Turn Back the Clock | Penn football's successful trip to San Diego

 

Penn football will leave the friendly confines of the Northeast for the first time in 10 years, heading to the humid metropolis of Jacksonville, Fla., on Saturday.

The last time the Quakers ventured out of the Northeast was 10 years ago, a trip that was extremely successful to say the least.

To kick off the 2004 season, the Red and Blue faced off against San Diego, making a cross country flight before taking the field. Penn came in with a 16-game winning streak dating back to 2002, as the squad was two-time defending Ivy League champions.

The Toreros had a former NFL quarterback as their first-year head coach with Jim Harbaugh – now the coach of the San Francisco 49ers – patrolling the sidelines. But his NFL background wouldn’t be any help that day as Penn trounced San Diego, 61-18.

Sixty-one points scored was Penn’s most points in a game since joining the Ivy League in 1956, and the most points allowed by San Diego in a game since 1956 as well. The Quakers’ devastating attack was led by then-junior running back Sam Mathews, who scored a career-high three touchdowns and added 152 total yards.

“He was terrific,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said of Mathews. “He is definitely one of the marquee players in our league, and I think you can see why if you watch him. He does everything for us.”

Mathews wasn’t the only Red and Blue running back to reach the century mark, as Duke transfer Von Bryant had 111 yards on just five carries. Penn ended the day with 325 yards on the ground and 494 yards overall in a shocking offensive display.

Surprisingly enough, San Diego led in time of possession despite a 26-0 deficit at halftime. The Toreros’ four turnovers and inability to stop Penn’s ground game ultimately did them in.

“They’re a physically overpowering force, and they could stop the run,” Harbaugh said of Penn.

Under Bagnoli, Penn has recruited many players from the California area, so the trip was particularly nice for those players returning home.

“We’ve got a lot of players from California and they were really excited to play in front of their people who usually have to travel all the way out from California,” Mathews said.

Penn would have its 17-game winning streak snapped a week later by local rival Villanova. The Quakers would also not be able to repeat atop the Ancient Eight, as future NFL quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and Harvard would hand them their only Ivy loss.

On the other side of the ball, Harbaugh had a bright future in sunny San Diego. His Toreros would win their final five games of the year before back-to-back 11-1 seasons in 2005 and 2006.

Harbaugh would parlay those results into the head coaching job at Stanford, where he worked until joining the 49ers.

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