Kotloff | Nova’s always worth a shot

After 99 winless years, it’s difficult to call Penn’s history with Villanova a rivalry.

But Saturday at Villanova Stadium, the defending Ivy champion Penn football team proved why it’s ranked No. 24 in the Football Championship Subdivision, hanging tough with the No. 1 Wildcats and even leading the game after 55 minutes of play.

The Quakers defense allowed just 13 points and 157 rushing yards (51 came on one play) to a team that averaged 31 points and 240 rushing yards per game last season.

And, according to sophomore defensive lineman Brandon Copeland, the Villanova offensive line plays unlike any team Penn faces in conference competition.

“They’re definitely a good front, real big front,” he said. “They’re moving side-to-side, going lateral … Most of the teams we’ll see are more come-off-the-ball, fire-right-at-you type of teams.”

Copeland’s statement gives a picture of the overall disparity between ’Nova’s agile offense and the style Penn is accustomed to playing against in the Ivy League.

Some might read into that statement and question why the Quakers have continued to play Villanova every year since 2004. Why keep scheduling a game against a team from the Colonial Athletic Association that Penn hasn’t defeated since 1911?

Saturday’s contest provided the answer, and Penn coach Al Bagnoli hammered the point home.

“This will bode very well as we prepare for the Ivy season. I’m not sure we’ll see anybody with this kind of firepower coming up,” he said.

“This is a real good test for us to go on the road against a good team,” he added. “Eventually we’re going to have to go to Yale, go to Cornell and go to [Princeton] and we’re going to have to play well.”

Villanova coach Andy Talley even went as far as to say that Penn would be among the top four teams if it played in the CAA.

“They’re a championship football team,” Talley said of the Quakers, whom he praised throughout the post-game press conference. “They’re really good.”

Talley knows that better than anyone, given that his team, which won the FCS title last season, has been locked in many tight battles with Penn over the last several years. Don’t let the seven consecutive losses fool you — the average margin of victory has been just nine points.

Though Penn played two underclassmen at quarterback and faced a bigger and faster opponent, the Wildcats still couldn’t pull away from the Quakers.

“I truthfully felt like ‘Okay, we’ve got them at home here. We’re not keeping this thing close,’” Talley said of his attitude heading into the contest.

That game plan fell through because Penn played the type of gritty “rock ‘em, sock ‘em” (in Talley’s words) game that Red and Blue fans — and the Wildcats — have grown accustomed to seeing.

The close contests on the field and the mutual respect off it will keep this regional rivalry going for years to come.

And even if the Ivy Leaguers never come out on top, keeping it close against a top-tier opponent says just as much as beating up a weaker squad.

BRIAN KOTLOFF is a junior communications major from Elkins Park, Pa. He can be contacted at dpsports@dailypennsylvanian.com.

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