It's no surprise that Penn offensive lineman Chris Clark -- known as "Crazy Clark" around the locker room -- was selected to play in this year's Division I-AA All-Star Classic in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"I always look to hit someone," Clark said.
While Clark and Penn's other offensive linemen are often absent in the box score, many of the Quakers' other offensive players rank highly in the Ancient Eight -- partly due to the blocking of the O-line.
Penn junior wideout Dan Castles leads the Ivy League in receiving yards per game with 96.1. Quakers sophomore running back Sam Mathews ranks second in rushing yards per game with 134.9. Senior quarterback Mike Mitchell is third in passing average with 261.1 yards per game.
Penn's dominant offensive line, featuring five seniors -- Ben Noll, Chris Kupchik, Matt Dukes, Michael Powers and Clark -- has no ranking.
But Mathews has attributed much of his success all season long to the offensive line. After Penn's 51-10 victory over Duquesne, during which the Navy transfer rushed for 89 yards and a touchdown, Mathews said of the offensive line: "They were making huge holes that anybody could run through."
Mitchell mirrored Mathews' sentiments.
"Clarky is kind of a quiet kid and, I mean, he's a big kid," Mitchell said of the 6'1", 285-pound lineman. "Some of the blocks that he throws on film are just unbelievable."
The offensive line is often credited together, as a whole, as Mathews articulated.
What makes Clark stand out?
"I guess just because I can knock people down," Clark said. "Sometimes it might not help the play that much, but I guess it helps me get noticed."
But oftentimes, Clark's crushing hits help the play.
"I've been in situations where I was supposed to roll out, might have pulled up short and Clarky had my back a few times," Mitchell said. "He just erased the guys."
Penn coach Al Bagnoli spoke highly of Clark, Penn's 2002 Chuck Bednarik Award winner, given to the Quakers' top offensive lineman.
"He's the only returning lineman that was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy League [selection] last year," Bagnoli said. "Because of that pedigree, because of his play this year, he has certainly enough in terms of the resum‚ that would make him stick out."
To add to his resum‚, Clark also received honorable mention for Preseason All-American by the Sports Network this season.
Clark will play in The Football Network's I-AA Classic on Dec. 30, 2003.
"It's a great opportunity to show the rest of I-AA that Ivy League football isn't just computer nerds trying to play football," he said. "There are some real athletes.
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In this week's Sports Network/College Sports Television I-AA poll, Penn moved up one spot to eighth place, marking the highest ranking the Quakers or any Ivy League team has ever garnered in this poll. Penn also moved up two spots in the USA Today/ESPN poll to ninth.
Bagnoli does not place considerable weight on the I-AA rankings.
"It's nice to be ranked so high, but it's really hard to qualify I-AA teams," he said. "When's the last time you saw Montana play? Georgia Southern?
"I don't take much stock in the rankings," he added. "It's not an exact science. I don't look at it as, 'We're the eighth best team -- we're screwed, we should be seven!'"
But Mitchell takes the rankings quite seriously.
"We definitely pay attention to the polls," he said. "It really reflects all of the hard work we've put in over the last two years. Only losing one game in two years, that's pretty tough to do.
"It shows a lot about the team we have this year."
The Quakers are one of just three undefeated squads in The Sports Network/CSTV Top 25.
Second-ranked Southern Illinois is 10-0. Colgate sits just above Penn with the No. 7 ranking at 8-0, having defeated the Ivy League's Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Dartmouth.
