Football: Why are we playing Georgetown?

After their last meeting ended with a 0-0 tie in 1937, fans should hope the Penn-Georgetown matchup is something that gets better with age.

The Quakers swapped Bucknell for Georgetown on the schedule this year after a seven-decade hiatus from playing the Hoyas, and it isn't hard to see why Washington D.C. is a more attractive option for everyone involved.

"We're always trying to get a Washington D.C./Northern Virginia game because we have a few kids from there and it's a good recruiting area for us," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "There are lots of alumni there, proximity is good, media exposure is good, so it's a natural."

Penn and Georgetown had tried several times to renew the deal, but had difficulty finding a mutually free day to schedule the contest until this year.

The Hoyas are the second Patriot League team on Penn's schedule this year, a fact that Georgetown head coach Kevin Kelly says is not surprising.

"The Patriot League and the Ivy League are very similar," he said. "We're both non-scholarship programs . It's not about the money, or the scholarships, it's about football and there's a lot of parity between the two leagues."

Georgetown and Penn arranged the deal to play each other in 2000, and are slated to face off again next year in Washington, D.C.

The squads are currently trying to extend the deal for what seems to be a match made in scheduling heaven.

"Georgetown has made a conscious effort to play some Ivy League schools and we have three on the schedule this year," Kelly said. "We're like institutions, the alumni like to play the Ivies and our players enjoy it as well."

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