Football disposes of Yale on way to Zubrow's last Ivy title

Editor's Note: This article originally ran in The Daily Pennsylvanian October 24, 1988. It is about the Red and Blue's 10-3 homecoming victory over Yale. The victory moved Penn to 6-0 for the season, 4-0 in the Ivy League. The Quakers would lose only their final game of the season against Cornell, falling into a tie for the Ivy League Championship with the Big Red. It would be Penn's sixth and final Ivy League crown in the '80s and the last season in West Philadelphia for coach Ed Zubrow, whose 23-7 record over three years stands as the fourth-best winning percentage in Quaker history. All told, a homecoming crowd of 28,279 at Franklin Field witnessed a total of seven fumbles, three interceptions, three blocked punts and 19 penalties. Nevertheless, after Penn's 10-3 victory over Yale, Penn head coach Ed Zubrow said he "couldn't be prouder of our football team." Despite the numerous miscues, there were indeed many positives for the Quakers, not the least of which was that the win raised their record to an unblemished 6-0 (4-0 Ivy League, good for first place). "This was a big win for us," Zubrow said. "I can't honestly say that we came out and played our best football of the year. In some ways we did. But if I had a dream about last year's game [a 28-22 Yale victory], it would be to beat Yale in the last 30 seconds of the game." As Zubrow had dreamed, the final outcome was still in the balance during the closing seconds as the Elis (1-4-1 overall, 1-1-1 Ivies) mounted their best sustained drive of the afternoon with less than a minute remaining. Starting from its own 36-yard line, Yale moved to the Quakers' 22 yard line with only four seconds left. Not until Penn stopped a hook-and-lateral play, when the Elis' running back Kevin Brice caught a short pass and pitched it to a streaking Pete Caravella, that the Quakers claimed victory. Because of a season-ending injury to quarterback Bob Verduzco on opening day, Yale head coach Carm Cozza was forced to rely almost exclusively on his running attack. On Saturday, the Elis went to the ground game 52 times, gaining 185 yards. In an effort to make up for the absence of Verduzco, Cozza also continually alternated between Mark Brubaker and Darin Kehler at the quarterback position. "I think they have done a very effective job of that because the quarterbacks are so different," Zubrow said. I think they did a good job of slipping [Kehler] in there at key times and enabling him to change the pace." Brubaker, the official starter, was fairly successful in the air, completing seven passes for 75 yards. Kehler, who started the season in Yale's dormitory intramural league and began his varsity career two weeks ago, presented a constant threat to run, amassing 54 yards on seven carries. "We knew we could move the ball against Penn on the ground," Cozza said. "[Tailback Buddy] Zachery (22 carries, 101 yards) was our entire offense." While Cozza's revolving-door quarterbacks seemed to complement each other quite nicely, they also gave the Penn defense a hint at what the Elis were up to. "It wasn't really difficult," strong safety Steve Johnson said. "We just had to keep track of who was coming in and keep that in our mind as far as what we should be looking for. That was what really gave us the success we had. We knew if they were going to beat us, they would have to do it through the running game." With the Quakers' leading rusher, Bryan Keys (51 yards on 15 carries) hobbled by a sore ankle, senior fullback Mike Walker (79 yards on 13 carries) was given an expanded role in the offense. Quarterback Malcolm Glover completed 12 passes on a season-high 26 attempts for 165 yards and a touchdown. Outgained on the ground for the second time on the season, the key to Penn's win was its passing attack. The game-winning touchdown came on a fourth-and-eight call from Yale's 28-yard line at 3:52 of the second quarter. Glover's pass to receiver David Whaley, slanting over the middle, ended a 5:01 scoring drive that began at Penn's own 20-yard line. At the time, the Quakers held a slim 3-0 lead, and Penn placekicker Rich Friedenberg's 46-yard kick into the wind on the previous possession had fallen 10 yards short. With that in mind, going for first down on fourth-and-eight seemed like the best tactic. "I had to really consider three things," Zubrow said. "You could try to kick it, but it looked even a little worse than the range we fell short on previously. There was the opportunity to [punt], but we thought our best chance was to go for it. We didn't mind giving it up on downs if we didn't make it." The Elis' only points came in the third quarter on Scott Walton's 31-yard field goal, set up when Yale's Chris Brown partially blocked Dave Amodio's punt. All other drives by each team in the third quarter ended in either an interception, a fumble or a blocked punt. After gaining 218 yards in the first half, Penn's offense seemed to stagnate in the third quarter and early fourth quarter. The Quakers managed just 22 yards during the first 21 minutes of the second half. "They came out at halftime and made some adjustments," Glover said. "We just didn't adjust to what they were doing. They were shifting the outside linebackers and defensive backs. I would make a check and, after that, they would change defenses -- so we were running plays right into their defense." It was not until midway through the fourth quarter that Glover and the offense got on track. Although Penn's 58-yard, 15-play drive resulted in another missed field goal by Friedenberg, it kept the ball out of Yale's hands, and left the Elis with poor field position with less than three minutes remaining. "The drive at the end of the game ate up almost six minutes of the game, which was very significant," Zubrow said. "If we make the field goal, there is probably not the pressure at the end on us, but the six minutes -- they can't get that back. That was a key part of the game. "I think it's a tribute to every one of the seniors that we have come out on top of every one of the close ones so far. That's certainly the cumulative effects of success and also the cumulative effect of believing in yourself. What I want us to do is to be in the race at the end. We are not there yet. We have to win net week to be in that position. We have to recognize that we will need to improve our performance."