Penn football played Colgate at Franklin Field on Sep. 28.
Credit: Annie LiuCrushing Colgate doesn’t only happen when you’re nearly out of toothpaste.
It also occurred at Franklin Field on Saturday, when Penn football (1-1) defeated the Raiders (1-4) 27-17 for its first win of the season. Amid a dreary Philadelphia afternoon, senior quarterback Aidan Sayin lit up the Colgate defense for 320 yards passing, three touchdowns, and zero turnovers, a critical figure for a signal-caller who cited ball security as a primary goal heading into the season.
“It’s huge, not turning the ball over,” Sayin said. “Like I said before, I gotta work on that, especially last week [against Delaware] two turnovers, can’t have that. So just keep working on it every week in practice, and it’s something I’m looking to improve on.”
The Quakers were joined by nine-time Ivy League champion head coach Al Bagnoli, who walked out with the team for the coin toss following his induction into the Penn Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday. Coach Ray Priore, who was an assistant under Bagnoli for 22 seasons, called his presence “pretty awesome."
With the winningest coach in Penn history on the sideline, the Quakers’ high-powered offense got going early. Sayin completed six of eight passes on the opening drive, including a 19-yard touchdown to senior tight end Bryce Meyers. The Quakers were unaffected by the rainy conditions, which Priore cited as a crucial factor in the game.
“I thought our kids acclimated themselves — this might be the first rain we’ve had in the last 30 days, so with the wet balls and everything else, I thought our offense did a great job.”
Colgate’s offense deploys a unique three-quarterback system, transforming it to attack each defense and drive. After the leading cog in that machine, quarterback Michael Brescia, was injured in last week’s win over Cornell, the Raiders turned to pocket-passing QB Jake Stearney, who helmed the unit for the first three possession but was stymied by the Quaker defense.
“Their starter, Brescia, did not play,” Priore said. “So it also allows you then to squeeze down, to narrow your playbook of what you need to call."
After Sayin’s second touchdown toss put them in a 14-0 hole, the Raiders shifted, using running quarterback Zach Osborne as a way to diversify their attack. That change paid off on a critical fourth-and-one in Penn territory when Osborne burst through the line for a 31-yard touchdown to bring the Raiders within one score.
While the Quakers utilize just one player under center, Sayin’s production was enough for three. As the first half wound down, he looked deep down the left sideline and found junior receiver Jared Richardson, who climbed the ladder for a spectacular grab over Raiders defense back Tymir Wynn to put Penn up 21-7.
“Aidan is a great quarterback, he trusts me. Offensive coordinator [Greg Chimera] trusts me. So whenever I get a target, I gotta make the most of it,” Richardson said.
“Any time I see a backup corner come into the game, a safety all the way out on Jared, I’m not really looking anywhere else,” Sayin said.
After Bagnoli and the other members of the Hall of Fame class were honored during halftime, Penn leaned more on sophomore running back Malachi Hosley, who became the first Quaker since 2003 to run for 100+ yards in five consecutive games. The teams traded field goals in the third quarter before Colgate kicked off the fourth with a three-yard touchdown strike from Stearney.
Nursing a one-score lead, all eyes turned to Sayin, who has been plagued by late-game miscues since the start of last season. But this time, he delivered. With the pressure bearing down, the senior captained a field goal drive to put the game on ice, highlighted by a critical third-down pitch to senior wide receiver Julien Stokes.
“Everybody's doing their job,” Sayin said. “It's nothing too big right at the moment. We just got to do our own job each individual play and good things to happen.”
With the win, Penn moves to 1-1 on the young campaign. Next week, the Quakers will face another multi-quarterback offense as they begin their Ivy League campaign against reigning conference champion Dartmouth on Saturday at 1 p.m.
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