A FRONT ROW VIEW: McGeehan still is a Quaker quarterback

Many stop to greet him, except one Spectaguard. She wants McGeehan to do an about face and march to the student section. McGeehan proudly produces tickets in the chairback section around the 50-yard line. Et tu, Spectaguard. Last season, Jim McGeehan would have been gulping down five cups of coffee 15 minutes before game time. Now he is just a fan, sipping on a cool lemonade. As game time nears, there are no existential professions about the meaning of life -- "This is goofy," he says. McGeehan is amused throughout the contest. When the Penn students begin taunting 290-pound Lafayette tackle Rob Dixon before kickoff -- something about having one-too-many donuts -- McGeehan laughs. "I guess you never really hear it," he says. The first series with new quarterback Mark DeRosa is probably the toughest part. College is officially over when handed a diploma. For McGeehan, it's when DeRosa hands off to Terrance Stokes on Penn's first offensive play. McGeehan has nothing but praise for his replacement at quarterback. He called DeRosa before the game to wish him well and calm him down. "Jimmy is Penn's leading passer. If you're going to talk to one guy, you're going to talk to him," DeRosa says after his 131-yard passing performance. "It definitely calmed me down." McGeehan is still a quarterback at heart. He reads the defenses from the stands and calls his plays. They differ slightly with Penn offensive coordinator Chuck Priore's play selections. Not so surprisingly, McGeehan calls for a pass on every play. He finds himself in the Lafayette quarterbacks' shoes as well. "Throw the ball, throw the ball kid," he urges as Penn's Tom McGarrity blows through the offensive line and creams the quarterback. Ouch. What McGeehan enjoyed more than anything, if you can judge from the laughter, was the band. He last saw a halftime show at the 1984 Homecoming game against Yale, when his brother led Penn as signal caller to another Ivy title. And in the past years he really was too busy to appreciate the deluge of toast that comes flying from the upper deck. Fortunately for McGeehan, the overhang prevents him from being pelted. It does not save his friend Don Kelly, who drives one of the toast Zambonis. McGeehan also gets a kick out of stealing signals from the sidelines. But apparently Al Bagnoli has added a couple wrinkles, because McGeehan predicts a couple plays incorrectly. Jim McGeehan will be playing football in Grenoble, France, come January. Right now he is taking upper-level accounting classes to prepare for the CPA exam, and counting his days until he departs. Adam Rubin is a Wharton senior from Bellmore, N.Y., and sports editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.