Penn football takes its unbeaten Ivy League record on the road for the first time this season to the Yale Bowl, a stadium that has been less than kind to the Quakers (4-1, 2-0 Ivy League) in recent years.
In its most recent visit to New Haven in 2000, Penn lost its only Ivy game of the season in its league championship year. The Quakers also lost there in 1999.
"We've been talking about that a lot," senior wide receiver Rob Milanese said. "It's something that the coaches have been reiterating, and we have it in our mind. I love playing there. Even though we lost, it's been a lot of fun. It's just one of my favorite stadiums."
While the house of horrors might be in the back of the Quakers' minds, Yale (3-2, 1-1) sophomore running back Robert Carr occupies a spot much nearer to the front.
In Yale's blowout win over Cornell, as well as its upset over then-ranked Holy Cross, Carr rushed for well over 200 yards.
Lehigh was more successful in slowing Yale's running back. The Engineers utterly dominated the Yale offense and Carr, holding him to 68 yards on 22 carries in their 14-7 win.
"Carr is definitely a kid we have to key on," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "If he runs for 200 yards, we're in trouble."
"We're going to bring some pressure," senior safety Vince Alexander said. "We'll try and establish ourselves and stop the run first; we'll see what they do after that."
What Yale did after having its run stopped last week was throw. A lot.
Sophomore quarterback Jeff Mroz put it in the air 47 times against the Lehigh defense, completing 23 passes for 233 yards.
However, he might have to be careful about doing that against Penn's opportunistic secondary. Alexander leads the way with four interceptions, while juniors Kevin Stefanski and Patrick McManus have two apiece.
"If the picks are there, if the plays are there to be made, our whole secondary and the linebackers will try to make plays," Alexander said. "When they throw the ball a lot of times it leaves a lot more room for error."
The Quakers' strong secondary has received a somewhat unexpected bonus from the offense recently -- in the form of senior starting tailback Stephen Faulk.
Faulk, a starter at cornerback a year ago, had significant time on both sides of the ball in last weekend's 44-10 win over Columbia. He ran 17 times for 75 yards and a touchdown.
"We'll play him as much as he can handle," Bagnoli said. "We've got to be conscious of not giving him so much to do that he's not a factor on either side."
The key to being able to play Faulk on both sides has been the emergence of sophomore running back Mike Recchiuti.
After winning Ivy League rookie of the week for his 56 yards against Villanova, Recchiuti had 14 carries for 47 yards against the Lions last week.
"It gives us a little flexibility to use Stephen on defense," Bagnoli said. "We think we have a talented kid in Mike Recchiuti. As he develops, matures and gains consistency, he can take a little bit of pressure off Stephen to be the sole running back."
For both teams it appears that the running game will be key, as the weather is shaping up to be a classic cold and rainy Northeastern autumn weekend.
Penn hopes its two-headed running game can outdo the sophomore sensation from New Haven in the matchup that figures to determine the final outcome.
