Many Penn students this week will have the pleasure of receiving their midterm exam grades.
So since it's that time of year, here are the midterm grades I would give the Penn football team with three tough Ivy League games remaining on its schedule.
Quarterback: B+
Pat McDermott has played well when Penn has needed him so far this season.
He has engineered late game-saving drives against Bucknell and Brown, keeping the team's Ivy title hopes alive.
He has the most passing yards in the Ancient Eight and he is ranked third in the league in passing efficiency. McDermott is also ranked 16th in the nation in total offense, accounting for 261.3 yards per game.
For a first-year starter, these are great numbers, but the Yonkers, N.Y., native has not been consistent in big games.
He threw three interceptions last weekend against Brown and had just 37 yards passing in the first three quarters against Villanova.
Running back: B
It all started so well for Sam Mathews, who ran for 102 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries against San Diego.
Since then, Mathews has rushed for triple digits just two times. Three times this season, he has been held under 50 yards, as defenses have focused their attention on stopping the run.
The Pittsburgh native is fifth in the Ivy League in rushing yards per game, averaging 82.9.
Mathews, however, has been simply unstoppable in some games. Without his 169 yards and two touchdowns, Penn would have never beaten Yale.
Wide receiver: A-
Dan Castles has lived up to the high expectations set for him at the beginning of the year. He has perhaps even exceeded them.
He leads the Ivy League and is fifth in the nation with 7.3 receptions per game. He is also ninth in the nation and tops in the Ancient Eight with 99.9 yards per game.
Castles also has seven touchdown catches on the season, even more impressive when you consider the fact that Penn has only thrown for 11 touchdowns this year.
Ivy League defensive backs are simply unable to guard him.
The one thing you'd like to see from the Penn receivers is better depth.
Penn and Princeton are the only two Ivy League schools without two receivers who average over two catches per game.
Offensive line: B
Considering the fact that all of these guys had little-to-no playing time heading into the season, they've done a nice job.
Penn is second in the Ivy League in both total offense and scoring offense, and these guys are a big part of that.
But the line still has a long way to go to be on par with last year's offensive line, which may have been the best to ever play at Franklin Field.
This year, McDermott has been sacked 14 times; that's already more than the 12 sacks that the Quakers allowed all last season. The line is also on pace to allow more sacks than the 2002 squad, which allowed 16.
Run defense: A-
If it weren't for the last two weeks, the team would have received an "A" in this category.
Entering the Yale game, the Quakers were allowing under 100 yards rushing per game.
But they then gave up 144 yards to Elis running back Robert Carr in the first half. This past Saturday, Brown running back Nick Hartigan torched the Quakers for 176 yards.
Despite their recent struggles, the rush defense is still ranked 14th in the nation and is still significantly better than any other Ivy squad.
Pass defense: B
This has not been Penn's strongest component this season, as it has allowed 200 yards per game in the air, but these numbers are partially inflated due to Penn's extremely tough rush defense.
The Quakers are ranked fifth in the league in pass defense and third in passing efficiency defense. They also have tallied six interceptions and 16 sacks, both in the middle of the pack in the Ivy League.
But the defense has shut down all the elite passers it has played against this season, including preseason Walter Payton Award candidate Alvin Cowan of Yale.
Punting: A-
Josh Appell has established himself as one of the best punters in the nation this season, as he is currently ranked 10th in the nation with a net punting average of 37.6 yards per kick.
He's the reason why NFL scouts have been making their way into the Franklin Field press box this season.
But Appell has struggled in several games, especially against Bucknell and Yale, which cost him the solid "A".
Kicking: D
The Quakers have made just five of 15 field-goal attempts this year.
Enough said.
The only reason they avoided the dreaded "F" was Evan Nolan's clutch kicking performance at the end of the Bucknell game.
David Burrick is a junior urban studies and philosophy, politics and economics major from Short Hills, N.J. His e-mail address is dburrick@sas.upenn.edu
