Cornell is final test for Quakers

The Big Red will be without star running back Chad Levitt, who broke his arm in last week's game. For a century, it has come down to this. Ever since Penn and Cornell first finished a football season with a contest against each other in 1893, the matchup has been one of college football's great rivalries. Saturday at Schoelkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y., the 103rd chapter will be written and the Trustee's Cup once again be given to the winner. In the past few years, this game has had Ivy League championship implications. Three years ago, Penn won the title by stopping Cornell and last season, the Big Red lost a chance for first by crashing 37-18 at Franklin Field. In 1996, however, both teams are in the middle of the league pack. So what does this game, the last for the seniors, mean to the two squads? Everything. "Most of us have been playing football for half our lives and when you do it for the last time, it's a big deal," senior nose guard Chris Osentowski said. "We've got to win this game to finish over .500 -- 6-4 is a lot better than 5-5 and we want to be remembered as a winning team." But seniors for Penn (5-4, 3-3 Ivy League) aren't the only ones looking to leave as winners. Cornell (3-6, 3-3) has struggled all year and hopes to salvage something from a forgettable season by beating its most hated rival. That task got a lot more difficult last week. In addition to losing to Columbia, the Big Red watched their meal ticket, senior running back Chad Levitt, break his arm and damage ligaments in the first half. Levitt's career ended agonizingly short (57 yards) of former Cornell runner Ed Marinaro's all-time Ivy League rushing record of 4715. The Big Red will call on junior tailback Brad Kiesendahl to fill in at running back, but Levitt, a two-time all-Ivy pick, is not the type of player who can simply be replaced. "We have to figure out how to be us," Cornell coach Jim Hofher said. "It would be foolish to try to be something else at the end of the season." Penn coach Al Bagnoli is not sure what Levitt's absence will do to the Big Red game plan, going so far as to say, "I have no idea what they're going to run." With Levitt out, the star running back in the game will be Penn senior Jasen Scott, who Hofher describes as "a terrific player, the next best running back, other than Chad Levitt, in the league." Bagnoli has called Scott's number early and often this season, nearly 30 times per contest. That figure jumps to 44 over the last two weeks due to injuries to second-choice runner Rick Granata, who practiced this week and should lighten Scott's load, if only a little. The game offers an intriguing match-up between the struggling Penn offense and a Cornell defense that is allowing 447 yards per game, nearly 100 more than the next-worst team in the Ivies. Hofher attributes his team's uncharacteristic defensive woes to injuries. If Penn, which averages just a shade over 300 yards on offense can roll up those kinds of numbers, it will likely emerge with a sixth straight win over Cornell. The Quakers' starting quarterback will be Brian Russell, the true freshman from West Covina, Calif., who led the team to victory over Harvard after junior Tom MacLeod was injured. Opening day starter Steve Teodecki, who hasn't played in over a month, is the No. 2 signal caller this weekend. Russell, who connected on 10-of-16 passes last Saturday, will be the first freshman to ever start a game at quarterback for the Quakers. "He's a good athlete, he's been pretty accurate, and he understands what we're doing," Bagnoli said. "He's got real good poise and he's athletic enough that when he gets outside the pocket he can make you miss." While the quarterback situation (three different starters this season) has been a difficult one for Penn, the defensive line has been the team's strength. The experienced unit, led by Osentowski, fourth-year junior Mitch Marrow, and senior Tom Foley, has stepped up its play during Penn's three-game winning streak. "I think we just decided we had to lead the team -- we were the older guys and we didn't do it at the beginning of the season," Osentowski said. "After the Brown game, before the Yale game, we decided we were going to turn it around. That was our low point." After that week, a group of players who had never been under .500 in the Ivy League found themselves 0-3. Since then Penn has turned around its season. Saturday the Quakers have a chance to leave the program on a high note. "I think it's a real big game," Bagnoli said. "In my eyes, there's a real big difference between a 6-4 and a 5-5 record."