Perry steals spotlight in Football loss

Penn can't stop Brown offense Penn can't stop Brown offenseby Will UlrichPenn can't stop Brown offenseby Will UlrichThe Daily Pennsylvanian Penn can't stop Brown offenseby Will UlrichThe Daily Pennsylvanian Penn made collegiate sports history just by showing up on Saturday, playing in its NCAA-record-setting 1,200th football contest. Unfortunately for the Quakers, it was Brown's James Perry who was in a real record-setting mood, throwing for 440 yards and five touchdowns as the Bears won, 44-37. Coming in, the senior signal-caller needed 259 yards for the Ivy League career passing record. Perry's performance shattered that Ancient Eight mark and galvanized Brown's victory against defending-champion Penn. "It's vintage James," Brown coach Phil Estes said. "They were very good defensively and they gave us a lot of different coverages and looks. He just took advantage of every one of those situations." The Quakers rallied late in the fourth quarter in attempt to close a 21-point gap, as Penn quarterback Gavin Hoffman took the reins of a no-huddle offense. Hoffman threw for two touchdowns in the last 1:05 of play in an attempt to erase the Bears' 44-23 lead, but it was not enough. When Brown tight end David Brookman recovered a Jason Feinberg onsides kick with 25 seconds left, the Bears victory was assured. The Quakers never led on Saturday and were, as a result, forced to play catch-up against an explosive offense. "We were trying to keep them off balance [on defense]," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We got in to some man situations because we got behind in the game and we wanted to make some things happen. Ideally, we want to be up by a couple of touchdowns because we want to be able to sit back. Unfortunately, we never got into that situation." The Brown offense was outstanding from the first drive of the game. Stephen Campbell returned Feinberg's initial kickoff to the Brown 23-yard line before giving way to Perry, who marched his team right up the field. The Bears' first drive consumed 11 plays and four minutes of clock. Perry's first touchdown pass -- a 29-yarder to Billy Rackley -- was indicative of Brown's success all day. The pass went over the middle for 14 yards, and Rackley ran for the other 15. The Penn secondary was hapless when it came to guarding the middle or stopping big post-catch gains. Campbell caught 10 passes for an astounding 190 yards. Rackley was similarly impressive, catching eight passes at an average of 18.3 yards per reception. "It was a combination our inability to tackle as well as their skill after catching the ball," Penn cornerback Joey Alofaituli said. What was also telling about Perry's first touchdown was that it came on a third-and-14 after two solid Penn defensive plays. All that went for naught, however, as the Bears made good on third-and-long. That play foreshadowed problems Penn would have all day as the Quakers defense would seemingly have the Bears on the ropes only to get burned on a third-down or fourth-down conversion. The Bears converted a turf-shattering 12-of-19 third downs. "We just couldn't get a third-down play," Bagnoli said. "It was frustrating because we did pretty well on first down and on second down." Penn answered the first touchdown with a retaliatory 45-yard field goal by Feinberg to make it 7-3. A 37-yard run by tailback Kris Ryan on the Quakers' first play from scrimmage catalyzed the drive. "We wanted to come out and show them some different offensive looks and to run the football because statistically they have been a little bit susceptible," Bagnoli said. Brown's next drive was almost identical to its first, consuming 10 plays and 77 yards in 4:48. With 7:55 left in the second quarter, Penn made a crucial stop on a Brown fourth down. A balanced Red and Blue offense then pushed right to the Brown end zone in five plays to make the score 14-10. This four-point difference held up for a mere three minutes. The Bears came right back at the Quakers with an eight-play, 65-yard drive that ended with tailback Michael Malan crossing the goal line for Brown's only rushing touchdown of the day. If it were not for the gutsy play of the Penn defense right before halftime, the Quakers might have gone into the locker room facing a daunting 28-10 deficit. A 54-yard Perry pass -- which, incidentally, secured him the Ivy yardage record -- gave the Bears first-and-goal on the Penn one-yard line. A four-yard running loss and two incompletions later, Brown went for the field goal. But 6'3" Penn freshman Kyle Chafflin blocked the Sean Jenson kick to keep the Quakers within striking distance. "The blocked field goal at the end of the first half was really huge," Hoffman said. "We kept the game close enough to where we could strike." The Quakers carried this momentum into the third quarter, striking quickly. Penn followed a 55-yard Matt Thomas kickoff return with an eight-play, 40-yard drive to cut the score to 21-17. That was as close as the Quakers would get. The Brown offense kept up its high-octane output in the third quarter, and the Red and Blue just seemed unable to put a cohesive attack together; at the end of the quarter, Brown led 34-23. "We kind of hit a funk there in the third quarter when it was important to establish the offense and to get some points going," Hoffman said. Brown came out hot in the fourth quarter. A field goal in the first minute was followed by a two-minute touchdown drive that began with Brown blocking a Ryan Lazzeri punt. With the score 44-23, Hoffman appeared to regain his "A" stuff, leading a hurry-up attack down to the Brown five-yard line. But this drive came to an abrupt halt as a Hoffman's third-down pass was intercepted by Brown linebacker Brad Grulke. As it turned out, the last-minute comeback by the Quakers made Grulke's pick doubly important, as it secured Brown's margin of victory. Hoffman's 180 fourth-quarter yards gave him 343 on the day, placing him third on the all-time Penn single-game list. But it was too little too late for the Quakers in their 1,200th game.