Kickoff 2006

In their last meeting, the Penn football team defeated Lafayette soundly by a 30-point margin. That year, the Quakers went on to an undefeated Ivy League record to win the conference title.

But that was 2002, and quite a few things have changed since then.

Last year, the No. 22 Leopards were co-champions of the Patriot League, but lost in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs to Appalachian State.

The contest against the Red and Blue tomorrow will be Lafayette's first at the newly renovated Fisher Field, which just underwent a $23 million improvement in the off-season.

Although the game will be Penn's season opener, the Leopards (2-0) have already played twice - with decisive wins over Bucknell and Sacred Heart.

In their last game, the Leopards shut out the Bison 31-0 at Lewisburg, Pa., and many key players had stand-out performances.

Lafayette senior quarterback Brad Maurer had a career-high 325 total yards, while the Leopards' defense limited Bucknell to just 218 yards.

Maurer has seen a successful start to his senior campaign, and he is only a few rushing yards away from 1,000 for his career.

"It's not the first time we've faced a good quarterback, a good passer," senior safety Scotty Williams said. "Not to take anything away from Lafayette and what they've got going, but we feel pretty good about some of the things that we're putting together here as well."

But the explosive offense isn't all the Quakers have to prepare for. The Leopards' nationally ranked defense has only allowed seven points per game this season and is led by senior safety Bryan Kazimierowski, who had eight tackles, broke up three passes and recovered a fumble for 61 yards in the win over Bucknell.

"We've been getting ready by running against their looks for a whole week," sophomore quarterback Robert Irvin said. "So we have a good idea about what we are going to see and what to expect."

Because the game will be Penn's season opener and head coach Al Bagnoli is waiting until kickoff to announce his starting quarterback, Lafayette's planning has not been easy.

"We're focusing on game tape from last year, but we know that they always come up with a few wrinkles, so it's basically blind preparation," Lafayette head coach Frank Tavani said. "We're guessing a little and doing the best we can, and then we'll obviously make adjustments to their adjustments" tomorrow.

The Red and Blue started out the year with a successful preseason scrimmage against Widener. The outing helped expose some of the Quakers' weaknesses that the team still needs to work on.

And with the disappointment of last year to overcome, the Quakers certainly have their work cut out for them as they face the nationally ranked Leopards tomorrow.

"We've just been working on getting the game plan started," senior wide receiver Matt Carre said. "Also, getting all the timing down, both in the running game and in the passing game, so it's going pretty well and I'm looking forward to" tomorrow.

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