A very difficult Week 2 game against Villanova just got easier for the Penn football team.
Marvin Burroughs, the Wildcats' standout quarterback, broke his left humerus in Saturday's game against Division I-A Rutgers.
Burroughs, a junior, completed 16 of his 22 passes against the Scarlet Knights, but on the Wildcats' first drive of the second half he was knocked out after a seven-yard run.
He was replaced by sophomore Frank Jankowski, who will start against Northeastern next week and then likely against Penn the following week. Jankowski, in his first college game, threw for 209 yards, but Villanova was held scoreless in the second half of Rutgers' 38-6 rout.
Last season, in Villanova's 16-13 victory over the Quakers at Franklin Field, Burroughs threw for 166 yards and an interception. But the next week, he really showed his ability with a 382-yard performance against New Hampshire.
The Wildcats will visit Franklin Field on Sept. 24 in what will be a Villanova home game.
Other opponents split
Villanova was not the only one of Penn's non-league opponents to see action last week while the Ancient Eight was still idle.
Duquesne, which will be the Quakers' first opponent this Saturday, improved to 2-0 with a 30-13 victory over Fordham, who will face Columbia this weekend.
Duquesne also showed the Quakers more proof of their potent passing attack.
Freshman quarterback Scott Knapp continued the hot start to his career with the Dukes, connecting on touchdown passes of 66 and 65 yards as Duquesne rolled. The previous week against Robert Morris, Knapp threw for 365 yards in his first collegiate start.
Bucknell was the other of Penn's three non-league opponents to fall over the weekend.
The Bison lost to Stony Brook, 21-18 on a field goal with four seconds left to fall to 0-2 on the season.
See it live
Last month, the Penn athletic department announced a plan to increase the attendance at football games by offering free tickets to Penn faculty and staff members as well as their guests.
Its latest effort required no announcement.
High above Murphy Field and visible from Interstate 76 West is a billboard advertising Penn football that reads "See it live in 2005."
"We're trying to put a greater emphasis on football and football marketing this year," said Dan Flynn, director of marketing for the athletic department.
Last season, Penn averaged 13,170 fans per game for its five home dates, which included a high of 16,572 for the Villanova game and a low of 8,419 the following week for the Ivy League opener, a 35-0 shellacking of Dartmouth.
Ex-Tulane QB to start
Harvard's Richard Irvin, a transfer from Tulane, will start at quarterback this year, according to The Harvard Crimson.
Irvin threw for 282 yards and five touchdowns in the Green Wave's win over Texas Christian last season in his first collegiate start.
The Santa Monica, Calif., native played in nine games for the Green Wave, throwing for 694 yards, seven touchdowns and four interceptions.
This year, he will have to replace Ryan Fitzpatrick, who was drafted in the seventh round by the St. Louis Rams.
However, he joins a team that is not without talent.
The Crimson went 10-0 last season and return junior running back Clifton Dawson, who rushed for 1,329 yards last season, including 160 against the Quakers as Harvard clinched the Ivy League title at Franklin Field.
Since Irvin transferred from Division I-A to I-AA, he does not have to sit out a year.
