Before the Penn football team's season opener against Duquesne at Franklin Field, Quakers coach Al Bagnoli articulated what his game plan would be in a perfect world.
In the first half, the ratio of runs to passes would be balanced and Penn would build up a big lead by halftime. From there, the Quakers would primarily run the ball, killing the clock and wearing their opponent down.
That is exactly what transpired in Penn's 41-14 victory over the Dukes.
Given Bagnoli's statement and the final statistics, the game couldn't have gone any better, right?
Not exactly.
Though the offense was relatively balanced in the first half -- Penn ran the ball 19 times and passed it 12 times -- it was not as good as it looked on paper.
The Quakers put up 24 points but seemed to sputter other than a few big plays. Quarterback Pat McDermott threw two touchdown bombs in the first half, one for 43 yards and the other for 44 yards. But other than those plays, he was unimpressive.
After the game, McDermott was hard on himself. When asked to rate his performance, he said, "Not too good. Really inconsistent. Really poor decisions. Personally I have a lot of work to do."
McDermott seemed to settle down in the second half, and finished 10-for-20 with three passing touchdowns and another score on the ground. The difference, according to the senior quarterback, can be credited to the running backs.
"We started running the ball a little bit better, which made passing a little bit easier," he said.
Bagnoli agreed with this assessment, saying that the offensive line jumpstarted the running game.
"We started running the ball better," Bagnoli said. "We started wearing them down a little bit more."
The final numbers back this up, as the Quakers rushed 45 times for 197 yards. Not only did this output benefit McDermott and the receiving corps, the reverberations were also beneficial for the defense.
In the first half, Penn's defense was actually on the field longer than its offense. Duquesne led the time of possession 16:05 to 13:55 despite trailing by 17.
As Bagnoli noted, his defense seemed to tire, especially during a 13-play Duquesne touchdown drive where Penn defenders missed several tackles.
It is therefore imperative to keep the offense on the field, especially later in the season. This is because Brown and Harvard each rely heavily on its featured running back -- Nick Hartigan and Clifton Dawson, respectively.
The remedy for Penn might be to run the ball more. In the third quarter, Bagnoli employed this tactic, and the defense was only on the field for 4:15.
The offensive production did not seem to suffer playing this smashmouth style either, as the Quakers managed to put up 10 points in the quarter.
The drawback to this approach is that an opposing defense can become comfortable seeing the same look time and time again.
But Penn's advantage in this respect is that it has the depth and diversity of backs to stay unpredictable.
Sam Mathews, Joe Sandberg, Von Bryant and Kyle Ambrogi complement each other with varying degrees of speed and ruggedness. Against Duquesne, Bagnoli even called two reverses for wide receiver Nick Okoro.
All these looks should keep the opposing defense honest.
This isn't to say that the Quakers should abandon the passing game all together. McDermott will certainly improve as the season progresses and he did show flashes of brilliance Saturday.
The point is that despite a blowout there is room for improvement.
Splitting hairs over a 41-14 win seems almost comical, but that's what championship teams do.
The Quakers aspire to win the Ancient Eight title, so they will constantly tinker until that goal is realized.
After the game, Bagnoli admitted as much.
"I'm not sure you're ever as good as you think you are when you go back and see the film," he said.
Andrew Jamieson is a senior International Relations major from New York. His e-mail address is jamiesoa@sas.upenn.edu.
