(More on the Homecoming game) The standings won't mean much tomorrow.
It's Homecoming weekend. Penn plays host to archrival Princeton.
Enough said.
While the Quakers (7-0, 4-0 Ivy) are clearly superior on paper, the Tigers (2-5, 2-2) have been playing well as of late.
After opening the season with four consecutive losses to Lehigh, Lafayette, Columbia and Colgate, Princeton crushed Brown by 20 points and Cornell by 22, while losing, 43-40, in overtime to second-place Harvard.
"The last three weeks, [Princeton] has really gotten to be more cohesive," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "They've gotten into a much better rhythm, are much more confident and, coming into our game, they're hitting a stride and are a dangerous football team."
Penn is undefeated, but the Quakers seem to be far from impregnable. The Red and Blue narrowly defeated Brown last weekend, 24-21, after leading the Bears, 24-7, in the fourth quarter.
Two weeks ago, Penn allowed Yale to score 21 unanswered fourth quarter points, but emerged victorious in overtime.
The Quakers have had trouble keeping their leads over the last two weeks.
What is Penn doing wrong?
"I wish I knew," Bagnoli said. "Against Yale, it was their offensive power and execution in the second half -- onside kicks and plays down the stretch," he said. "With Brown, we kind of helped them with our turnovers as much as they executed."
The Quakers will "need to play 60 minutes, as opposed to 50 or 48" to defeat Princeton, Bagnoli said.
"We've been getting up early and... getting complacent a little bit," Penn sophomore running back Sam Mathews said. "It's taught us a good lesson, especially as an offense, that we need to try to keep scoring points."
The Tigers boast one of the top offenses in the Ivy League.
Princeton junior quarterback Matt Verbit ranks third in the Ancient Eight in total offense with 263 yards per game.
Verbit "was a very highly sought-after kid coming out of high school," Bagnoli said. "He's a nice combination of size and speed with good arm strength. As he goes, that offense goes."
The Tigers play "running back by committee," Bagnoli said, sharing the ball between freshmen Jon Veach and Branden Benson. Veach ranks sixth in the Ivy League with 60.9 yards per game while Benson ranks seventh with 59.9. Mathews ranks first in that category with 136.4 yards per game.
Princeton's receiving corps consists of junior B.J. Szymanski and freshman Blair Morrison. Szymanski ranks eighth in receiving yards per game (73.7), while Morrison ranks 10th (72.2).
Last week, Dartmouth helped Penn's bid at defending its Ivy League title by beating Harvard, 31-14.
But the Quakers seem to be focused solely on their own play.
"We've always been in control of our destiny, even before Dartmouth beat Harvard," Bagnoli said. "The only thing we can control is what we do.
"If we take care of business on our end, we don't need anybody else's help."
Mathews mirrored Bagnoli's sentiments.
"It didn't really matter that Harvard lost," he said. "We always wanted to go undefeated and to win an outright championship."
Mathews, who transferred from Navy, will be playing in his first Homecoming game in a Penn uniform.
"I don't know much about Homecoming," he said. "But I think it will be a good game and a great atmosphere for football."
For Bagnoli, it will be his 12th Homecoming game with the Quakers.
"Not only is it Homecoming and against your most traditional rival, it's also week eight, it's on TV and we're playing meaningful games down the stretch," he said. "From our perspective, there's no better place to be than Franklin Field, and hopefully we can hold up our end of the deal."
