COLUMN: Same teams, different game

From Josh Callahan's, "A View from the Porch," The game no one saw, and everyone remembers. A year ago this weekend, the Penn football team traveled to Harvard with a 4-1 Ivy League record to face the 5-0 Crimson. A long bus ride, a blizzard and 33 unanswered points later, the Quakers season was effectively over. For the few students who were in attendance, it has to rank among the most brutal spectacles in recent Penn sports history. "We were just dominated. That game is very simple. We were dominated from the opening whistle by a better football team than we were," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We were not mentally or emotionally ready to play." The stats are endless, but suffice to say that after six drives on offense, Penn had netted seven yards. "It definitely sticks in your mind, losing the way we did. Thirty-three to zero is not something you can easily forget," quarterback Matt Rader said. "The coaches gave us subtle reminders, but it's not something you really have to talk about because everybody still thinks about it." "Thirty-three to zero is something that is going to stay with you and be a revenge factor," senior co-captain Joe Piela said. · Two days from now, last year becomes a dress rehearsal. It will have been paved over by Saturday's game at Franklin Field, which pits the Ivy League leading Quakers (6-2, 4-1 Ivy League) against second-place Harvard (4-4, 3-2). "I want to get out to a good start so we can put any thoughts of that game behind us and know that it is not going to happen again," junior wide-receiver Brandon Carson said. "[The coaches] keep emphasizing how bad we got beat. Other than that they don't want to take anything from last year's game into this year's game." One key thing is returning from last year's game -- the players. The Quakers on the field at Harvard were mostly new faces when it came to title games: Rader, Finn and O'Neill on offense; Piela, Hisgen and Macdonald on defense. Facing a Harvard defense, which had returned the most starters in the Ivy League from 1996, the inexperience and nerves showed. "I think you learn from the good wins and from the bad losses," Bagnoli said. "I think we have learned how hard we have to prepare and how hard it is to win a championship in this league." Experience will be on Penn's side. The hiccups in the offense last season are gone, and the defense is winning the battles on the line. Piela is returning the ball well on punts, and sophomore kicker Jason Feinberg has put the ball through the uprights from 40-yards plus on multiple occasions. Harvard was the better football team last year, but Penn is clearly better than it was last season, and is better than this year's Harvard team. · Penn's excellent season has put it in the harsh spotlight of a simple equation: Win and you are the hero, lose and you are the goat. Mathematically, the equation doesn't add. If Penn does lose, as unlikely as that sounds, the Quakers would still be Ivy League champs if they knock off a lowly Cornell team on November 21. Doesn't matter. For the second straight season, the game against Harvard is effectively the end for the Penn football season. With the men's basketball season starting Tuesday with two powerhouse games in a row, and football finishing on the road, it really doesn't matter what happens against Cornell. While there is no chance of another 33-0 loss, there remains the possibility of losing. Harvard has played some great games, and some terrible ones. There will be more toast and toasting Saturday than there has ever been for the current generation of Penn students. The student body is starving for a major sports championship. Football is in the difficult position of being charged with the responsibility of delivering one. · The pressure was high last year. It is bigger this year. If Penn wins, you can start chiseling, "Bring me your tired, your poor?" on Rader's outstretched throwing arm. "They know what is at stake. They know they were embarrassed," Bagnoli said. "There is no reason to keep reminding them."