Football hopes the doctor calls against Yale

The Quakers hope YaleThe Quakers hope Yaleis the perfect cure for aThe Quakers hope Yaleis the perfect cure for awubeless Ivy LeagueThe Quakers hope Yaleis the perfect cure for awubeless Ivy Leaguerecord. The Penn football team is feeling a little under the weather these days after losing three straight games for the first time in the Al Bagnoli era. Recognizing the poor health of the Quakers, the team physician has ordered the perfect remedy in the form of a game against Yale at Franklin Field tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. As hard as it might be to believe, Yale (2-4, 1-2 Ivy League) has suffered more injuries than Penn and is even more inexperienced. While starting two green senior quarterbacks, Blake Kendall and Kris Barber, and waiting for starting tailback Jabbar Craigwell to return from a knee injury, the Elis offense has fallen to the bottom of the Ivy rankings in total yards. With all of Yale's present offensive woes, Penn (2-4, 0-3) hopes its defense can, for the first time since week two, stop a team for an entire game. The biggest key to the Quakers defense will be the play of the secondary. A Penn secondary, which has been taken to school the past two weeks, is looking to highlight a particular Yale weakness in attempting to make a strong comeback. The weakness is that both Barber and Kendall sink to the bottom of the Ivies in terms completion percentage. Penn free safety John Bishop said the Quakers can only blame themselves for their recent trouble covering opponents go-to receivers. "The frustrating thing the last two weeks is that it has not been the coaches fault," Bishop said. "We have been prepared and we knew what they were going to do and we just didn't make the plays. It was simply poor execution on our part." Bishop continued that he believes that inexperience is no longer a valid excuse, considering that the season is six games old. Rick Flanders, Bishop's secondary coach, agreed with this sentiment. "We don't play many coverages so it's not a mental thing or a lack of inexperience for our guys," Flanders said. "They know what coverage it is, but their reaction is not the same." As inconsistent as the play of the Quakers secondary was last weekend, the offense headed by the new starting quarterback, Tom MacLeod, impressed Bagnoli. Every game MacLeod has played in, Bagnoli has seen improvement. From MacLeod's comfort level in the pocket, to his anticipation where patterns are going to break, the Penn offense for the first time this fall looks promising. "He is actually making strides and I am confident that if he can keep doing what he has been doing, he is going to be an effective quarterback for us," Bagnoli said. It was MacLeod's play in the second half versus Brown that has Yale coach Carm Cozza worried. "I know they changed quarterbacks last weekend at Brown and this young man threw the ball fairly well," Cozza said. "I don't think you can just say we are going to stop the run and win, because you know he is going to be even better this week with a start under his belt." A major ingredient that will be missing in Penn's passing attack for the rest of the season is the absence of Mark Fabish, who broke his left shoulder in the final seconds of the Brown game. Fabish had been leading Penn in receptions (with 29, nearly twice as many as any other Quaker), yards and touchdowns. With the sudden loss of Fabish, receivers like Brian Bonanno, the almost forgotten Erik Thompson (one reception in his last three games) and John James, who leads Penn in average yards per catch, will see several more balls thrown their way. Certainly Penn's passing game against Yale will be needed to balance its consistently solid rushing game. For three straight weeks Jason Scott has piled over 100 yards rushing each game. Now if MacLeod can have the same success throwing, Penn will not only thank the doctor for making them feel better, but will also notch its first Ivy League victory of the season.