PRINCETON, N.J. - Somehow, the ending didn't seem all that strange.
Sure, there were two overtime periods that included two botched field goals, a blocked field goal and an impromptu running back-to-quarterback pitch, but Penn's fate recently seems to suggest that the Quakers couldn't have won on Saturday even with a perfect performance.
Penn's performance wasn't perfect, but, once again, it was almost enough. The Quakers dropped a 31-30 overtime heartbreaker at Princeton, their third extra-frame loss in a row, setting the NCAA Division I record for consecutive overtime games and eliminating themselves from the Ivy League title race.
And after the ending of this one, it's hard not to think that it just wasn't in the cards for Penn.
"If you guys don't believe in God," Princeton coach Roger Hughes said, "I'll send you the tape."
A higher power may have had a hand in this, but Penn was doomed by the same old problems that have plagued it all season.
Princeton quarterback Jeff Terrell torched the vulnerable Quakers secondary for 227 yards and three touchdowns - tying the career high set last year on Penn's homecoming - including two to wideout Brendan Circle, who tallied 96 yards.
And aside from a career-long 38-yard field goal by wideout-turned-kicker Braden Lepisto, Penn's kicking game held true to form; the Quakers had problems every step of the way, from the snap to the hold to the actual kick. Sprint football call-up Peter Stine missed a gimme from 23 yards out before leaving the game, and Penn's special teams unit made a mess of two overtime kicks.
The first, a field goal from 20 yards out in the first possession of the first overtime, was doomed by holder Matt Reinert's inability to get the ball down. The second was an extra point following a 25-yard touchdown strike to Matt Carre from quarterback Robert Irvin, and may have been the most heartbreaking play that Penn has seen in these three unfortunate weeks. A converted kick would have sent the game into a third overtime, but a low snap from Ted Rosenbaum led to a mad scramble by Reinert to the end zone.
And just like most things have gone recently, Penn was just a couple yards short, sealing its fate in the Ivy League.
However, Penn might not have even been in this position had an unorthodox play not bailed Princeton out of a failed fourth-down conversion. Penn put forth an admirable goal-line stand on the Tigers' second overtime possession, stuffing Terrell and running back Rob Toresco on three straight plays.
But the kicking unit stayed on the sidelines on fourth down, and Princeton once again went to Toresco. Stopped in his tracks before the goal line, Toresco had nowhere to go. Terrell, however, did. Toresco pitched it straight back to his quarterback, and Terrell scampered into the end zone untouched.
"Playing in the backyard pays off sometimes," Terrell said.
The only difference is, there aren't referees in your backyard.
"Sometimes we were fighting the other seven guys in stripes," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "I've never said that in 25 years as a head coach in public. I really thought our kids deserved better."
Toresco's goal-line pitch, Bagnoli said, never should have happened. He was convinced the Quakers had stopped the sophomore's forward motion, and he should have been called down.
"I didn't hear a whistle, and I don't think there was one," Toresco said.
But before this surreal ending played out, a couple of individuals kept their teams in the game.
Penn running back Joe Sandberg broke off big run after big run, gaining 173 yards on the ground to help keep the Quakers close before Irvin settled down.
Princeton's MVP was certainly a quarterback - but it may not have been Terrell. Backup signal-caller and multi-purpose player Bill Foran put himself in the thick of every play, whether it was breaking off two long rushes in the first half, recording tackles on special teams or downing punts inside the 5-yard line.
After all of this, Penn has to find some way to keep going for the next two weeks. Plain and simple, the Quakers are emotionally drained.
"Fighting for 60-minutes-plus, got nothing positive to come out of it - it's going to test your resolve, test your character, your confidence, everything else," Bagnoli said. "I don't know what else to tell them."
