Brown's James Perry is one of the best quarterbacks in Ivy League history. In case you haven't paid much attention to Ivy League football over the past three years, here's something you won't want to miss. The Penn football team hosts Brown at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at Franklin Field, and Bears quarterback James Perry is one of the best in Ivy League history. The senior's 634 career completions are the most ever in the league. Ditto for his 60 touchdown passes. And if Perry can pass for just 259 more yards in his five remaining collegiate starts, tack on the career passing yardage mark as well. So it comes as no surprise that when the Bears (4-1, 2-1 Ivy League) take the field, the Quakers (3-2, 2-0) will be in for one of their biggest challenges of the season. "We're watching a lot more film of [Perry] than of the other Ivy quarterbacks," Penn senior defensive back Anthony DeSalle said. "And there's so much film on him because all they do is throw. "There's just tons of tape to watch and barely enough time to watch it." One tape that the Quakers must have viewed innumerable times was the one of the most recent meetings between these two teams -- a 58-51 last-second victory for Brown last fall. In that shootout, the top two Ivy squads of 1998 combined for a ridiculous eight touchdowns in the final quarter. It was the highest scoring game in Ivy history. Despite 259 rushing yards and six touchdowns from Quakers running back Jim Finn, Brown found a way to match and better every single Penn score. The reason? Perry. The senior had a record day of his own, completing 37-of-52 passes for 470 yards and five touchdowns. "I don't think any of us went into last year thinking it would be 58-51," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "Both defenses have the ability to stop the other offenses and both offenses have the ability to make some big plays. "We're going to be tested more this week than we've been. It's going to be a little bit of ebb and flow to the game, so we'll just see what happens." What Bagnoli hopes he'll see is Penn's defense responding to this test and containing the opposing quarterback. In its past three games, the Quakers 'D' has certainly done this, allowing only 19 points a contest. But if Brown's offense, which is averaging 34 points a game, has anything to say, tomorrow's meeting will mirror last fall's offensive theatrics. "[Perry] directs our offense and he has a great sense of being in the pocket," Brown coach Phil Estes told The Boston Globe yesterday. "And our receivers have really stepped up." "We've set goals for the team each game -- to beat Yale at the Yale Bowl, to beat Princeton at Brown, where we hadn't beaten them since 1987, and now it's to win at Franklin Field." Brown has already accomplished the first two goals with a 25-24 win at Yale and a 53-30 win over Princeton; all the remains is winning at Penn for the first time since 1979 Perry connected on 28-of-50 passes for 299 yards and four touchdowns in a 27-25 victory over Rhode Island last Saturday and seems primed to lead the Bears to their first win at Penn since 1979. All told, Perry has thrown for 1,532 yards this fall, bringing his mammoth career total to 7,591. Brown also boasts the nation's top receiver in Division I-AA in Stephen Campbell, who hauls in 8.4 receptions a game. Furthermore, the success of the passing game has opened up defenses to permit running back Michael Malan to quietly amass 426 yards and a 6.5 yards-per-carry average. With an offense averaging over 450 yards a game, Brown appears headed for success. But don't count out the Penn secondary, which has shined recently. The Quakers defensive backfield shut down Columbia in a 41-17 victory last Saturday, holding two Lions quarterbacks to 12-of-34 passing. Two second-half interceptions by DeSalle led the way for Penn, as Columbia's offense was shut down and shut out after the half. "The interceptions were certainly a big confidence booster because against Brown the pressure is on the secondary to play really well," DeSalle said. "But Brown's passing game is slightly different [than Columbia's]. They throw downfield a little bit more and the pressure's going to be on all of us because they send four or five guys out every time. "They have a real complex passing game." Meanwhile, on the offensive side of the ball for the Quakers, it appears that the home team is developing a complex passing attack of its own. In completing 25-of-32 passes for a Penn-record 399 yards at Columbia last Saturday, Penn sophomore Gavin Hoffman finally showed signs that he was reading the same playbook as his receiving corps. Hoffman hit sophomore Rob Milanese eight times for 184 yards. Hoffman hit junior Ben Zagorski seven times for 70 yards. Hoffman hit one Brandon -- Clay -- for a 63-yard touchdown, and another -- Carson -- for a 35-yard score. In fact, Hoffman seemed to hit everything that moved and was wearing a Penn uniform in the victory, throwing four touchdown strikes and no interceptions. "It definitely helps when you get both the running game and the passing game going in sync, because the defense doesn't know which one to overcommit to," Hoffman said. "And it's good that we distribute the ball equally because that allows defenses to not key on just one guy." When asked his thoughts on a possible Perry-Hoffman duel, though, Penn's signal-caller was not concerned. "I don't really care what [Perry] does over there," Hoffman said. "I'm just worried about our offense against their defense, because that's the only thing I can control." Adding in their 189 yards pounded out via the rushing game against Columbia, Penn's offense is now the second-best offense in the Ivies. The No. 1 offense? Why Brown, of course. Once Penn steps onto the playing field, though, statistics become meaningless, and the team will be ready for the challenge that defending Perry -- and the Ivy title -- brings with it. "Everybody knows what's at stake for this game," DeSalle said. "They're coming after us again because they didn't get the title last year."
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