Game of the Century Tomorrow

Penn and Princeton will do battle for league lead After the first week of the season, Princeton coach Steve Tosches circled one game on his schedule. And for the next six weeks, as the weeks progressed, and as September became October and October became November, the circle on the schedule loomed closer and closer. Call it fate, call it destiny, but somehow, the Penn Quakers and Princeton Tigers find themselves at identical, undefeated records and ready to jump into the circle. The stage is set. The hype is at a crescendo. Let "The Game" begin. Today, the undefeated Penn Quakers (4-0 Ivies, 7-0 overall) will face the undefeated Princeton Tigers (Franklin Field, 1 p.m., WXPN 88.5-FM) in a type of game that Ivy League football has not witnessed in 25 years. For it was in 1968 that two undefeated Ivy teams met this late in the season. That game was between rivals Harvard and Yale, who each sported 8-0 records. Today, the stakes are higher. Both Penn and Princeton are in the national spotlight. Both teams have individual success stories unparalleled in their respective school histories. And this game, like the one 25 years ago, is virtually for the Ivy title. "It's a classic matchup," Princeton coach Steve Tosches said. "The way I look at it and the way I relayed it to my players is that this is what college football is all about. This is why you lift weights and train and practice hard so that you can get into these situations and it's going to be a tremendous challenge for both of us." One major advantage for Penn in this, the 85th meeting between these two schools, is the home-field advantage. In addition to the friendly confines of Franklin Field, today is Homecoming and expected attendance according to the Penn Athletic Department will be anywhere from 35,000-40,000. Over the past 10 years, the teams are even at 5-5, and last year's game at Palmer Stadium, one that also had Ivy title implications, was won by the home team, 20-14. Today, however, the players expect the crowd hype and media attention to be a factor. "The crowd is going to be a major factor," junior running back Terrance Stokes said. "We always want to come out and perform well on our home turf and the crowd motivates you." "With the Homecoming crowd, it's exciting to be in this situation," senior co-captain and defensive end Dave Betten said. "That's the reason you come to play, in this type of big game." But Princeton (4-0, 7-0) has been in these defining situations before. It earned a share of the Ivy title last season despite a Week 10 loss to Dartmouth, and earned a share of the title in 1989. Princeton is coming off of two consecutive 8-2 seasons under Tosches. Penn on the other hand has not won an Ivy title since 1988, and last season was its first winning campaign since that championship year. In fact, the last time Penn beat Princeton was in 1988 at Princeton 31-23. But the winning days of 1988 are long gone for the Quakers, and represent an era far removed from these Penn players. "We have never been in this kind of situation," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "Princeton has been over the last two years, but I think if we settle down because we're in a big game, I think we'll be O.K." "Fortunately for our program, we've been in this type of ballgame before and we know what it takes," Tosches said. "We know what needs to be done so I think our focus will be excellent and I don't see the crowd or the attention being an interference at all." Both teams have been on a collision course for this Week 8 showdown since the first week of the season. After squeaking by Dartmouth 10-6 in its first game, Penn has outscored its opponents 224-77, an average of 37-13. More impressively, the Quakers have outscored their Ivy foes 128-29, the best differential in the league, which amounts to a whopping 32-7 average. For its efforts, Penn is currently ranked 21st in Division I-AA. The 16th ranked team in I-AA, however, is Princeton. The Tigers have been equally impressive in their wins this season. Among their wins are a 38-0 shellacking of Holy Cross and a 34-16 drubbing of Brown. However, the Tigers are coming off a relatively narrow win against Columbia, 14-3, while the Quakers are riding high after handing Yale its worst loss ever in the Ivies, 48-7. "Last week, I think everyone realized what we can do when we're focused," Betten said. "We need to keep focused and keep the same level of intensity for this game." Betten and company will have to focus on much-publicized Princeton senior running back Keith Elias, who is ranked first in I-AA in rushing (183.71 yards per game) and in scoring (14.0 points per game). Elias anchors a Princeton offense that ranks 18th in I-AA. He is also coming off a 226-yard performance against Columbia last week, which tied his own record of three-200 yard rushing performances in a