The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Penn football vs. Villanova

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After a quick first quarter drive by VIllanova, it became immediately clear there would be more Bad and Ugly for Penn football than Good.  The Quakers would go on to lose 41-7 to No. 6 Villanova in the team's home opener at Franklin Field. But out of every loss, there's usually some ounce of good - even in a game against a ranked team that serves more as demotivation than preparation.

The Good:

Well there weren't many positives for the Quakers, so let's focus on the one play that provided Penn a bulk of its offensive yards in the first half.  Kyle WIlcox's 67-yard run in the early second quarter came a bit too late (the Quakers were already down by 34), but it seemed to have the potential to start something for Penn.  A Torgersen fumble on Penn's next drive - which led to a quick Villanova touchdown - stifled any chance of a Penn comeback.

The Bad:

It's hard to pinpoint one area that was particularly worse than the rest of Penn's game.  Penn struggled on both sides of the ball, and though the special teams was strong for the most part, you can never win a game on special teams alone.  Penn gave up plenty of points early and seemed entirely unable to stop the Wildcats in the first half.  With the starters in during the first half, 'Nova put up all 41 of their points and put together 417 yards in just 46 plays.  The story was nearly the same for the offense, as turnovers and an inability to consistently move the ball doomed them from the start.

The Ugly:

The turnovers for Penn somehow came at the perfect times to kill any chance of momentum for the Quakers.  A Torgersen interception on Penn's first drive left the Quakers without a response to Villanova's early strike.  Factor in the afore-mentioned momentum killing fumble and Torgersen's second interception, which came on the first drive in the second half, and it was clear that Penn would be too mistake prone to put together long scoring drives.  The Quakers were over-matched to begin, but a few key mistakes made it worse than it needed to be.