Penn football looking to get back to having 'fun'

If there was ever a time where Penn football needed to bear down, this would be it.

Fresh off yet another loss in what has been the worst 10-game stretch in coach Al Bagnoli’s tenure, the Quakers (1-5, 1-2 Ivy) return to Franklin Field for their penultimate home game of the season to take on Brown during Homecoming.

The last time the squad played in front of its home crowd, Penn put up its best performance in recent memory, capturing its first win in nearly a calendar year against lowly Columbia. For the first and only time so far in 2014, the Quakers’ ground attack set the tone while the team’s defensive front seven pressured the Lions’ passing game throughout the afternoon.

But Penn failed to build off the momentum stemming from its win against Columbia. Matched up against offensive juggernaut Yale last weekend, the Red and Blue gave up over 40 points for the third time in six games and were all but eliminated from Ivy title contention with its 22-point loss.

“We’re kind of out of the chase for the title, but at the same time, we want this to be fun,” senior linebacker Dan Davis said. “But winning is fun ... so we don’t want to go out like we did last year losing the last four games.”

“We recognize that we have potential, that we still have a ways to go, that we’re playing with some young kids and we’ve played a hellacious schedule,” Bagnoli added. “But it’s good to get back to Franklin Field — it feels like we haven’t played here in eons — and we’ll be excited to play again Saturday against Brown.”

In all of Penn’s defeats this season, the Quakers’ opponents have featured a powerful passing attack highlighted by dynamic quarterbacks. Unfortunately for the Red and Blue, this weekend’s matchup with the Bears (3-3, 1-2) is no different, and that could spell trouble for Penn’s defensive backfield.

Against Cornell last weekend, Brown senior quarterback Marcus Fuller completed 20 of 33 passes for 309 yards and four touchdowns — to four different receivers no less — in the Bears’ 42-16 romp. Fuller found eight different players through the air, including Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week Reiley Higgins, a senior who notched both a receiving and kick return touchdown against the Big Red.

In order to slow down Brown’s potent passing game, the Quakers’ secondary will focus on limiting the amount of big plays given up, a task with which they have struggled all season long.

“The formula hasn’t changed,” Bagnoli said. “The formula since day one has been to create turnovers in order to minimize big plays. And to the degree that we can do that determines our fate.

“In the games where we’ve given up a lot of points, we’ve allowed a lot of big plays and haven’t been able to get any turnovers. If we’re going to win this weekend, we’re going to have to finally step [up] and get the stops we need to set up our offensive and strike them.”

If the Red and Blue’s defense is able to slow down Brown on Saturday, the squad’s offense — led by blossoming sophomore quarterback Alek Torgersen and senior wide receiver and captain Conner Scott — has shown the ability to put points on the scoreboard.

Despite struggling with ball control earlier this season, Torgersen has found a groove of late, throwing for four touchdowns and no interceptions while adding a rushing score in his last two contests.

Last season, the Quakers — who at the time were undefeated in Ivy play — traveled to Providence and were demolished by coach Phil Estes’ squad, 27-0. A 93-yard touchdown run by then-senior John Spooney on the game’s first play demoralized the Red and Blue and kick-started Penn’s season-ending four-game losing streak.

A year later, the Quakers hope they can buck the trend that started last November and finally put the program back on a winning track.

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