Football has one win left

The Quakers look to win the Ivy League football title outright, as they take on the Cornell Big Red. Like a spoiled kid, the Penn football team doesn't want a piece of it. They want the whole thing. Last weekend's 41-10 victory against visiting Harvard gave the Penn fans in attendance -- except those affiliated with the University's maintenance and facilities division -- a reason to celebrate. While the victory earned the Quakers a share of the Ivy League championship, they have to travel to Ithaca, N.Y., and battle Cornell Saturday at 1 p.m. on Schoellkopf Field to claim the rest of it. "We won and that was great," Penn defensive back Joe Piela said. "Nobody wants a share of the championship. It's like kissing your sister. We want to go up there and prove to everyone that we are the best team in the league." In between the numerous festivities that have followed last week's victory, the Quakers have spent the week pondering something that hasn't adorned the team in four years, an Ivy League championship outright. For the seniors, the game represents much more than just winning the championship. It represents a way to fulfill what they felt was their obligation as the recruits the last time the Penn football program was in this position. "Coming in here, Penn had won two straight championships," Piela said. "I came in here looking to win at least two. The first two years were pretty disappointing. I think the leadership by the seniors is the difference from the past couple of years and has brought this program back to where it belongs." Possibly a team of destiny, a couple of unlikely seniors -- one who two years ago played on the opposite side of the ball and another who started for another school -- have found their way into the Quakers' record book Finn, who played defensive back in last season's opening game against Dartmouth, has become one of the most prolific running backs in Penn history. Currently 41 yards shy of breaking Bryan Keys' Penn single season rushing record of 1,302 yards, Finn also needs only 18 points to break Penn's all-time mark of 109 points set by Howard Berry in 1917. "It's great to have played the position that you always wanted to and be successful at it," Finn said. Rader, a 1997 transfer from Duke, came to Penn with high hopes and aspirations. The fifth-year senior has more than exceeded them. This season, Rader has compiled 1,883 yards and sits 315 yards behind Jimmy McGeehan's mark set in 1993 for the Penn single-season record and 240 yards for Penn's career record. "It's a feeling of fulfillment," Rader said. "With all of the expectations that were brought in here with me, to win it as a senior on Franklin Field is a special moment that will be with the seniors and with me for the rest of our lives." Rader and Finn have put together one of the fiercest Penn offenses ever, averaging 378.2 yards of total offense and 29.1 points per game. "They actually feed off each other," Bagnoli said. "It is a luxury to have a workload running back that can carry the ball 40 times. He takes pressure off the receivers, off the quarterback. Then you turn around and you have a kid who can throw it for 300 yards in any game, and he takes the pressure of Finn. In the way of the Quakers stands Cornell, a team one win shy of .500. Senior quarterback Mike Hood (1,637 yards, 12 touchdowns) leads the Big Red's offensive machine along with 6', 217-pound running back Deon Harris (722 yards, four touchdowns). "Harris runs the ball well up the middle," Piela said. "It's going to be hard to bring him down. We are going to have to play good defense up front and not let him run through the middle and run free." While Cornell tries to counter opposing rushing offenses with an eight-man defensive front, they have been more successful against the pass, allowing 176.3 yards passing per game compared to 183.8 yards rushing per game. "They play very good team defense," Bagnoli said. "They have been frustrating a lot of people, because they don't let anybody deep. They don't give up big plays. They are a very patient defense, and they frustrate a lot of teams." Walking into a game heavily favored to win, the Quakers realize the attention and pressure will be focussed on them. "We still have a lot at stake," Bagnoli said. "We are not going in there trying to be conservative. We are not going in there trying to be passive. We are going in there trying to attack and trying to win it." Although the records will be in the back of everyone's minds, Finn, Rader and the coaches believe that will be the best place for them to remain. "If we can accomplish winning the game and we can do some other things, we will try to do it," Bagnoli said. "We won't do it out of the context of a normal game. We won't put Matt Rader back in if we are up by 25." Entering the season, Penn had one simple goal. They wanted to win the Ivy League championship. Tomorrow they will get their chance to win it outright.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.