Crain | Penn football should schedule more marque non-conference opponents

These last three weekends, before Penn football begins play in a few days, I’ve spent many of my Saturdays watching other colleges’ football games from across the nation. It’s been interesting to see how new coaches and players step onto the stage after an offseason largely away from the public spotlight, and which teams are exceeding my expectations (Miami) and which are falling unfortunately short (Michigan). 

But another thing that’s stuck out to me is the quantity and quality of non-conference games. For both of the teams mentioned above, I truly learned of their quality when they played a team outside of their conference. For the Hurricanes, a dominant victory on the road at Florida showed that they could be an ACC title contender. And the Wolverines’ loss against Texas in Week 2 revealed how much talent they’d lost since winning a National Championship last season. 

It isn’t just in the FBS Power-Four world that these marquee matchups occur. FCS saw plenty in 2024 as well. Montana visited North Dakota, and Incarnate Word faced South Dakota State. Closer to home, Youngstown State played Villanova in a rematch of the Wildcats’ win in last year’s FCS playoffs. 

All of this got me thinking about Penn football’s out-of-conference slate. This year, the Quakers visit Delaware and host Colgate and Bucknell. If those names sound familiar, they should; Penn has played all of those schools at least once previously since 2014, and in the case of the Bison, this will be the fourth matchup in the last ten years. 

But there is no reason why this consistency in non-conference opponents needs to continue. Penn football should work to schedule a premier foe in its out-of-conference slate. 

Firstly, this could help coach Ray Priore and his staff learn a lot about his team prior to the start of conference play. Since the 2016 season, the Quakers have played just one team ranked in the FCS poll in a non-conference game. While I know that some of this is out of Penn’s control, certain teams tend to be better than others year in and year out. A win against a good program could springboard the team’s morale from the first week of the season, and even a loss can have important lessons, especially with games against Harvard and Princeton traditionally towards the end of the season. 

But the other benefit would be to increase fan engagement and excitement. The slate of non-conference opponents this year isn’t super exciting among students I’ve discussed with in passing, and attendance for early-season contests has been lackluster in the past (less than 2,500 people were at Franklin Field for an overtime thriller against Georgetown last year). 

I’m not expecting Penn to schedule a behemoth like Penn State, as some students joke it should. The Nittany Lions have nearly concluded their non-conference slate already and have had their first bye week. Plus, a team like Penn State would be reluctant to leave home for an out-of-conference game, so I wouldn’t expect them to schedule a home-and-home series — which is how non-conference matchups are typically arranged — with the Quakers. 

But there are teams closer to home which could be viable. Penn and Villanova played 15 times between 1980 and 2015 and currently enjoy a spirited rivalry in many other sports. The Wildcats are close by and currently ranked No. 5 in FCS. A game like this could motivate fans to show out and has the chance to be quite competitive as well. 

Another Philadelphia team — Temple — would pose an interesting prospect. The Owls play in the American Athletic Conference but are one of the lowest-graded teams in FBS, according to metrics like SP+. There are other teams in the Northeast — such as UMass, UConn, and Buffalo, which also could make for an interesting FBS-FCS matches. 

The Ivy League does not participate in a postseason. All the Quakers have to show their skills are these 10 games. And since the conference isn’t in the FCS playoffs and doesn’t have to worry about a ranking or poll to determine the conference title — that simply goes to the team with the best record — there’s no need for Penn to pad its record in the non-conference season. But it sets the tone for the season and allows coaches to observe players against actual opponents. So, the Quakers should make the most of these games to build fan excitement and potentially team morale by scheduling more marquee, non-conference opponents.