NEW YORK -- If you've followed any of the DP's coverage of the Penn football team, you may have noticed that this publication is bullish on the Quakers' chances to repeat as Ivy League champions -- for good reason.
Coming into the season, Penn returned 18 of 22 starters -- nine on each side of the ball -- as well as the returning Ivy League Player of the Year and the League's 1999 leading rusher.
The Quakers' 35-7 drubbing of Columbia on Saturday and their sparkling 4-0 mark a month into the season only further the point.
But the 2001 Quakers are missing what may or may not turn out to be a key piece in the championship puzzle -- a reliable kicking game.
"Right now, it's causing us some anxiety," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "If you look at the extra points, they haven't missed one yet. The ball is getting banged about 30 yards [on extra points], but we can't get [the kickers] to take that swing when they're not hitting extra points."
It's true, Penn kickers have converted all their extra points, but they're only 3-for-8 on field goal attempts. One of those field goals was an 18-yard chip shot -- shorter than an extra-point attempt -- so the Quakers are 2-for-7 on field goal attempts longer than 20 yards.
If you were watching last year, you know that the kicking game played a large role in Penn's march to the Ivy crown. Jason Feinberg hit 15 field goals on 21 attempts and converted 38-of-40 point-after-trys before graduating as the Ivy League's all-time leading point-scorer.
This year, the kicking duties have been split among junior Roman Galas, sophomore Peter Veldman and freshman Bryan Arguello.
Galas seems to have the strongest leg of the three, having handled the kickoff duties this year and last, but he's only attempted one field goal all year, the 18-yarder. Arguello has converted one of his four field goal attempts, a 25-yarder, while Veldman is one-for-two, having connected from 29 yards out -- this season's longest.
The Quakers have to hope that not having a set kicker doesn't come back to haunt them, but they also have to know that it might.
It almost already did. In the second game of the season, Penn's Ivy opener at Dartmouth, the Quakers led, 21-14, but the Big Green were driving late. Dartmouth's Michael Gratch scored what would have been the game-tying touchdown, but it wasn't because Kyle Chaffin blocked the final extra point.
Ideally, the contest wouldn't have come down to that fluke play, but the Quakers failed to convert on either of their field goal attempts -- from 28 and 36 yards.
The kicking question seems a long way from settled, as Arguello and Veldman were "platooned" on Saturday -- they alternated on extra points, and missed 41- and 42-yard field goals, respectively.
The Quakers were in three games last year that were decided by three points or less, all of which were during the Ivy League stretch run. Penn lost a 27-24 decision at Yale, but beat Brown, 41-38, and Harvard, 36-35.
The game against the Crimson was especially thrilling -- it was Homecoming, and Harvard could have captured a share of the Ivy League championship.
The game's deciding factor? With 10 seconds remaining, Crimson freshman Robbie Wright missed a 33-yard field goal.
