COLUMN: At 0-3, Bagnoli should start practicing now for next season

Commentary The 1996 season could very well feature the most diluted Ivy League in many years. With the exception of Dartmouth, no team could even challenge Ivy powers of recent seasons. The Patriot League has even offered Ivy teams challenges this season. And supposed Ancient Eight heavyweights, like 6-0 Columbia, struggle to eke out wins against weaker opponents. Dartmouth will garner the Ivy championship. The Big Green are tied with Columbia at 3-0, but, strictly based on talent, Dartmouth is clearly the better squad. In addition, Dartmouth has already won at Cornell, the only other team in the conference with a legitimate shot to beat take the conference championship. With this in mind, it is time for Bagnoli to begin his spring training a couple of seasons early. At the beginning of the year, it seemed the Quakers had plenty of potential -- an excellent running game, a tremendous defensive line, a relatively good offensive line and decent special teams. But as the season has worn on, it is painfully obvious that the Quakers are killing themselves. Ailing Penn are three key weaknesses: inconsistent quarterbacking, a knack for drawing yellow flags and a suspect defensive secondary. It appears as if Bagnoli has already started looking to the future for the quarterback enigma. He has already dropped senior Steve Teodecki in exchange for junior Tom MacLeod and promoted freshman Brian Russell to top backup. If all goes according to plan, Bagnoli has a quarterback for the next three years. Hopefully, Russell will see significant playing time this season, for the sole reason of preparing him as a backup next year and a starter in two years. Forget about Teodecki, just build for the future. Bagnoli has realized that the clues to solving the other weaknesses are running out. "I don't have any answers," Bagnoli said about his secondary. "But it's pretty obvious that they're struggling, because they continue to give up way, way too much yardage. I don't have any more answers because I don't have any more kids." In addition, Bagnoli also says he accepts responsibility for his constantly-penalized, inconsistent offense. "The blame has got to go to me because we're not anywhere near as disciplined as we have to be," Bagnoli said. "It happens everywhere from our captain all the way down? We're just not good enough to keep overcoming those negative plays." With the secondary situation, one can only hope that the fault lies in youth, not in talent. But one has to be skeptical, since the pass defense has been burned consistently all season. Giving up 248 yards, including 171 to Brown flanker Sean Morey, is inexcusable in the sixth week of the season, even if the Quakers were facing Jason McCullough, the league's best quarterback. If youth and inexperience are the problems, then the learning curve needs to actually curve, not continue on the straight line it's on now. If the Quakers want to be competitive before this year's recruiting class matures, an answer must be found. The penalty situation is simply a question of concentration and discipline, as Bagnoli has pointed out after each and every game. But the Quakers have shot themselves in the foot 59 times for 433 yards, and those penalties are a huge portion of the offense's problem. Penn has continually put themselves in first- or second-and-long situation because of those penalties -- putting more pressure on a passing game that is weak as it is. Maybe Bagnoli needs to create a different, stricter work ethic. Or maybe the coach needs to try new people and combinations. Only Bagnoli himself and the rest of the coaching staff can decide how to correct these problems. But let's hope they start orienting the team for next season, and start to use this season to their advantage -- as a time to get younger players more game-time experience.

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