When the Dartmouth offensive line and quarterback tandem went to sleep on Saturday night, there's a good chance they saw No. 50 in their dreams.
And No. 68.
And the thought of Nos. 32, 81, 49 and 44 probably didn't help anyone sleep either.
The way the Penn defensive line and linebackers played Saturday, it was enough to give anybody nightmares.
Linebackers Kory Gedin and Ric San Doval and defensive ends Jim Malizia and Sam McGarity combined for eight sacks, led by Malizia's three.
But the damage was not only done against the the Dartmouth passing game.
The front seven held the Big Green to 16 rushing yards, although that number was severely reduced by the 55 yards lost to sacks.
Gedin, who was named Ivy League defensive player of the week yesterday, led the way from his inside linebacker position, recording nine tackles including four of Penn's 14 tackles for a loss.
"I love having Kory behind me," said junior lineman Brian Fairbanks, who himself was a menace to the Dartmouth offense with six tackles. "He makes plays when he's there, and it's great to know that your linebackers behind you are going to make the play."
Next to Gedin was San Doval, whose six tackles were augmented by a critical fumble recovery deep in Dartmouth territory that set up Billy May's touchdown reception.
"We thought the ILB position was going to be the strength of the front seven," coach Al Bagnoli said. "When you have a kid like Kory, a kid like San Doval and a kid like Andrew Allen inside ... they're all capable of making plays. We needed their work today."
The Quakers' tackling prowess and pressure on the quarterback marked significant turnarounds in two ways.
The previous week against Villanova, the front seven got little pressure on Wildcats quarterback Frank Jankowski, allowing Jankowski to lead a comeback from 17 points down.
But there was also an improvement within Saturday's win in Hanover, N.H.
Early in the first quarter, the Big Green embarked on an 11-play, 54-yard drive that featured seven plays of four yards or more.
It took the rest of the first half -- some five possessions -- to get seven more plays of that length.
"We came out a little bit flat, a little bit lethargic," Bagnoli said. "We tried to jump start the defense, tried to pressure them a little more."
After the slow start defensively, Penn tweaked its strategy, alternating between its typical 3-4 and the 4-3 defense, which worked with great success in confusing the Big Green offensive line.
"They sent some blitzes that were difficult to pick up, that we hadn't seen," Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens said.
And with the game against Bucknell next week followed by only league games the rest of the way, the defense appears to be clicking at just the right time.
