Fordham wallops Penn football, 60-22

For a brief moment it looked like Penn football was going to be able to hang with No. 18 Fordham.

But after 10 minutes of play, that moment had passed for the Quakers, as they surrendered the most points in program history since joining the Ivy League and watched the Rams march to a 60-22 victory.

Penn (0-4) came out aggressive. The Red and Blue offense drew first blood on a 33-yard touchdown pass from sophomore quarterback Alek Torgersen to senior tight end Ryan O’Malley.

Unfortunately for the Quakers, that would be the only time they reached the end zone all afternoon.

Penn led 10-7 with under three minutes to play in the first quarter. However, Fordham (6-1) quickly collected itself and proved to the Red and Blue why its offense is so feared, as it rallied for 730 yards of offense.

But first, the Rams’ defense got in on the action.

With 2:48 to go in the first, Fordham linebacker Austin Hancock walloped Torgersen to force a fumble that senior nose tackle DeAndre Slate scooped and brought in for a touchdown.

After that play, Rams senior gunslinger Mike Nebrich found his swagger and threw six touchdown passes, tying a school record. The Walter Payton Award candidate found senior wide receiver Tebucky Jones Jr. early and often. The son of the eponymous former NFL cornerback accounted for 203 of Nebrich’s 566 passing yards (the most Penn has ever surrendered to an opposing quarterback).

“We’ve just got to do a much better job of not giving up one-play drives,” coach Al Bagnoli said. “That happened two or three times on home runs and it’s really deflating.”

However, Penn answered with many big plays of its own. With Torgersen lining up in the shotgun for the majority of the snaps, he was given the chance to throw the ball downfield early and often. He threw for 316 yards on the day and most of that came from just a few large passes.

But after that first drive, the Quakers weren’t able to capitalize on their breakout gains.

“We did a lot of good things. We did a nice job of moving the ball,” Bagnoli said. “But our issues are not in-between the twenties — our issues are red zone driven.”

The inability to capitalize in the red zone led to junior kicker Jimmy Gammill kicking five field goals, a Penn record.

“It was a good personal accomplishment,” Gammill said. “But I’m never really go[ing] into a game hoping I kick five field goals.”

Poor decision making by Torgersen led to significant misfortunes for the Red and Blue. The worst came on a third down pass attempt to freshman running back Tre Solomon in the red zone halfway through the second quarter. Solomon got flattened by senior free safety Levon Williams.

Solomon was carried off the field and did not return after injuring his knee. Senior running back Kyle Wilcox also left the game with a mild concussion, devastating the Quakers’ running back depth chart.

Despite the lopsided scoring total, Penn’s defense never hung its head.

“Morale never dropped at all,” Gammill said. “At Penn you’re never gonna find a guy who gives up.”

And the defense did have its moments, sacking Nebrich twice, picking him off once and largely containing star running back Chase Edmonds,

“For young kids, our front seven did a nice job against the run and a pretty high powered attack,” Bagnoli said.

However, he was less pleased with the secondary.

“It’s not good enough what we are doing,” Bagnoli added. “We have too much experience back there.”

That experience will be necessary as the Quakers host equally winless Columbia next week and shoot to end an eight-game losing streak that dates back to 2013.

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