Ivy title not in the bag yet

With just two games remaining in the Ivy League football schedule, Penn sits at first place atop the Ancient Eight with an undefeated record.

Despite the Quakers’ recent dominance, a second consecutive Ivy championship isn’t guaranteed.

Coach Al Bagnoli and his squad continue to sit in the Ivy driver’s seat after a commanding 52-10 romp of Princeton — but both Harvard and Yale are close on Penn’s heels with only one conference loss each.

And with Penn (7-1, 5-0 Ivy) facing the Crimson this Saturday at Franklin Field, the Ivy title could hang in the balance.

After Harvard’s 23-7 win over Columbia last Saturday, not even a 42-point margin of victory could help the Quakers gain some distance in the League standings.

As a result, a Harvard win this weekend would give each team a 5-1 record with just one game remaining, and Penn would head to Cornell forced to fight for just a share of the championship.

The Red and Blue defense will have its hands full containing Harvard quarterback Collier Winters, whose style of play bears striking resemblance to that of Penn quarterback Billy Ragone.

Though a Harvard win would put the Crimson in prime position to take a piece of the title, not even that scenario is guaranteed.

While the Red and Blue will face sixth-place Cornell in the final weekend of Ivy play, Harvard will face off against Yale in what could prove to be a must-win game.

The Bulldogs (6-2, 4-1) pushed Brown out of second-place in the Ivy League on Saturday with a close 27-24 win over the Bears. The Elis will play last-place Princeton, which has yet to pick up a conference win, this weekend.

Still, Yale is dependent on a Crimson win over the Quakers to keep the Bulldogs’ title hopes largely intact.

And if this week’s Ivy honors are any indication, the Red and Blue have the talent it will take to eke out a win.

For the first time in school history, Penn had three players named Ivy Player of the Week.

Both Ragone and junior Matt Hamscher received their second honors this season on both offense and defense, respectively.

Completing the trifecta was freshman Aaron Bailey, who had a breakout performance against the Tigers in which he ran for 82 yards on just four carries and punched in two touchdowns.

Bagnoli has described Bailey as one of the quickest players on the team, and during preseason called him a “tremendously fast, explosive kid.”

And after seeing limited playing time on the offense throughout the season, Bailey finally broke free on some end-arounds to average 20.5 yards per carry.

Now that Ragone has garnered some much-needed confidence and momentum in his passing efforts, the Michigan native, who is listed on Penn’s roster as a wide receiver, may also get the opportunity for some big catches.

Strong performances from these three, in addition to the rest of Penn’s roster, may be just what the Red and Blue need to propel themselves over Harvard this Saturday.

Because as Bagnoli has stressed in recent weeks, the Ivy title is not quite in the bag.

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