Penn sophomore safety Kunle Williams earned Player of the Week honors for his two TDs. On Saturday, Penn defensive back Kunle Williams electrified the Homecoming crowd at Franklin Field with his two interceptions for touchdowns -- even though most in attendance were scrambling for programs to identify the sophomore safety. For his performance, which included a 100-yard return -- the longest in Penn history -- Williams was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week. "His family came into town for the first time," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "I spoke to his dad afterwards, and I said 'What did you tell him?' and he goes, 'I'm not coming 3,000 miles to see you have a bad game.' So he had some outside motivation." · When the Quakers travel to Harvard on Saturday, defensive lineman Mike Germino will have some outside motivation of his own. Germino played for Boston University in 1997, the final year of the Terriers' since-disbanded program. Saturday's game will be his first return to a Boston gridiron since transferring to Penn "Second homecoming of the season," Germino said. "I'm excited to go. A lot of my friends have graduated but a lot of friends will be at the game so they're gonna be there. Hopefully I'll put on a good show for them." Could that show include, maybe, a 106-yard interception return to break Williams' Penn record? "I don't think I could run one back the six, let alone the 100," Germino said. "[Williams] put on a performance, scored 12 points by himself, two interceptions, had 140 yards returning. That's a lot of stats." · On the other side of the ball, wide receiver Rob Milanese has a lot of stats. The sophomore from Wyckoff, N.J., leads the Quakers with 513 yards and 30 receptions, good for fifth and 10th in the Ivy League, respectively. Most impressively, though, Milanese leads the Ancient Eight with 17.1 yards per catch, a number which establishes him firmly as one of the league's top big play receivers, whether he is willing to admit it or not. "I've made a couple of plays to help the team out and that's what I try to do," Milanese said. "But I don't see myself as one of the best players in the league. That's my goal, having three years left, to get better each week and maybe someday be the best in the league." · The Quakers are already the best in the Ivy League in more than one aspect of the game but one particularly strong point for the Red and Blue this year has been the punting game. Penn leads the Ivy League in punt coverage, having allowed just 79 yards of punt returns in the eight games so far. It isn't that the Quakers haven't punted -- Ryan Lazzeri's 48 punts are just above the league average of 46.5. Only 15 of Lazzeri's punts, however, have been returned, and his net average works out to a very nice 37.4 yards. "Ryan's done a nice job of kicking the ball," Bagnoli said. "We've got freshmen and sophomores on the outside sprinting but we do have some experience on the inside. They've all done a nice job." · Penn's other foot specialist, Jason Feinberg, is also quietly putting up impressive numbers. The junior placekicker has scored 62 points on 13 field goals and 23 extra points. He trails only Yale kicker Mike Murawczyk in scoring in the Ivy League (64). "He's hitting the ball real well," Bagnoli said. "We feel comfortable that when we get down into the red zone, we're going to come away with points and he has not disappointed us at all. His kickoffs are also much better and our coverage teams are playing pretty well." Feinberg was named to the Ivy League Honor Roll this week. · Penn's punt return unit is the only part of the special teams that has really struggled, ranking last in the Ancient Eight with a 5.9-yard average return. Only the Quakers and Princeton have yet to return a punt for a touchdown in the league. Fred Plaza is the latest Quaker to try to step in for graduated Joe Piela, arguably the best punt returner in Penn history. "We've got an exciting kid back there in Plaza," Bagnoli said. "We've just got to work a little harder to get him some running room." · Kris Ryan is still easily leading the Ivy League in rushing yardage with a whopping 145 yards per game. As a team, though, the Chris Menick-led Crimson lead the Ivies with 191 yards per contest. But Menick -- who sat out last year's Penn-Harvard game with an injured ankle -- and the rest of the Crimson offense still do not exactly strike fear in the hearts of the Penn defense. "I don't think he's the best we've seen this year and he's not better than what we practice with," Germino said. "I wouldn't trade him for Kris Ryan. If we were playing Kris Ryan, that's another story. He's someone I can honestly say I would not want to play against. I'd be nervous about playing against Ryan but we're not nervous about bringing [Menick] down." · Saturday's game will be a matchup of the past two Ivy League champions. The winner of the Quakers-Crimson game in each of the past two years has gone on to win the Ivy crown. The Quakers last visited Harvard Stadium in 1997, when they were routed 33-0. Last year, Penn humiliated the Crimson at Franklin Field, 41-10, and the fans tossed the goal posts into the Schuylkill. Penn must win Saturday to have any chance for more goalpost action this season -- the winner of the game will still have an outside shot to tie for the Ivy title, while the loser will be eliminated from contention.
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