COLUMN: Stay on the bandwagon

From Luke DeCock's "A Front Row View," Fall '95 Such is my advice for those Penn football fans disillusioned by the pair of recent losses. Go ahead, take Brown outright no matter what the spread is. We'll just see you in the Palestra in November, until the basketball team loses and you whine and moan about that. The rest of you probably realize that two losses do not a disaster make. Especially when one is to William & Mary, probably the best team the Quakers have faced since?1992, the last time Penn played William & Mary. And Columbia? Well, no one goes 25 games without a loss. It was bound to happen eventually. This past Saturday's loss had a number of mitigating circumstances. First of all, the Tribe are a very good I-AA team, unlike any of the teams Penn faces on a regular basis. With a few exceptions, every player on the Tribe was as fast or faster than his Penn counterpart. William & Mary only lost to Virginia 40-16, and no one was more surprised than Virginia, which was expecting a Nebraska-esque blowout. The Penn offense, as much as it shot itself in the foot, scored almost as many points as the Cavaliers. Despite DeRosa's five interceptions, the offense did in point of fact play quite well. Jasen Scott and Dion Camp looked very good, breaking into the secondary and flashing good speed. The offensive line, although racked with injuries, handled the Tribe well. The interceptions, while a school record, also weren't as bad as they would seem at face value. The first two were pretty poor -- classic DeRosa throws into the heart of the defense. The other three were during Penn's attempt to catch up. It is hard to fault a quarterback for interceptions thrown under those circumstances. Like the offense, the defense played well, with a few lapses. With the secondary pushed up to stop the run, the cornerbacks were vulnerable. Usually reliable Kevin Allen was burnt badly a number of times. Tom McGarrity also continued his stellar play, becoming closely acquainted with yet another opposing quarterback. What does all this mean? It means that if Penn plays against Brown the way it played against William & Mary, the Bears don't have a chance. A bigger question exists, though. Many times, the Quakers have eked out Ivy victories in the late minutes. It has been said repeatedly in this space that such victories occurred because Penn did not know how to lose. It is now unequivocal that the Quakers have a very good idea how to lose. What effect this will have, no one knows. I would guess, though, that very little will change. The Ivy title is in the Quakers' hands. Wins over Brown (likely), Yale (likely), Princeton (questionable), Harvard (more than likely) and Cornell (questionable) would place the Ivy title solidly in Penn's lap. Columbia lost to Lehigh this weekend, considerably diminishing the likelihood of the Lions running the table in the league. The situation is quite similar to that of the Penn basketball team during the 1992-93 season, that of the first Ivy title of the Fran Dunphy era. Penn dropped two December games to St. Joseph's and Temple and fans couldn't cancel their season tickets fast enough. As we all know, the Quakers went on to win the league, and again and again. The football team has already won twice. Is a third title in the wings? If so, we'll be sure to clear a space on the bandwagon for those of you rejoining us.