A quick glance at the final box score of Saturday's contest of Villanova would make it seem like the Penn football team played great in the first half, then went to sleep in the second.
But it didn't exactly happen that way. No 17-point lead disappears without a combination of things gone wrong.
The Quakers had ample opportunities to put even more points on the scoreboard in the first half, but in several instances failed to score.
And although everyone -- even Villanova coach Andy Talley -- agreed that the Quakers played almost flawlessly in the first half, they still could have done more to close out the game by building an even larger lead to prevent a Wildcats comeback.
"I knew going in that we would have to play for 60 minutes," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "I've been trying to preach all week that [Villanova] is gonna test you ... unfortunately down the stretch, we just didn't make enough plays on either side."
Bagnoli was referring to the Quakers' five offensive stalls in the second half, or their inability to control the Wildcats' passing game as Penn's lead got shorter and shorter.
But had the Quakers capitalized on several other opportunities in the first half, they could have produced an even bigger margin than their 10-point halftime lead.
In the first quarter, the Quakers had first-and-goal on the Villanova 8-yard line. But two short runs by quarterback Pat McDermott, followed by an incomplete pass, led to a Derek Zoch field goal instead of a touchdown.
A similar situation occurred in the second quarter, when Penn found itself in the Villanova red zone looking to add insurance to a 17-7 lead.
A pass to tight end Chris Mizell resulted in a loss of five yards. A McDermott run gained seven. Then a delay of game penalty brought up a third-and-13 situation.
What was the call? Another McDermott run.
"The strength was the athletes's in [Villanova's] secondary," Bagnoli explained as the reason for the call. "Sometimes it's safer to do something to catch them off guard a little bit, see if you can get a big play that way."
But this time the conservative play backfired, as McDermott failed to get the first down, and Zoch's second field goal attempt went wide left.
For the second time, the Quakers were given a prime opportunity but could not blow the game wide open.
"In a game like this, the smallest things get magnified," Bagnoli said. "A penalty, a missed field goal, a turnover, they just get magnified when it comes down to the wire like this."
Bagnoli couldn't have put it any better. But then again, he had a hand in the play calling.
Had the Quakers defense been able to hold off the surging Villanova attack, no one would be questioning their ability to close out games.
Instead, we were left wondering whether they could have done more to prevent the precarious situation that developed in the second half.
"It was a combination of a lot of things," Bagnoli said. "That's one of the things we have to learn ... we've got to play for 60 minutes and we've got to fight like hell for 60 minutes."
What makes matters worse is that the Wildcats were able to take advantage of the Quakers with virtually no running game. Their leading rusher, senior Moe Gibson, finished with mere 30 yards on eight attempts.
In the Ivy League, the Quakers are going to face teams with just as potent offenses and with better running games. Learning how to close out games will be even more pivotal against teams such as Harvard and Brown.
And what the Quakers need to learn from the loss on Saturday is that closing out a game means taking advantage of each scoring opportunity, even if they already have the lead.
Michael Gertner is a senior biological basis of behavior major from Bellmore, N.Y. His e-mail address is mgertner@sas.upenn.edu.
