Ivy League football players rarely garner serious attention from NFL teams, as a ban on athletic scholarships and Division I-AA status prevent Ivy schools from landing big-name talent out of high school.
But when the Penn football team squares off against Harvard on Saturday, it will face a quarterback who has such a balanced game that "it's like you are playing Michael Vick," Penn head coach Al Bagnoli said.
Senior Ryan Fitzpatrick has led the Crimson to the highest-scoring offense in the Ivy League this season and will pose quite the challenge for the Quakers' defense when he steps onto Franklin Field with the Ivy League championship at stake.
Professional football scouts have been following Fitzpatrick all year, and Bagnoli jokes that he looks forward to seeing him in his new job.
"Nobody is sorry to see the kid graduate," Bagnoli said. "We are making sure he picks up his diploma."
But until then, the Gilbert, Ariz., native leads the best Harvard squad Penn has faced since 2001, the last time the Quakers lost an Ivy League game.
The writing was on the wall even when Fitzpatrick was just a freshman -- in the one game he started, he went 20-for-31 for 262 yards and one touchdown.
He has been haunting Ivy League defenses ever since.
Fortunately for opponents, Fitzpatrick was slowed down his sophomore and junior years, due to hand, ankle and knee injuries.
He only started 10 times in those two seasons, but when he did get in the game, he moved the chains easily, putting up big numbers in the process.
The fact that Fitzpatrick only started six games his junior year makes his numbers all the more staggering. He finished the season with 1,770 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and a 164.3 QB rating, numbers that he has yet to match after starting eight games so far this season. He would have ranked fourth in the country in offense if he had started enough games to qualify.
Fitzpatrick is such a serious threat that his current QB rating of 130.0 is seen as subpar.
His arsenal is not limited to air attacks -- Fitzpatrick is the most mobile quarterback in the league, running for 337 yards and four scores this season.
"You think you have everything, and the next thing you know, he runs outside and up the field, and they have a big play," Bagnoli said. "He causes you stress, and that's why they score a lot of points."
The Red and Blue did a decent job in containing Fitzpatrick when they faced Harvard last season. In the 32-24 Penn victory, Fitzpatrick finished with below-average numbers of 250 passing yards, 59 rushing yards and turned the ball over twice.
"We did a nice job disguising blitzes and staying disciplined with people trying to spy on him," Bagnoli said. "You can't recklessly run at him because he will make you pay for it."
But given Penn's anemic offense and their susceptibility to the run, Fitzpatrick's numbers against the Quakers last season will translate into more points this season.
"Keeping him contained is a big focus. We have to make sure he doesn't break outside the pocket," senior defensive end Bobby Fallon said. "We have to stay on our toes."
In tailback Clifton Dawson and receivers Corey Mazza and Brian Edwards, Fitzpatrick has an equally talented supporting cast that keeps defenses honest and ensures that he will always have a big-play opportunity.
"If you have an average quarterback back there, you can account for Dawson. But once you put the eighth guy in the box, [Fitzpatrick] gets crazy," Bagnoli said. "The quarterback is what makes that team go."
"It's not like we can go in thinking that we can stop just one and win," tri-captain and defensive back Kevin Stefanski said. "We have to shut down their entire offense to give our team a chance to win."
The Quakers can look to their victory over Bucknell this year for inspiration -- Penn held speedy quarterback Daris Wilson to 27 rushing yards after averaging 90 before that game.
But since then, Penn has looked a lot more vulnerable on both sides of the ball, and it goes into Saturday faced with the toughest defense of its Ivy crown in quite some time.
"Fitzpatrick isn't the type of guy you ultimately stop: You try to limit the big plays that he makes," Stefanski said. "If we limit him to three or four, we give ourselves a chance. But if he starts running wild, he is going to cause some trouble."
