Football looks to reclaim Yale dominance

In the past two and a half years, the Penn football team has lost a total of four Ivy League games.

Half of those have come at the hands of Yale.

Despite a 58-21-1 all-time record against the Elis (3-1, 1-1 Ivy League), the Quakers (4-0, 2-0) have dropped the last two meetings of the series.

Tomorrow, the rivalry resumes with a noon kickoff at Franklin Field.

Coming off last year's 27-24 victory in New Haven, Yale will likely not be intimidated by Penn's recent successes, or its unblemished 2001 record.

And the Elis will have reason to be confident, particularly on the offensive side of the ball. Yale has averaged 31.5 points per game this year, having passed for more yardage than Penn to this point.

Still, Penn coach Al Bagnoli hopes to force the Elis to throw the football in an attempt to make them one-dimensional and easier to defend against as the game unfolds.

"One of the things that has been helpful to us is that, for the most part, we've been able to get some leads on people and kind of take them out of that run mentality late in the game," Bagnoli said. "It makes it a lot easier when you don't have to worry about both things."

Penn's two-pronged attack of scoring early and playing excellent run defense has been its staple throughout the season, but in no other game was the strategy as perfectly executed as it was against Columbia last Saturday.

In that matchup, the Quakers limited the Lions' star tailback, Jonathan Reese, to only 66 yards on 15 carries.

As the game was still relatively close at halftime -- Penn had a 14-0 lead -- Reese had racked up 51 yards on the ground. But when the Red and Blue applied some more pressure with two touchdowns in the third quarter, Columbia had no recourse but to take to the air.

Although Yale has compiled impressive passing statistics, Bagnoli expects the Elis to try to establish a solid running game early on.

"Yale, philosophically, wants to run the football, and one of the strengths of their team is the offensive line, especially the three interior kids," Bagnoli said. "So they feel pretty confident they can run the ball."

The Red and Blue have allowed a paltry 52 yards per game on the ground in their four games, but Yale's ability to interchange personnel might present a challenge to what has been a fantastic Penn defense to this point.

"They've gotten pretty good production out of three or four different running backs," Bagnoli said.

Freshman Robert Carr has led the way for the Elis, averaging 102 yards per game.

Yale quarterback Peter Lee, who has been bothered by an injury recently, is expected to play tomorrow.

And if the Quakers have their way, they will jump out to a sizeable early lead and force Lee to put the ball in the air far more frequently than he'd like.

Correction This article incorrectly stated that Penn's all-time record against Yale was 58-21-1. In fact, Yale leads the series 43-25-1, following the Quakers' win on Saturday.

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