VILLANOVA, Pa.
The Penn quarterbacks' effort - a combined 23 for 42, 248 yards, two touchdowns and seven interceptions - is a misleading stat line.
They played far worse.
Villanova's defense befuddled quarterback Robert Irvin (five interceptions, 27 attempts) and backup Bryan Walker (two picks, 15 attempts) all night, and despite a good overall effort, the Quakers fell hard. Outside of an ineffective running game, no other area of the team played particularly poorly.
I'm tempted to blame the opposing D-line, but the offensive line blocked well all game. Walker seems comfortable on the run; Irvin was able to do all of his damage from the pocket. So surely it was the speedy, athletic Villanova secondary.
Not really. The entire 2006 season - 11 games and 363 attempts - it intercepted four passes. The coaches couldn't argue with stats.
"It's kind of unheard of, seven turnovers," Villanova coach Andy Talley said. "I'd like to say that was all our defense, but I think the quarterback really struggled tonight. He ended up throwing some things almost right to us."
Like a basketball team which can't make outside shots, Irvin and Walker got burned by the zone defense.
The Penn quarterbacks showed an inability to read the secondary time after time. The majority of the picks came when a defender stepped into the line of the throw, and almost all of the picks occurred when someone was in the right area, invisible to the quarterback, but a step away from a big play.
Still, coach Al Bagnoli can't say his team was unprepared.
"We knew what it was, we were calling plays versus Cover 2, we had people open, but the ball was not going where it was supposed to go," Bagnoli said.
You have to wonder what was going through his head when his quarterbacks combined for seven interceptions. If I had to guess, I'd say it was 'What can I do now?'
When backup running back Kelms Amoo-Achampong couldn't get anywhere, he put in Michael DiMaggio. When Greg Ambrogi muffed yet another punt, Bagnoli pulled him the next kick.
But he can't replace his quarterbacks. He has nowhere else to go.
"I wish I had more answers ... I'm not trying to be a wise guy, I don't know what's causing it, I really don't. I think we may have to go back to square one and really simplify things." Bagnoli said.
Simplifying often sounds so simple. But if any Ivy defense makes the easy decision to drop back into a zone, it will still mean trouble.
"Maybe there are too many variables and maybe we're asking him to make a progression that, for the amount of snaps he's actually had, he's not ready to do," Bagnoli said. "In theory you're always right, but obviously we're not seeing those reads the way we're supposed to, so it's causing us a hell of a lot more problems than it's helping us."
This season could turn into a clone of the last one - Penn foiled by a weakness at one position. When the starting quarterback doesn't make it to the press conference, you know something is up.
It's tough to blame a loss on one area, but if there ever was a situation, this is it.
Josh Wheeling is a senior Economics major from Philadelphia, and is former Sports Editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian. His
e-mail address is jw4@sas.upenn.edu.
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