With an outright Ivy League title already secured, the Penn football team is looking to cap off a perfect season and send its seniors out with an impressive four-year record when they face off against Cornell tomorrow afternoon.
If Penn (9-0, 6-0 Ivy) can earn a win, the seniors will be the first four-year class to go undefeated at Franklin Field and also set the mark for best winning percentage (92.9) over four years in Penn history.
The new records would complement the three outright Ivy League championships that the seniors have already claimed.
"We just want to go out the way we've been going all season and finish 10-0," senior offensive lineman Matt Dukes said. "We've had a winning success here, a winning tradition and we want to keep that going and put a stamp on the season as one of the best seasons in Ivy League history."
"You want to go out on the right note," senior co-captain and linebacker Steve Lhotak said. "And to lose would really be an awful shame."
Cornell (1-8, 0-6) stands in the Quakers' way to the record books as a squad that has lost eight straight games after opening its campaign with a 21-19 win over Bucknell.
Regardless of Cornell's record, Penn coach Al Bagnoli is making sure his team does not take the Big Red lightly.
"We're going to have to be at our best to try to win," Bagnoli said. "When you get this close to the record books, I think you owe it to your kids to try to prepare them to get that final 'W.'"
Bagnoli indicated that Cornell's record is deceiving as they actually have more first downs on the season than their opponents.
The Big Red offense features senior quarterback D.J. Busch, who threw for 312 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions in a 34-21 loss against Columbia last weekend.
The Cornell quarterback transferred from Colorado State after his sophomore year, in which he started three games for the Rams.
"If given time and he can set his feet, he's got a terrific arm," Bagnoli said. "He's a big, tall, strong lefty and he can really throw the ball."
Lhotak dismissed the notion that the Quakers might be complacent going into the Cornell game after winning the Ivy title.
"I don't think that's the team we've been," he said. "We haven't been able to look past anything and with it being the last game and all, there's nothing to look past now because this is it."
Sophomore running back Sam Mathews should be ready to start the game tomorrow after suffering a deep thigh bruise against Harvard. The injury sidelined Mathews from practices earlier in the week.
Bagnoli is hoping that Penn can put together a complete game and finish off a perfect season.
"We're going to have to be sound, not turn the ball over and execute in the kicking game," he said. "Everything in the formula stays the same every week, hopefully we've got one more game in us because it would be quite a tribute to our seniors."
