Kicked Where It Hurts

What went wrong on Saturday?

What didn't go wrong?

A day punctuated by dismal offense on both sides ended with Lafayette hitting its stride at the worst possible time for Penn. Leopards freshman kicker Davis Rodriguez nailed a 27-yard field goal with five seconds to play, handing the Quakers an 8-7 loss in their season opener.

He was able to take the kick after the running game went wrong. With senior tailback Joe Sandberg out with an injury, Penn called on backup Kelms Amoo-Achampong was called on to improve Penn's field position late in the fourth quarter. But he was dropped for a loss on a third-and-14, putting the ball on the Penn one-yard line.

Coach Al Bagnoli elected to have punter Anthony Melillo run out of the end zone for a safety, cutting Penn's lead to 7-5.

But the Quakers' defense wasn't able to stop the Leopards from marching down within striking distance. Rodriguez sent the game-winning field goal sailing through the uprights for the Lafayette victory.

"We brought the defense together and said there's not a situation we'd rather be in than right here," senior linebacker Joe Anastasio said of Bagnoli's choice to go with the safety. "We felt confident that we could stop them."

For Rodriguez, who had missed three field-goal attempts in Lafayette's first two games this season, the Quakers' decision provided the freshman a perfect chance for redemption.

"When they made that decision to take the safety I walked down to our kicker and I told [him], 'That decision was made for one reason, because they don't think you can make the field goal,'" Lafayette coach Frank Tavani said. "And I said, 'We're going to change that.'"

Lafayette's kicking unit was redeemed, but Penn's remained uneasy. In a scene reminiscent of last year's troubles, Penn freshman Andrew Samson went 0-2 in field goals for the day. His first attempt clanked off the right upright from 28 yards after a bobbled snap.

"You would like a freshman in his very first kick to really have everything clean," Bagnoli said. "For all the time we spend on it, you would think we would be able to execute it a little bit cleaner, but we didn't."

Samson then successfully kicked an extra point before missing his second field goal attempt. The 43-yarder had the distance but went wide.

But Penn's greatest loss of the night came when Sandberg left the game in the second quarter with a strained left hamstring and did not return.

Bagnoli acknowledged that Sandberg had been having trouble with his hamstring leading up to the game, but said that the extent of the injury and Sandberg's status for next week's game at Villanova would not be clear until he was evaluated today.

"We have to step up and make plays when Joe comes out," said quarterback Robert Irvin, who was held to 12 completions on 26 attempts. "We had to step it up a little bit . do whatever we can to fill the void that he leaves, and it's a big void."

The debut of Penn's new offense wasn't quite what Bagnoli had envisioned, with the Lafayette defense holding the Quakers to just 103 total rushing yards and 121 in the air. The attempt to incorporate Irvin into the running game flopped - his rushing yardage total was a loss of four yards.

In a game littered with sloppy play and offensive miscues for both sides, defense ended up setting the tone.

Both teams struggled to finish off drives, with the Quakers converting just three of 13 on third down and coughing up five turnovers on the night.

Defensive back Chris Wynn had two impressive interceptions of his own, but the offense came up empty on the subsequent drives.

The Quakers will continue to try to put the puzzle together on offense and special teams. If this game is any measure, they've got a long way to go.

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