Dan McQuade: Feeling right at home on Franklin Field

Call it the Miracle on 33rd Street, or maybe just a home-turf advantage.

Whatever you call it, the Penn football team has been pretty much unbeatable at Franklin Field.

It's been almost three years since the Quakers have lost a game at home, but it seems like ages.

Since the Quakers dropped a 20-12 decision to Cornell in 1999, Penn has won 11 straight contests at the grizzled stadium at the corner of 33rd and Spruce.

What has been even more impressive is the way they have won games in the past three seasons.

In 2000, there were shelackings of Lafayette, Darmouth and Columbia. And, of course, the come-from-behind miracles against Brown and Harvard.

In 2001, more of the same -- trouncings of Lafayette, Holy Cross, Yale, Princeton and Cornell.

Saturday night's stunner against Lehigh might have been the most impressive of the bunch, though.

Lehigh was in position to send the game into overtime and then complete their second straight comeback win after trailing, 24-7, in the fourth quarter.

The previous week against Princeton, Chad Schwenk hit Justin Barasso for a touchdown with 12 seconds left to give the Engineers a 31-24 win.

Against Penn, the Engineers trailed by the same 24-7 score entering the fourth quarter, but had cut it to 24-21 with just under two minutes to play.

Kicker Matt Douglas had a chance to tie Lehigh's game against Penn with 1:12 to play, but his field goal attempt was wide right, and the Quakers held on, 24-21.

It must have been a bit easier for the Engineers to come back from 17 down in front their home crowd at Goodman Stadium, rather than before the largely Penn-crowd under the lights at Franklin Field.

Seems like a no-brainer to explain. But Lehigh was -- and still is -- a very talented team. The Engineers had won 25-straight regular season contests and were ranked fourth in the nation.

There's something about playing at Franklin Field that seems to motivate the Quakers to victory.

"We don't lose at home," Penn safety Vince Alexander said. "When a team comes in here, to beat us they have to bring everything.

"It was a nice-sized crowd [on Saturday]. I was getting really loud, and this stadium really carries sound."

The fans on the South Side of Franklin Field Saturday night definitely did their part, and although Penn fans had a lot more legroom after the toast-throwing at the end of the third quarter, a good amount of the fans stayed to cheer the Quakers on as they held off the Engineers' fourth-quarter rally.

"It's a loud stadium, and that kind of messes up the calls going in and out," Alexander said.

Then there's the turf, a concrete-like carpet that seems to cause weird things to happen, like turning the Penn defense into a turnover-creating machine, forcing five against Lehigh. The Penn defense is scary enough on the road. But at home? The Quakers held a highly-touted offense to just 14 points, as Lehigh scored seven on a blocked punt.

Maybe it's a psychological advantage, maybe it's the turf or maybe it's just the comfort of playing where you practice a majority of the time. The Quakers have been a force the past few seasons at home, and this year that could carry them to an Ivy League title.

Last year, Penn faced its toughest opponents -- Brown and Harvard -- on the road. This season, however, the Quakers will take on both teams at home.

"Defending home turf is important," Alexander said. "It's hard enough to win on the road. We have to take all the games at home."

The Quakers have already topped the fourth-ranked team in the nation at Franklin Field.

Perhaps, this season, the best is yet to come -- at home, that is.

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