FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Penn football expects to bring down Harvard and the goalposts

The Quakers are almost entirely healthy as they chase down their first Ivy League title since 1994. With the Penn football team facing Harvard Saturday at Franklin Field with a chance to wrap up a share of the Ivy League title, final preparations are being made -- the team is running through its plays one more time, and students are making the toast and ordering the kegs. The Quakers are in a position to win an Ivy title for the first time since 1994, when they defeated, who else, Harvard. And given the post-game opportunities for celebration, students are in position to sit through an entire football game without leaving early. · Will the real Harvard please stand up? The Crimson started off the 1998 season with four straight losses, including a 24-0 stinker to open the season against Columbia. Then, Harvard went 4-0 with three Ivy wins, most importantly a 23-22 win at Princeton on October 24. Last week, the old Harvard reemerged, losing 27-6 to Brown. Quarterback Rich Linden has thrown only three TDs, launching six interceptions in the process. Meanwhile, the Ivy League's leading rusher a year ago, Chris Menick, is more than 450 yards behind Penn's Jim Finn for the conference lead. · If the game is close in the final minutes, Penn fans will be thankful that Franklin Field has astroturf. Sophomore kicker Jason Feinberg has been solid on the fake stuff, and less than automatic when divots start flying. Last week he was two from 19 and 32 yards out, but barely got the ball of the ground on two from 46 and 34. "I think those are kicks I would like to forget about," Feinberg said. "I'm looking forward to redeeming myself against Harvard." "I don't know what it is. I practiced on grass all summer, but for some reason I just stink on grass. Thank God Cornell and Penn are turf. Coming off a bad game things are a little more tense. I'm just concentrating on my mechanics." "The one that concerns me is the 36-yarder," Bagnoli said. "We feel that he is up to the ability level where from 40 and in he should be very consistent. For a sophomore in his first year of kicking, he's been solid." · Speaking of splitting the uprights, the players are not exactly lining up behind Public Safety's request to keep fans off the field after the game. "It's a tradition. I don't know how they are going to stop all those kids from rushing on the field," senior co-captain Joe Piela said. "I want to tear them down. I want to experience that," junior wide-receiver Brandon Carson said. "That is one of the big reasons I want to win. I want to throw them in the Schuylkill. I'll go in and get changed." Bagnoli, well aware of who is signing his checks around here, pleaded the fifth. The only other person who wasn't gung-ho on the idea yesterday was basketball center Geoff Owens, who cited his 6'11" frame's ability to be easily spotted by security cameras as one reason he might not participate in any post-game celebrations. · Penn is finally getting healthy at the time when it counts most. Only offensive lineman Matt Bane will be out for Saturday's game. Harvard may not be so fortunate, as coach Tim Murphy said yesterday that Menick may not make the trip with the team due to an ankle injury suffered in last week's game. · "Brown has a lot of good wide receivers, but I think the first six of us are better than anybody in the league," Carson said of Penn's diverse corps of wideouts. "No matter who is in there, [the defense] can't key on one person." The same can be said of Penn at the quarterback spot, where Finn has spelled Rader on several occasions and thrown two touchdown passes in the last four games. The halfback pass is easily the play of the year in the Ivy League. It has worked to perfection in each of the last four Penn games, twice by the Quakers and twice by opponents. Not to be outdone, Harvard used the play on Princeton three weeks ago. "It's tough. You are usually flying around, and you see run, and you come up quick, and the next thing you know they are throwing the ball over your head," Piela said. "Being that it has happened a couple times already this year and that Harvard has done it to us the past two years, we are definitely going to be looking for something like that. They even run it on first down." "The whole problem is more and more people are going to an eight man pressure defense," Bagnoli said. "As soon as you put the eighth guy in the box, it really puts your corners on an island. Any kind of play-action really puts pressure on those kids to make plays."

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