Analysis: Brown QB Perry rewrites Ivy League record book

Move over, Jay Fiedler. While Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Fiedler -- a former Dartmouth star -- may have found a home in the NFL, it may not be long before he's joined in the league by another Ivy Leaguer. After his record-smashing performance against Penn, Brown's James Perry has solidified himself as one of the all-time great quarterbacks in the history of the Ivy League. Coming into the game, Perry needed 259 passing yards to break the Ivy League record for career passing yards. It took him less than two quarters to amass enough yardage to pass Columbia's John Witkowski's 16-year old record of 7,849 passing yards in a career. With under one minute remaining in the first half, Brown had a second-and-15 on its own 45-yard line and Perry was 36 yards shy of adding one more record to his collection. Dropping back in the pocket, Perry saw that all but one of the Bears' receivers were on the left side of the field, but Brown junior flanker Billy Rackley was standing wide open near the right sideline. Perry connected with Rackley, who danced all the way to the Penn one-yard line before he was forced out of bounds. The 54-yard reception not only put Brown deep in Penn's territory, but also gave Perry his fourth major Ivy League passing record. Last week against Rhode Island, Perry completed 28 passes, four for touchdowns. This gave him the records for most career completions and touchdowns in Ivy League history with 634 and 60, respectively. Perry also holds the record for most completions in a season with 274, which he set last fall. "When you look at him and really study him, it's not hard to see why he is statistically the record holder," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "Some of it is what they do but a lot of what they do is driven by his talents." Perry's talents have now helped defeat Penn for two consecutive seasons. In fact, Brown is the only team in the Ancient Eight that has been able to defeat the Quakers the last two years. "'[Perry] loves the competition," Brown coach Phil Estes said. "He loves to play against the very best, and the last two years he's come through big time." Last year, Perry found so many holes in the formidable Penn defense that he made them look like Swiss cheese, going 37-for-53 with 470 yards and five touchdowns en route to a thrilling 58-51 victory over the Red and Blue. This year's encore performance was equally as brilliant. Perry connected on 31-of-50 passes, accumulating 440 yards and five touchdown passes. Perry's box score statistics do not come close to capturing how well he played in the clutch. The Bears converted on their first six third-down situations -- twice because Penn jumped offsides and the other four times because Perry completed passes. On a third-and-14, minutes after the opening kickoff, Perry threw 14 yards downfield to Rackley, who caught the ball and ran it in for a 29-yard touchdown reception to open the game's scoring. "It's actually really frustrating because a lot of times you are trying to get pressure, and you get pressure, and he just makes some unbelievable throws," Penn senior defensive tackle Jason Maehr said. Perry's other four passes for touchdowns were thrown to his favorite target, junior split end Stephen Campbell, who leads NCAA Division I-AA receivers in receptions per game this season. Two of Perry's four touchdown passes to Campbell came on third downs as well. Clinging to a 28-23 lead, Perry found Campbell over the middle on third-and-three on a five-yard slant pattern. Campbell burned the Quakers' secondary to turn the five-yard play into a 41-yard Bears touchdown. Later, winning 37-23 in the fourth quarter, the Bears faced a third-and-11 on the Penn 12. Perry found Campbell in the end zone to give Brown an almost insurmountable 21-point lead after the successful extra point. The crucial 44-37 Brown victory, which pulled the Bears into a tie for the league lead, was the perfect way for Perry to end yet another record-setting day. Although Perry has rewritten the Ivy League record book, Estes pointed out that there is still one goal he has yet to reach. "He's got to win an Ivy League title."

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