Mixed report card for Football in '99

Following the Penn football team's season-ending 20-12 loss to Cornell on Saturday, a visibly dejected Jason Maehr summed up both the game and the Quakers' 1999 season. "I think you have to be disappointed," said Maehr, a senior defensive lineman. "It's disappointing to lose the last game. We really would have felt the season was a success if we had won. I kind of have mixed feelings today about how this season went." Penn coach Al Bagnoli saw his team's loss to Cornell as a microcosm for the year, as the Quakers (5-5, 4-3 Ivy League) dropped to fourth place, falling short of their goal of repeating as Ivy champs. "That's very, very frustrating," Bagnoli said. "You think you have the advantage when it's third-and-15, fourth-and-18, third-and-12. You think the advantage decidedly swings in your favor." One week before, Harvard coach Tim Murphy was saying the exact same thing about Penn, as the Quakers completed two fourth-downs en route to a game-wining 50-yard touchdown pass. But that was the story of Penn's football season -- ups and downs. Despite returning 16 of 24 starters from the 1998 campaign, the Quakers could not match their 8-2 mark. Record-setting individual performances aside, Penn as a team did not fare as well as they had hoped to this fall. Quarterback Sophomore Gavin Hoffman transferred from Northwestern weeks before the season began and was slow to gel with the offense. But early struggles gave way to big showings. Hoffman set the single-season passing yardage mark with 2,328 yards, the single-game yardage mark with 399 and the single-game completions mark with 29. Still, Hoffman threw 12 interceptions and had more than his share of passes batted down at the line and thrown behind receivers. Grade: B Running Back Sophomore Kris Ryan emerged from a preseason rush-by-platoon system to become the season's brightest star. Ryan led the Ivies with 1,197 yards and also scored a team-high 10 touchdowns. Fullback Brian Cosmello and tailbacks Mike Verille and Matt Thomas combined for 397 rushing yards. Grade: A- Offensive Line Penn returned its entire offensive line and looked forward to big things. And while the line opened huge lanes for Ryan, the sight of Hoffman being sacked 22 times was unexpected. Grade: C+ Tight Ends Junior Ben Zagorski had a break-out year (26 catches, three touchdowns), while senior Brandon Clay caught five passes and saw action mainly on rushing downs. The duo held its own in run-blocking, but dropped passes plagued this group all season. Grade: B Wide Receivers The loss of three supposedly returning receivers before the year started had to hurt. But sophomores Rob Milanese and Colin Smith teamed with senior Brandon Carson to form a strong receiving corps. Milanese led Penn with 41 catches for 702 yards while Smith and Carson each topped the 30 catch/300 yards receiving plateau. Dropped passes aside, this group was stellar. Grade: B Defensive Line Returning three All-Ivy picks from the Ivies' best run defense in 1998, Penn again stifled opposing rushers and harried opposing passers. Recording 29 sacks and allowing only 84 yards a game rushing, Penn's D-line -- led by seniors Mike Germino, Adrian Puzio and Maehr -- accomplished what it set out to do. Grade A- Linebackers Led by returning honorable mention All-Ivy pick Jim Hisgen, the Quakers linebacking lineup was a force to be reckoned with. Freshman Travis Belden had two interceptions and junior Dan Morris had 59 tackles, but Hisgen trumped them both with three picks and 89 tackles. Grade: A- Defensive Backs In losses to Villanova, Brown, Yale and Cornell, Penn's secondary was torched for 1,437 yards and 10 touchdowns, with opposing quarterbacks connecting on 110 of 174 passes (63 percent). They recorded a league-high 18 interceptions -- Kunle Williams returned two for touchdowns -- but were largely unable to stop the third down pass. Grade: C Special Teams Penn kicker Jason Feinberg connected on 15-of-21 field goal attempts, but two of the missed field goals and his one missed extra point all came in the eight-point loss to Cornell. Punter Ryan Lazzeri's 39.3 average was fourth in the Ivies. The kick return teams could be counted on to give the offense good position, but Penn was the only Ivy squad not to return a kick for a touchdown. Grade: B