The Penn football team narrowly escaped in its last two games, winning each by three points.
In both contests, the end result was dramatically affected by special teams play -- both good and bad.
In the 34-31 overtime victory over Yale, Penn's (7-0, 4-0 Ivy) special teams made the difference in the extra stanza.
Sophomore defensive back Casey Edgar was able to leap above the Yale front line and block the field goal attempt by Yale's John Troost.
Edgar's block set the stage for Penn senior place-kicker Peter Veldman to step up and calmly end the game with his 23-yard field goal.
Despite the important play in overtime, the special teams were partially responsible for allowing the contest to last so long.
Down 14 points midway into the final stanza, Yale was able to recover an onside kick that allowed its comeback to continue. The Elis scored a touchdown on that possession before scoring again to force overtime.
Penn's kick recovery unit would be tested again later in the game. However, this time the Quakers recovered the onside kick, even though Yale had 12 men -- one more than is allowed -- on the field.
After the game, Penn coach Al Bagnoli praised Yale's onside kick specialist. Both of his attempts had been perfectly executed and film from previous games supported Bagnoli's claim that he is "one of the best [at onside kicks] in Division I-AA."
"The Yale onside kicker is unbelievable," Veldman said. "We saw their game before that and he had two perfect kicks in that game. He is really good."
This one fault could be easily overlooked, especially considering it did not cost Penn a victory.
However, if once is a mistake, twice may be a trend.
This past week, against Brown, the Quakers were once again plagued by losing an onside kick.
The Bears attempted a kick that failed to go the mandatory 10 yards, but Brown was able to recover because Penn junior wide receiver Dan Castles crossed the 10-yard plane and accidentally touched the ball.
"I think this week was just a weird bounce," said running back Jake Perskie, who was Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week three weeks ago. "It hit the inside of Dan's hand, he didn't bend down to pick it up or make any mistake like that. It was just an unfortunate bounce."
Edgar also indicated, from looking at the tape of the Brown game, it was clear that the ball actually hit a Brown player before coming into contact with Castles, which would have been a penalty had it been noticed.
Brown's recovery did not lead to any points, as Penn senior defensive back Pat McManus was able to stop the subsequent Brown drive with an interception on fourth down, harmlessly returning possession to the offense.
"It looks like we haven't ever practiced" onside kicks, Bagnoli said. "But we certainly do practice -- we must field 20 or more [onside kicks] a week. So you just hope that the players make good decisions when it comes to the games."
Edgar again proved a bright spot for the special teams as he blocked a punt that provided the Red and Blue offense with excellent field position.
"On punts there are a lot of different formations that we come out in," Edgar said. "They just blew an assignment, and I was able to come free."
So far the rest of the Quakers have been able to atone for the mistakes made by the kick recovery unit, but Penn will look to solve these minor problems before they turn into a continuing dilemma.
