On Nov. 10, 2001, Harvard beat Penn, 28-21, in Boston, as the Crimson came back from a 14-0 deficit to win the Ivy League championship. Penn's next game, at home against Cornell, started very poorly for the Quakers, as they fell behind 14-0.
The Red and Blue came back with 38 unanswered points and have not trailed in the second half of an Ivy League game since then, as they have equaled the Ancient Eight record of 17 straight wins first set by Penn from 1992-95.
A big reason behind the win streak has been the Penn defense, which has basically put games out of reach by the time they get to the fourth quarter.
In the first four games of the streak, the Quakers allowed 14, 14, 10 and 13 points through three quarters against Cornell, Dartmouth, Columbia and Yale, respectively. Since then, no Ivy League team has broken double digits in the first 45 minutes against the Red and Blue defense, with Penn posting two complete shutouts in the process.
In total, the Quakers have only given up 6.4 points per game going into the fourth quarter during the streak, and with a successful offense as well, the Quakers usually put opponents in a big hole by that point.
What is it then that makes the Penn defensive unit so successful?
"It's a combination of a lot of things," Penn head coach Al Bagnoli said.
The Quakers benefit from playing the same teams with the same systems year in and year out.
"If you played the same offense for multiple years, it gets a little bit easier to determine what you can or can't do," Bagnoli said. But, "everybody in this league has the same opportunity," he added.
Defense was also the comparison point for Bagnoli between his two record-breaking teams a decade apart.
Even though Bagnoli believes that "the eras are different," both teams "had the commonality of being very good defensive teams."
Another reason the defense has been so good this year has been the play of senior cornerback Duvol Thompson. Usually matched up against the opposition's best wide receiver, Thompson has shut down all challengers so far. He has nine tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery and a team-high three pass breakups.
Thompson was very humble in discussing his play this year.
"I just take it as a challenge every week to play whoever's in front of me," he said. "It doesn't matter [if it is] their team's top receiver or the last receiver on the team, I'm just going to try to play well and help the team out."
Thompson faces his biggest test next week against the high-powered Yale offense, which stunned the Quakers last season with a 28-point fourth quarter comeback, before eventually losing in overtime.
"They do have an explosive offense, and this year they are playing as well as they were last year," Thompson said. "It's going to come down to the defensive backs and just playing our game, and finishing the game off."
Also helping to stop Ivy League defenses has been defensive back Michael Johns. The junior tore his medial collateral ligament last season and thus slowly worked his way back into playing shape, recording only 10 tackles in nine games.
However, this year he has been a force on defense for the Quakers, making a team-best 29 tackles. Johns is also tied for the team lead with 19 solo tackles.
"It feels good to be back," he said.
Johns is only 5-foot-9, 165 pounds, so he needs to hit hard in order to inflict damage on some of the larger receivers and backs on which he bears down. His secret to making so many open-field tackles?
"Hit them low. I'm not a big, imposing guy, so I'm not going to take them out up top."
Switching to the other side of the ball, senior receiver Dan Castles moved into second place on the all-time Penn rankings for touchdown catches with his 25th career catch against the Lions last Saturday.
He is one score behind Penn's leader, Miles Macik, who amassed 26 touchdown grabs in only three seasons with the Red and Blue from 1993-95.
In the weekly soap opera that is the Penn kicking game, senior Evan Nolan's job is again in jeopardy after he missed a 28-yard field goal against Columbia.
Bagnoli has not yet named a starter for the trip to Yale, but said that sophomore Peter Stine, who kicks for the Penn sprint football team this season, is now in the mix as well.
