No one ever thought that with four games remaining, Penn coach Al Bagnoli would have to wait until next year to secure his 100th win.
After an auspicious start to the Ivy League campaign, the Quakers got caught in a four-game losing skid against teams in the upper echelon of their conference, culminating with a 16-7 loss to Cornell Saturday at Franklin Field.
With the loss, the Quakers (5-5, 3-4 Ivy) finished the season with four losses in the Ivy League for the first time since 1996.
The Big Red (6-4, 4-3) took advantage of an anemic Quakers offense in the second half and wore down the Penn defense with its two-pronged running attack of quarterback Ryan Kuhn and running back Luke Siwula.
"It's another frustrating day for us," Bagnoli said. "We seem to be caught in this rut."
The Quakers struck first with just over four minutes left in the first quarter when senior Pat McDermott connected with junior Matt Carre for a 17-yard touchdown pass.
But that would be the last time the Quakers would get anywhere close to the end zone.
After taking a 7-0 lead into halftime, the Quakers were held scoreless in the second half on only 55 yards of total offense.
Meanwhile, Kuhn, who was fourth in the Ivy League in rushing heading into the contest, led the Big Red on two scoring drives en route to its first victory over Penn since 1999.
"We just couldn't get much going on offense and kept our defense out there for too many plays," Bagnoli said.
The Quakers began to unravel when senior quarterback Pat McDermott was intercepted by Cornell safety Joel Sussman at the Big Red 37-yard line.
While the ensuing drive only resulted in a field goal, it gave the Big Red momentum and kept the Penn defense on the field. The Quakers would register less than 10 minutes of possession time in the second half.
"We kicked the field goal, we go 7-3, and I came over and the whole offensive bench was dead," Cornell coach Jim Knowles said. "So I kinda ran around like a fanatic and [found] the offense and said 'Hey, we just scored three.'"
Kuhn gave the Big Red the lead at the end of the third quarter with an 11-yard strike to junior Anthony Jackson.
The senior quarterback finished the scoring with a 5-yard run, while passing 1,000 yards on the season. Siwula added 84 yards on 26 carries for the Big Red.
Meanwhile, McDermott and the Penn offense could not get anything going, recording only four first downs in the second half and crossing the 50-yard line only twice.
The Big Red held the Penn rushing attack to just 33 yards in the final game for senior running back Sam Mathews.
This allowed Cornell's secondary to blanket the Penn receivers, as the Quakers were held under 150 yards of total offense for the game -- their lowest output of the season.
"I think we did a good job blocking everyone at the line of scrimmage," Bagnoli said. "Their safeties did a really good job of coming down and being part of the front; the problem was we couldn't break any of the tackles."
The victory was a stark contrast to the Quakers' 59-7 whipping of the Big Red the last time the two teams met at Franklin Field.
Knowles, who took over the Cornell program last year, said he didn't even look at the tape from his team's 1-9 season in 2003.
"Just two years later, to come back and beat a really quality opponent ... it's really the Super Bowl for that senior class," Knowles said.
Despite the loss. the Penn seniors ended their collegiate careers with a 32-8 record, good for fourth-best all-time in school history.
"We've experienced the highs and obviously the lows," senior defensive back Doug Middleton said. "When it's all said and done, I'll be able to look back and say, 'I've had a pretty darn good career here.' It's a tough way to end, but it's part of life."
