Analysis: Tailback Ryan has breakthrough day against Bison

Usually, losing a running back who rushed for over 1,400 yards and won the Ivy League's prestigious Bushnell Cup as Player of the Year would present a problem for a football team. Usually. But after yet another strong rushing performance by Penn sophomore Kris Ryan, Quakers fans may soon find themselves asking: Jim who? Ryan had a career day in Saturday's 23-16 loss to Bucknell, rushing for 152 yards on 24 carries, including his second touchdown of the season, a 33-yard scamper to put Penn up 7-0. Through three games in 1998, Jim Finn had gained 320 yards on the ground. Through three games in 1999, Ryan has gained 332. And Ryan has done it on 44 fewer carries. "I think that [Penn] had a good game plan," Bucknell coach Tom Gadd said of a Quakers offense that rushed 28 times in the first half. "When you go up 7-0 and you're running as well as No. 41 is running I don't know why you'd stop. "He's a horse." On the Quakers' second drive of the afternoon, Ryan literally looked like a horse -- both in his strength and in his speed -- as he almost single-handedly took the Red and Blue down the field to stake them to an early lead. The 33-yard run by Ryan culminated a nine-play Penn drive and saw the 235-pound tailback bounce off of several Bison defenders before outrunning its secondary for the score. In all, six of the Quakers' nine plays on the drive were handoffs to the sophomore, as Ryan racked up 59 yards in one offensive series. A Bucknell team that saw Finn rush for 136 yards in 1998 must have thought it was experiencing dZj^ vu: Ryan racked up 120 yards by halftime and refused to go down to one tackler alone. "We were tackling but we weren't wrapping up -- and he's a big back," Bison linebacker Shawn Redd said. "When you have a big back like that you just have to try to run your feet through him." In the second half, though, Penn's bull in the backfield saw less action as the Quakers switched their focus to the pass in hopes of quickly cutting into Bucknell's ever-increasing lead. In addition, halftime changes by Redd and the Bison defense -- which limited Towson State to minus-30 yards rushing in a win earlier this fall -- stymied Ryan and the rest of Penn's rushing offense. Though Ryan's 32 yards on eight second-half carries is respectable in its own right, it was somewhat tame compared to his first-half stats. "I'm sure they made some adjustments on defense," Ryan said. "I think they came out a little more ready to play than we did in the second half -- they were coming off the ball a little harder than we were. "I really don't know if anything was too different. We were playing hard but we just didn't work as well." Though the Quakers couldn't complete their fourth-quarter heroics, the team was able to take at least one thing away from the game. In averaging over 6 1/2 yards per carry, No. 41 stepped out of the Quakers' run-by-committee system to seemingly win the starting role outright. While fellow Penn backs Mike Verille and Matt Thomas combined for only four carries, Ryan handled the brunt of the rushing duties by taking 24 handoffs. "Kris has obviously been one of the bright spots of our offense," said Quakers coach Al Bagnoli of his sophomore running back, in whom he clearly has gained more confidence as the season has progressed. Back in August, with Northwestern transfer Gavin Hoffman stepping into the starting quarterback job and a strong corps of wide receivers returning, Penn's offensive weak spot was expected to be in the backfield. Now in October, with Hoffman throwing twice as many interceptions as touchdowns and three of the Quakers top returning receivers not on the playing field, Penn's runners have proved themselves solid as a rock. Last year, Ryan ran just once for 18 yards. He has shown that the big gain was not a fluke, though, as he has posted consistently long runs, including a 49-yard touchdown in the season-opener. "We had a huge void in Jim Finn graduating," Bagnoli said, "but we've seemed to solidify that part of [our offense].We're comfortable there. "It's good to have him be around for another three years."

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