With Penn's dramatic victory at Princeton and Harvard's annihilation of Columbia, the Ivy League football picture is crystal clear.
The winner of this Saturday's Harvard-Penn matchup will claim a share of the Ivy League title. The team that wins on Saturday will be able to claim the title outright the following Saturday, when Penn travels to Cornell and Harvard plays host to Yale in "The Game."
The Quakers and Crimson are no strangers to playing big games against one another. Last season, Penn clinched the Ivy title by winning at Harvard. In 2002, both teams entered a November showdown at Franklin Field undefeated in the Ancient Eight. The Red and Blue walked away with a historic 44-9 triumph.
But in 2001, it was the Crimson which walked away with the championship, winning the decisive game over Penn, 28-21. It was Penn's last Ivy League loss.
One player who realizes the significance of the history between the two teams is senior cornerback Duvol Thompson.
"I think we have a great chance," Thompson said when asked about Penn's chances for victory. "The past three years, since I've been here, it's come down to that game. We're gonna be excited to play. Harvard's a good team, they've shown it. It's gonna be exciting, and offensively and defensively we're gonna try and shut them down."
THE NAIL-BITER against Princeton might not have been so close if it had not been for some questionable officiating in the third quarter.
Penn had the momentum, up 7-6 on the first drive of the second half. Bagnoli had gone almost exclusively to his ground attack on the drive, and for the first time all day, running back Sam Mathews was moving the ball with consistency.
But on a first and 10 from the Tigers 42-yard line, quarterback Pat McDermott threw a pass that looked for all the world like an ordinary swing pass. The ball bounced off Mathews and fell to the turf for an apparent incompletion. But the officials called the play a lateral, and awarded the ball to Princeton after defensive tackle Peter Kelly fell on it.
To many in the stands the play clearly looked like a forward pass. Judging by the postgame comments of Penn coach Al Bagnoli, the play did not look much different from the sidelines.
"I happened to be right smack in line with the thing," Bagnoli said of the "fumble." "Maybe on film, but I thought I had a perfect look at it, and I didn't think it was close to being behind him."
WHAT GOES AROUND comes around. After a season of bad luck involving the kicking game, Penn finally got some good luck on Saturday.
With under three minutes to play and the Quakers down 15-13, Bagnoli sent freshman kicker Derek Zoch on the field to try a go-ahead 22-yard field-goal attempt.
Zoch missed the kick wide right, but before anyone could figure out what was going on, the officials blew the play dead. J.J. Stanton, the Penn nose guard who blocks on the field goal team, was called for a false start, meaning the play was dead before the snap.
Zoch got another chance, this time from 27 yards out. This time, the freshman booted it through the uprights, giving Penn a 16-15 lead it would never relinquish.
Bagnoli answered somewhat sarcastically when asked if he felt he was under pressure when he sent Zoch out onto the field.
"What pressure?" Bagnoli asked. "We've got a lot of confidence in Derek. I felt very confident that he was going to kick the ball well. Derek, was that first one good?"
Zoch's response was noncommittal. When Bagnoli was told that the kick was wide, the coach smiled.
"Was it really?" Bagnoli said. "Ha ha ha."
THROUGHOUT THIS season, Bagnoli and the Quakers have denied that they have been affected by the stress of trying to maintain their historic winning streak. But after the game, the coach gave the first signs that the pressure may be starting to affect his squad.
"It's always easier when there's nothing invested on the other guys' side," Bagnoli said. "When all the pressure's on you, you're carrying this winning streak, it's not an easy scenario for people. I consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to do it."
PENN WAS REWARDED in the polls for its come-from-behind victory over Princeton. The Quakers moved up from No. 19 to No. 17 in the ESPN/USA Today I-AA Top 25 Poll. Harvard remained at No. 15 after its 38-0 over Columbia. In Sports Network's I-AA poll, Penn moved up three spots from No. 20 to No. 17, while the Crimson moved up one spot to No. 15.
