PRINCETON, N.J.
When Matt Reinert's desperate dash to the end zone in the second overtime period on Saturday fell just a couple yards short, the game-ending whistle also marked the end of the Quakers' slim - but until then still existent - hopes of an Ivy League title.
The last three games have pretty much summed up the team's entire season so far.
The Quakers have been able to hang tough in each game this year, and the team found a great deal of early-season success. But when it came time for the games that really mattered, the result was always the same: just short.
No matter how many overtime periods it took to vanquish the Quakers, or how close a missed field goal was, each of the last three games have ended up in defeat. And a loss, no matter how close, is still a loss.
So, with Penn now eliminated from the Ivy title race, the most important thing that the Quakers can do is to make sure that this season ends differently.
Just like the figurative game-winning field goals or clutch touchdown passes that the Quakers have lacked this year, what this team needs is to win these last two games - not so much for this season, but for the future.
Ever since the beginning of last year's extended losing streak, Penn has looked nothing like the team that went 27-2 between 2001 and 2003, and I'm worried that if the 2006 Quakers don't get it together before the end of the season, they won't look like that for quite some time.
The 2007 team has some great potential. All of this year's key seniors have very impressive underclassmen waiting in the wings, and sophomore QB Robert Irvin's awareness will only continue to improve.
But if 2006 ends with five straight losses, especially of the heart-crushing variety of the last three, the tone for the following campaign will be set for yet another long, depressing season.
Even more importantly, though, are the long-term implications. If next season starts out the way this one looks now, the status of Penn's program as the league's model would no longer appear to be on temporary hold but would be long-gone.
On the other hand, a pair of surprising victories over league powerhouse Harvard and a resilient Cornell team - and both are certainly winnable games - would end the season on a high note, relegating the memory of three-straight overtime losses to the distant past. And with those demons exorcized from the team's collective consciousness, the stage could be set for a return to form in 2007.
So what the Quakers need to do is to look at the next two games as if the 2006 season ended on Saturday. Just as the Princeton game - complete with heartening victories, suspenseful scenarios and ultimate defeat - is now in the past, so too must be what has happened this season.
Next week must start a new season - one without botched snaps, stupid penalties and overtime loss after overtime loss. While the 2006 Ivy title may have escaped the Quakers' grasp, the future of the program may depend on it.
Matt Conrad is a senior physics major from Manalapan, N.J., and is Senior Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His e-mail address is mlconrad@sas.upenn.edu.
