After tying the game -twice for Penn in Saturday's 32-25 double-overtime victory against Bucknell, senior Evan Nolan is the Quakers' starting kicker once again.
Though Penn football coach Al Bagnoli previously said that Nolan will alternate with backup kicker and defensive back Bryan Arguello, the coach confirmed that Nolan is "back in the saddle."
"Evan deserves a second chance after being put in that scenario. ... It was a very difficult spot," Bagnoli said. "I hope that was a great confidence booster for him."
Nolan kicked a 42-yard field goal and two extra points after Arguello did most of the kicking for the first three quarters at Bucknell.
Arguello missed two of three field-goal attempts and his only extra point kick.
"Bryan was hurt. I should have pulled him earlier," Bagnoli said. "That was not a good move on my part."
Junior quarterback Pat McDermott had the game of his career last Saturday, completing 32-of-55 passes for 384 yards and a touchdown.
McDermott's 55 attempts were 20 more than his previous game-high against Dartmouth, and a shockingly high number for a quarterback that has multiple viable running backs at his disposal.
The Red and Blue shifted their focus to the passing game after studying the Bucknell defense, which stacks lots of players up close to the line of scrimmage.
"They had nine guys in the box, so to try to run the ball 40 or 50 times would not be to our advantage," Bagnoli said.
In just his fifth career start, McDermott shouldered the burden, showing signs of maturity as the game went down to the wire.
"We put pressure on Pat to do this and he was efficient," Bagnoli said. "It was a positive step for us."
Late-game offensive heroics may have overshadowed the Quakers' defensive efforts.
The Penn corps allowed 137 Bison rushing yards, a number that would be well above average for most offensive units.
However, given Bucknell's wishbone offensive scheme, the Bison run the ball significantly more than most squads.
Arguello said last week that the Bison typically run the ball "90-95 percent of the time."
This season, Bucknell amassed 233 rushing yards against Georgetown, 292 against Cornell and a whopping 408 against Columbia.
These numbers demonstrate how effective the Quakers were at stopping Bucknell.
In fact, the Bison passed for more yards than they ran against Penn, which is very atypical for their offense.
Bagnoli said the key to Penn's defensive success was "not letting the [Bucknell] quarterback get too comfortable."
Bucknell quarterback Daris Wilson, who was averaging 90 rushing yards per game going into last weekend, notched just 27 yards on the ground against the Red and Blue.
"He had the ball in his hands 31 times," Bagnoli said. "Thirty-one touches for 27 yards is a pretty good day at the office for us."
Penn's 16-13 loss to Villanova earlier this season marked the end of the Quakers' 17-game winning streak and 19-game winning streak at Franklin Field.
However, two notable streaks are still active for the Red and Blue.
Last weekend's victory at Bucknell gave Penn a 10-game road winning streak.
Bagnoli said the steps to winning on the road start off the field.
"We really try to treat it like a business trip and keep things consistent in terms of schedules, meals and practices," he said. "We keep everything almost identical to what we would do at home."
Looking ahead, this weekend's game against Columbia will give Penn a chance to win its 17th consecutive Ivy League matchup. If the Quakers are successful, the streak would tie the all-time Ivy mark set by the Red and Blue from 1992-95.
