With Penn out of the running for the 2006 Ivy League football title, the team must now try to end the year on a positive note.
"It's the same motivation you would have in Week 1," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We never talk about titles."
Playing under any circumstances is "something that you've been trained to do," he added.
Now, with a matchup next week against Harvard, the other perennial league power, the Quakers should take plenty away from their wild overtime loss to the Tigers.
Low-pressure system
Just like in the Quakers' overtime loss to Brown the week before, Penn was unable to stop an opposing quarterback from taking apart its defense piece by piece.
This time, the culprit was Jeff Terrell, who entered the game leading the Ivies in total offense.
Coupled with a defense that was able to notch only one sack and forced no turnovers, the result was a 21-for-36 performance by Terrell, for 227 yards. In their previous seven games, the Quakers had piled up 19 sacks for a loss of 131 yards, nine interceptions and nine forced fumbles.
"They've been maddeningly inconsistent," Bagnoli said. "Either we've had great plays - negative plays and big pass breakups - or we've given up big plays."
Penn may not have given up too many big plays against Princeton, but without a turnover or an effective pass rush the Penn defense proved no match for Terrell's arms and legs.
Target practice
But the news wasn't all bad for Penn.
In addition to his 173 rushing yards on Saturday, senior running back Joe Sandberg caught two passes for 48. On the year he now averages 17.8 receiving yards per game.
Now, Penn's fullback is getting into the act as well.
Junior Nick Cisler caught three passes for a season-high 27 yards against Princeton, to go along with his first touchdown of the year. Following quarterback Robert Irvin's throw to Sandberg for 19-yards, Cisler ran through the line of scrimmage for a 1-yard score, proving that the 240-pounder plays fullback for a reason.
Cisler's 27 receiving yards included a key 15-yard grab on the scoring drive that brought Penn to within a touchdown of the Tigers.
Sandberg has not been without flaws this year - his second reception looked like a big play but ended up a fumble - but he has given Irvin another passing target out of the backfield.
One additional note about the receiving corps: Wide receiver Dan Coleman caught a pass for 12 yards against the Tigers, his first catch since Penn's season opener against Lafayette.
The junior broke out in that game, catching five passes for a team-high 85 yards in a 21-11 Penn win. But he sustained an injury and had not caught another before Saturday.
Carre-ing on
Matt Carre is quietly moving up among Penn's all-time greats.
The diminutive 5-9, 165-pound wideout raised his career total to 1,319 receiving yards with 114 more on Saturday, including two touchdowns. Carre now sits at sixth on Penn's all-time list and needs 130 more yards to overtake fifth-place Bob Bucola, who starred for the Quakers in the early 1970s.
