FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Macik is becoming Penn's go-to guy

Going into the last weekend's game against the winless Fordham Rams, it appeared as though the Penn football team was prime to blowout an overmatched team. After all, the Rams had been shut out by Columbia. However, as the 10,000-plus fans who were at Franklin Field now know, the Quakers had to rally from behind to pull out the victory. Throughout the final quarter of play, Penn exuded just enough poise and confidence to get it through the surprisingly difficult game. One of the most impressive performances came from sophomore wide receiver Miles Macik. "The thing that impressed us all was that he really got smacked coming across the middle," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "It was a legitimate, hard hit. He got stung, and yet he was able to come back and make some plays down the stretch for us. That showed a lot of character and heart and toughness on his part." Although Macik may not be a household name even among the Penn faithful, he certainly will be soon. Macik led the Quakers with 12 receptions, which also tied the Penn record for catches in a game. He also racked up 141 yards and two touchdowns, including the game winner with under five minutes to go. These impressive numbers were enough to earn Macik the Ivy Rookie of the Week honors. "We felt we had a personnel advantage and we were trying to exploit it," Bagnoli said. "He was hot and [senior quarterback Jimmy McGeehan] was hot and we just kept going to him until they stopped it." But even beyond last week, Macik has consistently put up incredible numbers in his short varsity career. He currently leads all of Division I-AA in receptions per game with 8.33 a game. With his 25 catches so far this season, Macik only needs to make 29 more catches in the remaining seven games to break the school record for most catches in the season. He also is ranked 24th in yards per game with 82.0. Furthermore, Macik is slowly developing into a more important part of the Quaker offense as he has caught a team-high four touchdowns. "He's a great receiver," McGeehan said. "He has great hands. He reads the defenses well and he's only a sophomore. He's a big target. He sticks out." "He's fun to throw to," McGeehan said after Saturday's game. "It's like throwing to a net. I threw out one ball, I thought I hit the second level of Franklin Field and he came down with it." · Don't look now, but that little yellow flag was thrown nine more times this past weekend against the Quakers. The referees called nine penalties against Penn, which ended up costing it a grand total of 91 yards. Included in this comedy of penalties were three-consecutive illegal procedure calls which turned a routine extra point into a 35-yard "field goal." "Penalties have plagued us at that very inopportune time," Bagnoli said. "When you look at when we got stopped offensively, a lot of it was when we ran a six- or seven-yard play. The flag got thrown, and all of a sudden instead of looking at a second and three, we end up being first and 20. That happened on three-straight possessions." Unfortunately for Penn, this disturbing trend is not a one-time occurrence. The Quakers have collected more than their share of penalties already this season. In its first three games this season, Penn has amassed a total of 29 penalties accounting for 261 yards. "We have been plagued with [penalties all season]," Bagnoli said. "We're trying like heck to overcome them. We've got to do a better job and we've got to stress them some more. We've got to try to eliminate them." · For all of the Penn faithful who have wondered what ever happened to the bizarre Quaker kickoff formation that Bagnoli brought to West Philadelphia last season, the answer is finally here. Penn use to "fake" the kickoff, running up to the ball and stopping prior to kicking it, and then proceed with the real kickoff. However, this season has brought a change to the kickoff format. Now, the Quakers line up in an unorthodox format with one person on each wing, the kicker in the center and four people lined up behind each other on both sides. But they do not attempt to "fake" the kickoff. Instead, Penn simply proceeds with the kickoff in a more traditional fashion. "Some of the NCAA rules have changed in terms of the number of people you can put on either side of the kicker," Bagnoli explained. "The reason we did that was for on-side kicking purposes. We kind of switched our philosophy, so we've gone to a straight kickoff now." · Now for this week's edition of the McGeehan watch. The Quaker signal-caller threw for 216 yards against the Rams, raising his all-time total to 2,390 yards in his career. He still sits in eighth place on the all-time list. No. 7 Bob Graustein ('77) is seventh with 2,626 yards. After Saturday's performance, McGeehan now needs to average 153.3 yards a game over the final seven games to eclipse Malcolm Glover ('90) to become the top-ranked passer in Penn history.