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Senior Kris Ryan ran right into the Penn record book on Saturday, becoming the eighth Quakers running back to amass 2,000 career rushing yards. [Andrew Margolies/The Daily Pennsylvanian]

EASTON, Pa. -- Penn football is back.

And it's picked up right where it left off.

In its first game of the 2001 football campaign, the defending Ivy champs trounced Lafayette, 37-0, Saturday at Miller Field.

The Quakers dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage en route to their first shutout in three years and their first opening day shutout since 1982.

Using a no-huddle offense and four-wideout sets at times, Penn kept the Lafayette defense on its heels from the opening whistle.

In the Red and Blue's second series of the game, senior quarterback Gavin Hoffman led the team on a six-play, 62-yard drive in under a minute, ending with an 18-yard touchdown strike to sophomore Ryan Murray, the first reception of his career.

That would be all the points the Quakers would need, as the Penn defense completely stifled an anemic Leopards offensive attack.

Lafayette gained just 40 yards on the ground for the game and recorded a meager four first downs in the first half . The Leopards punter was on the field 11 times, perhaps exemplifying the team's offensive ineptitude the best.

"Early in the season, offenses are going to struggle a bit," said Penn senior linebacker Dan Morris, who contributed three tackles on the afternoon. "We were expecting to shut them down -- and we did that."

And while Penn's defense was knocking the spots off the Leopards, the offense put the points on the board.

The Quakers established their running game early, as a healthy Kris Ryan went for 151 yards on 24 carries, including a six-yard TD run in the fourth quarter. The senior also reached a milestone, becoming the eighth Penn running back to reach the 2,000-yard plateau for his career.

"It felt good to get back into things to start running the ball again," said Ryan, who missed a hefty portion of last season with nagging injuries. "I think it was really good for myself to get out there and produce. And the offensive line did a heck of a job."

Penn's passing attack consisted of primarily short out-patterns to the sidelines to a variety of receivers, nine in total.

Hoffman, who passed for 226 yards on the day, connected with senior wideouts Colin Smith and Rob Milanese for touchdowns in the second quarter to give Penn a 20-0 lead going into the locker room.

"We didn't want to give up anything deep down the middle," Lafayette senior linebacker Matt Bourdon said. "[Hoffman] beat us with a lot of quick outs, and those are the plays that you have to live through and kind of suck it up and move onto the next play."

Still, despite what the scoreboard might indicate, the members of the Red and Blue offense were not particularly happy with the way they played.

"It was definitely nice to put some points on the board, but I thought it never really kicked in," Hoffman said. "Even though we put 37 points on the board, it felt like a struggle most of the game. It felt like we were having a tough time putting consistent drives together."

Penn coach Al Bagnoli agreed that his team showed some early-season rust.

"They don't give you style points. If they did, it wouldn't be that good," Bagnoli said. "I knew we were going to have some issues, because it's been so long since we played.

"But anytime you can win [when] you're on the road and you're on grass, we'll take it. We'll get better and move on."

Lafayette coach Frank Tavani was happy with the way his defense played, but was obviously exasperated about his offense's performance. For the second straight game, the Leopards were unable to get on the scoreboard.

In the second quarter, the Lafayette head man called a meeting to try to get the troops going.

"I thought the offense needed to see a little of my ire and see that vein popping out the middle of my forehead," Tavani said. "I was just trying to generate some fire in the offense, because our defense was doing such a great job."

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