

Penn will not only need to replace its leading receiver, but also its leading rusher. Mike Recchiuti and Jake Perskie will compete to replace the graduated Stephen Faulk. Both of these tasks will be facilitated by the return of Penn's entire offensive line intact from a season ago.

"That extra year is a big thing for the offensive line," senior lineman Matt Dukes said.

Along with Dukes, Ben Noll, Chris Kupchik, Kevin Doyle and Chris Clark make up a unit that had four All-Ivy representatives a season ago. Clark was pegged as a preseason All-American by the Sports Network.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Quakers must replace three unanimous All-Ivy performers in safety Vince Alexander, lineman Chris Pennington and linebacker Travis Belden. Defensive back Fred Plaza also graduated as a first team All-Ivy honoree.

"On defense, Belden and Alexander really made a lot of plays," Bagnoli said. "Now you've got to identify who are the playmakers on that side of the ball."

Steve Lhotak figures to be one of those playmakers. The senior linebacker returns as a captain after leading the team in tackles a year ago. Also, helping to cushion the loss of Alexander and Plaza in the secondary will be the return of cornerback Rudy Brown, who missed all of last season with a concussion.

Harvard and Yale, the teams that finished second and tied for third in the Ivies, respectively, a year ago, were picked to finish second and third in this season's preseason media poll.

However, after beating those teams by a combined 56 points a year ago, some of the Quakers feel that their best competition comes now, during practice.

Against each other.

"So far in camp it has been pretty competitive between the offense and the defense," senior safety Kevin Stefanski said. "The way we look at is if we can beat the offense in a practice we just beat the best offense we're going to face all year. Hopefully they look at it the same way. If not, we'll beat them up."

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