Heading into the season, the one concern that nobody had was for how the Quakers were going to get their ground game moving.
With four experienced running backs on the depth chart, Penn coach Al Bagnoli was trying to figure out how to distribute the ball between all the players. The Quakers' aerial offensive system was going to be replaced by a more methodical attack built around the run.
But now, four weeks into the season, the Penn rushing attack is far from the imposing force that it appeared to be in September.
The Quakers are still averaging 118.5 yards per game, but this is down from the 129.6 yards per game they averaged last season.
The only tailback who has recorded a 100-yard performance so far this season, junior Joe Sandberg, is nursing a bruised shoulder and has missed the last two games.
And junior Von Bryant, who transferred from Duke last season, left the team before the Quakers' Week 2 loss to Villanova.
But the main reason that the Quakers rushing game has been nothing more than average this season is the inconsistent play of starting running back Sam Mathews, who has been battling a shoulder injury since the Duquesne game.
Last year, Mathews finished fifth in the Ivy League in rushing. His average of four yards per carry earned him a second-team All-Ivy mention.
This year, Mathews is only averaging 50 yards a game, tied with Sandberg for eighth in the Ivy League. But Sandberg has only started one of Penn's four games, while Mathews has started three.
The Pittsburgh native acknowledged that if Penn were to establish a more dominant rushing game, it would have to start with him.
"Those guys are working their tail off up front," Mathews said after the Bucknell game. "I just have to make a couple more plays with the ball in my hand."
Against Duquesne, Mathews posted 64 yards on 13 carries. After sitting out the Villanova game, he tallied 55 yards on 15 carries in the win at Dartmouth.
But on a rain-soaked day against Bucknell on Saturday, Mathews wasn't even the leading rusher. With Sandberg still injured and the game decided, the Quakers put the ball in the hands of freshman Kelms Amoo-Achampong to give Mathews a breather. The rookie tallied 45 yards in his Quakers debut.
A look at last year's game film would showcase Mathews running for 716 yards on the season, which is down from a career-best 1,266 the year before.
Therefore, the Quakers might find their opponents putting more men in the box to stop the run.
At his current pace, he would only gain 378 yards this year.
But Mathews does not consider this claim a viable explanation for the reduction in rushing yards.
"It's not like we haven't faced [a tough run defense] before," Mathews said. "There's really not a lot new going on, we just have to make more plays ... and be more productive around the ball."
The Penn rushing offense is currently sixth in the Ivy League, two spots down from where it finished last year.
With the Quakers still second in the league in scoring offense, averaging 36 points per game, this means that the emphasis is being placed on quarterback Pat McDermott and the passing game.
And while the receiving corps has so far been up to the challenge, a stronger rushing game would only open up the Penn receivers even more and allow McDermott to attempt more play-action passes down the field.
"The rushing game definitely opens up the pass game, when you can wear down the defense with the run, it gives you more options," Bagnoli said.
As the Quakers enter the brunt of the Ivy League season, starting this Saturday against Columbia, they will need all the options they can get on offense.
Running into trouble - The Quakers are sixth in the Ivy League in rushing, down from fourth last season - Joe Sandberg is out with a shoulder injury, and Von Bryant left the team after the opener - Sam Mathews in on pace for just half his yardage from last year and one third of his total from his first season in 2003