season. Princeton is 18-1 when Elias rushes for 100 yards or more, and he already holds 15 school records and three NCAA records. "I don't think anyone in two years has stopped him," Bagnoli said. "He can do a real job on you. You can't totally stop him, but you try to control him." Elias's colleague on the other sideline is Stokes. Stokes is having his best season as a Quaker, and ranks 19th in I-AA rushing with 111.43 yards per game, after coming off a 130-yard effort last week against Yale. For Stokes, his performance against Yale gave him confidence, but he does not look at today's game as a battle of the running backs. "I don't really see it as Keith Elias versus Terrance Stokes," he said. "As good a back as Elias is, he will not win the game for Princeton and I will not win the game for Penn. For me, last week helped me mentally, since it [had been] three weeks under 100-yards per game, and it helped to get back." One way in which home-field advantage may help the Quakers stop Elias may in fact be Penn's home field – the astroturf of Franklin Field. Elias and the Tigers play on turf only once a year. Last year at Cornell – the last time the Tigers have played on turf – Elias ran 27 times for 114 yards and no touchdowns. Two years ago at Penn as a sophomore, Elias rushed 12 times for 30 yards and one score. That game was Elias' worst performance ever barring injury. Will the turf be a problem for Elias today? "I'm really worried about [the turf]," Elias said. "We're going to practice on it Friday, but I'm going to convince coach to take us to Rutgers on Thursday because I don't want that to be a factor. I'm totally turf illiterate." Unlike Elias, Tosches, as well as members of the Penn team, dismiss the turf factor. "He's going to ignore it just the way we are going to," Tosches said. "We just ignore it and suit up and hope everyone can perform." "Elias is going to be a good runner on turf, grass or sand," Bagnoli said. "He's a legitimate great back and he's going to be a force – he's capable of going to the house with it." In addition to the drama in the two offensive backfields, the game features arguably the two best quarterbacks in the Ivies. Penn senior Jim McGeehan and Princeton's Joel Foote rank one and two in the Ivies in passing. McGeehan is having the season of his career as he has already passed for 18 TDs and 1,564 yards. Foote has thrown 93 fewer times than McGeehan, but still has 1,171 yards on the season and the league's highest completion percentage (59.8 percent). McGeehan ranks third on Penn's career passing yardage list (3,321 yards) and needs only 142 more yards to become Penn's all-time leading passer. He is currently 13th in I-AA in pass efficiency (139.9), and has already broken the Penn record for most touchdown passes in a season with 18. Statistics and records aside, McGeehan knows that this game could bring him closer to his ultimate goal – an Ivy title. "If [the records are] accomplished and we win, I'll be happy," McGeehan said. "But I don't want to think about reaching it. This game is probably the biggest game of my career." Tosches will have problems stopping the Penn passing attack, as the Princeton defense – which leads the Ivies in rushing defense with an 89.6-yard per game average – has given up more than 200 yards per game in the air. The Tiger secondary should be occupied with McGeehan, sophomore receiver Miles Macik – who stands at second in the country in receptions per game with just over seven – and senior wideout Chris Brassell. "We've got our hands full," Tosches said. "We've played against some pretty strong offenses during the past seven weeks, but this may be the finest and I hope that we can put pressure on them." In addition to featuring a game with the two best runners and the two best quarterbacks in the league, today's game features the two best defenses in the Ivies. Penn leads the Ivy League in total defense, allowing only 273 yards per game, while Princeton is ranked second with 292 yards. In addition, Penn leads the Ivies in fewest total points allowed in league games with 29 points, while Princeton is tied for second with 41. According to the coaches, it should be a defensive struggle. "The whole key is how well we can control their four down linemen and their active linebackers," Bagnoli said. "Their down kids have dominated people, and if our offensive line can hold them up, then that will be a good sign." Tosches believes that the team that can execute big plays will wind up 8-0 on Sunday morning. "I think the game comes down to which offense can make a few more big plays and move the ball in big chunks rather than slowly moving the ball downfield because both defenses are excellent," he said. For both teams, this represents a crucial game, not only for the Ivy title, but also for the directions of the two programs. Just ask Tosches, whose circled game has arrived.