A FRONT ROW VIEW: Quaker football is unstoppable

Ivy Champs! Ivy Champs! There is no greater chant to hear a Penn crowd scream at the top of its lungs. And the sight of the goal posts coming down into a sea of Quaker fanatics rivals only the crowd I witnessed flood the Palestra floor last season after yet another Princeton spanking. Nontheless, I came into this Quaker-Tiger matchup intending to write a column on why this game would not decide the Ivy Title, regardless of the outcome. However, whether it was the overwhelming pride I felt after Penn walked all over Princeton, the beer I drank this weekend or the sight of the goal posts sinking in the Schuylkill river, I have clearly changed my mind. In fact, the Quakers will not only win the Ivy championship for the first time since 1988, but they will also cap off an undefeated season in two weeks with yet another thrashing. This time the victim will be Cornell. I truly believed before this Saturday that Penn still had a challenge in front of it before a new Ivy champion was crowned –Ebut no longer. I know the facts. I know that the Quakers have not won at Harvard since 1972. I know that they have not beaten both Yale and the Crimson on the road in the same season since 1956. To add to these daunting historical obstacles, I also know that Cornell has turned into an awesome scoring machine. But let's be serious. This Penn squad is simply unstoppable. The offense is the best this school has seen this century. No team in almost a hundred years has scored 30 or more points in seven consecutive games. And on Saturday, the Quakers accomplished this feat against the third-best scoring defense in Division I-AA. Penn simply has too many weapons to be stopped by any Ivy League schools. Maybe Florida State or Notre Dame could contain Terrance Stokes, but if Princeton couldn't keep him under 250 yards, how can anyone expect Harvard to? The Crimson could barely slow down the mighty Brown offensive machine this past weekend. Harvard did hold the Bears to under 50 points – oh this Saturday should be fun for the Quaker fanatics. The Quakers are mentally and physically ready to dismantle an unimpressive Crimson squad which just lost 43-29 to the aforementioned Brown juggernaut on Saturday (yes, this is the same Bear team which the Quakers toyed with in a 34-9 laugher). Then the following Saturday Penn hosts Cornell, who has already lost two Ivy games, one to the those Tigers from across the river. But the Big Red simply will not cut it in two weeks here at Franklin Field. How in the world is Cornell suppose to get up for the game when the Quakers will come into it undefeated in the Ivies and the Big Red will already be mathematically eliminated from any title hopes? On the other hand, how will Penn contain their excitement and energy facing the prospect of going undefeated for the first time since 1986? The combination of the Quakers' scoring powerhouse of an offense and its smothering defense (the same one that held Division I-AA's most prolific rusher on Saturday to over 120 yards below his season average) has helped Penn average almost three times as many points as its opponents. Honestly, Harvard and Cornell are just not the caliber of team that it would take to stop the Quakers. They are just run of the mill Ivy teams while Penn plays at some other higher level. There is no indication this trend will stop any time this season either. I can't believe that it was only two years ago that Gary Steele led Penn to a pathetic 2-8 record. Thank goodness Al Bagnoli breathed life back into this drowning program. Thanks for the memories Bags. All Penn fans owe you a lot for turning this program around so soon. And we'll all miss you when the NFL comes knocking down your door after this perfect 10-0 season. Joshua Friedman is a College junior from Beverly Hills, Calif., and a sportswriter for the Daily Pennsylvanian.