Tydings | Columbia? It's time for Penn football to find a win

It’s no secret that Penn football has struggled this year. Giving up 41.5 points per game in four losses — against solid teams, granted — isn’t quite what people expected from the Red and Blue going into the year.

But there is hope for Penn and that comes in the form of the Columbia Lions.

That’s because as bad as Penn has been, Columbia has been worse. Much worse.

The Lions scoff at the Quakers’ eight-game losing streak and raise them a 15-game skid. The last time Columbia won a game, Penn still had Brandon Copeland and Billy Ragone leading the charge.

And while Penn has been able to keep some games reasonably close — one loss by three points and one by 18 — Columbia has lost each of its games this year by at least 32 points. That’s right. A 32-point margin of defeat at the minimum.

It is easy to list the rest of the stats showing the Lions futility but each statistic serves the same point: to show that despite Penn’s faults this year, Columbia has been inferior.

But as much as some Penn fans might want to celebrate the Light Blue’s arrival on campus, those fans might want to heed the words of a famous fictional chemist: Tread lightly. This weekend is much more a litmus test for Penn’s season than a bye week.

Let’s face it: Penn has been awful this year. You can account for the fact that each team the Quakers have faced is winning its conference (Bet you didn’t expect Dartmouth beating Yale over the weekend). And you can talk about how Penn is young and still developing.

But regardless of those facts, this team needs to finally display its progress. If fans want to believe that Penn can put together a strong Ivy season, it all starts on Saturday. The Red and Blue get the chance to face a squad that they match up well against and it is essential that they play like the superior team.

That means not losing the turnover margin. That means not giving up long touchdown after long touchdown. That means finding a way to win the line of scrimmage and make the opposing quarterback have some semblance of pressure in his face.

And most of all, that means winning.

Face it, coach Al Bagnoli’s final season isn’t going to end with a fairy tale finish and an Ivy title. Unless Alek Torgersen starts looking like Peyton Manning overnight or Penn’s secondary turns into the Legion of Boom, it just doesn’t seem like the Quakers’ year.

But regardless of an Ivy title, Penn has a history of success — particularly in the Bagnoli era — and beating a hapless Columbia squad would be the first step back toward respectability.

So don’t overlook Columbia. Sure, that game looks appetizing with the Lions’ long losing streak and terrible performances this year.

Yet it isn’t a gimme win. Not with how Penn has played. Not with the way this season has gone and the Quakers’ own eight-game losing skid.

If the 2014 season will be the first step in a rebuilding process and not the first step towards joining Columbia at the bottom of the Ancient Eight, Saturday is a must-win.

And more importantly, the matchup with Columbia might be our first chance to see the real Red and Blue. Win or loss, Saturday’s game will speak volumes about how the rest of the season will go.

It’s time for the Quakers to turn talent and hope into strengths and wins.

And Saturday against Columbia is the time to do it.

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