Penn coach Al Bagnoli had an appropriate parallel for his team's performance in its 27-20 loss to Villanova Saturday - junior defensive back Greg Ambrogi.
At first, all was well for Ambrogi, who is also the punt returner, but then things got worse and stayed that way.
The Havertown, Pa. native got the scoring started with a 60-yard punt return touchdown - Penn's first since 1998 - with 3:30 to go in the first quarter.
That runback came on the heels of Ambrogi's first return of the day, for 29 yards.
The other two times Ambrogi touched the ball, though, were not as good.
Midway through the third quarter, Ambrogi tried to catch a punt deep in his own territory. Ambrogi hesitated as to whether he should fair catch the punt or let it roll, hopefully into the end zone for a touchback.
Unfortunately for Ambrogi and the Quakers, he did neither, and the kick bounced off his pads at the 11-yard line and was recovered immediately by the Wildcats at the 12.
But Ambrogi did have a chance to atone for his miscue. On the ensuing third down for Villanova, Ambrogi picked off a Marvin Burroughs pass. The cornerback thought he had daylight, with only three lumbering offensive linemen between himself and another touchdown.
But one of those Wildcats linemen got a hand on the ball, and Ambrogi said his own sweaty arm caused the ball to squirt away. Again, the fumble was recovered by the Wildcats.
"It was pretty much an up-and-down day," Ambrogi said.
Bagnoli was somewhat more philosophical.
"It's kind of a microcosm of our day, either we made really good plays - 74-yard run, halfback pass, punt return for a touchdown - or we made some disastrous plays - gave up a 60-yard touchdown pass, interception, fumble, fumbled a punt. So it was one of those days," Bagnoli said.
Despite the fumbles, Ambrogi maintains that he has put his struggles in the past.
"Next time I go back there, I feel that I will be fine," he said.
Irvin OK
Sophomore quarterback Robert Irvin left the game against Villanova with what Bagnoli referred to as a twisted ankle. He was replaced by junior Bryan Walker, who went 5-for-16 for 60 yards in relief.
Irvin was practicing yesterday, and Bagnoli said that he should be back in the starting lineup come this Saturday against Dartmouth.
Not running wild
After a first half in which Penn called 14 running plays and 13 passing plays en route to 20 points, the Quakers called 28 passes and only seven runs in the second half.
Aside from a 74-yard touchdown by senior Joe Sandberg, the Quakers gained only 68 yards on 20 carries. With that output, Bagnoli did not trust his team to gain the necessary yards on the ground to establish the running game.
"We really had a lot of problems running the ball," Bagnoli said.
"They actually had seven guys in the box almost the whole time," he added, referring to the Wildcats stacking the line of scrimmage to stop the run.
Bagnoli also said that on each run, there was a specific breakdown on the line which allowed the Wildcats to get to the rusher.
Without a running game and a consistent passing game, it is not surprising that Penn only mustered 14 points on offense.
