With only three games left to play in the season, the Penn football team can now confidently set its sights on an Ivy League title.
Although the Quakers were picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League according to a media poll at the beginning of the season, they are currently disproving any initial critics.
The Red and Blue's league record is blemish-free as the Quakers head into the last quarter of the fall season.
Penn has three games left on its schedule -- Princeton, Harvard and Cornell -- but any road to an Ivy title will not be an easy one.
The Quakers' final opponents of the season will be their toughest, no doubt.
Princeton, Penn's competition for the coming weekend, has only recorded one loss in the league this season, and it came to undefeated Harvard on Nov. 26. The Tigers are peaking in plenty of time to make a run at the title, with some good luck. In either case, they can easily damage the Quakers' attempt at yet another Ivy Championship.
Princeton's Joe Weiss, a junior defensive end, is the Ivy League's defensive player of the week after his heroics against Cornell last weekend. He recorded 11 tackles in the win and tipped a Cornell pass that turned into a Princeton interception that ensured the Tigers' victory.
Penn's offense, on the other hand, performed well last weekend against a helpless Brown squad, but might be challenged by the increase in intensity against the Tigers.
Penn fumbled seven times on Saturday afternoon, and although Brown was unable to convert those errors into points, the Quakers can be sure that Princeton will.
If Penn intends on making mistakes on par to last weekend against the Tigers, they will suffer severely.
And then there's the issue of the Harvard game the following weekend. If anything, Harvard makes Princeton look tame.
The Crimson are the only Ivy team, other than Penn, that has not lost in league play.
Harvard's players just seem to be getting better and better as the season goes on.
Last weekend, against Dartmouth, Harvard wide receiver Carl Morris showed why he is so dangerous.
The Ivy League offensive player of the week, Morris connected with quarterback Neil Rose for a record-breaking 21 passes. He broke another school record by accumulating 257 yards on the day.
Morris leads Division I-AA in reception yards, averaging 152 yards per game. He is also a candidate for the Payton Award, annually given to the top player in Division I-AA.
Although the Quakers were pleased last weekend with the way that the team has gelled and come together, their toughtest games are yet to come.
If the Red and Blue are to emerge in two weeks with no losses on their record, it will be imperative that they clean up their own game and focus on specifically fearsome opponents on the other side of the field.
