NEW YORK -- Considering that the Quakers have scored a total of 101 points in their past two games, one could logically attribute the team's newfound success to its recent offensive explosion. At Columbia, the day belonged to senior tailback Joe Sandberg, who put together arguably the best game of his career.
But as sharp as Sandberg and the offense looked against the sluggish Columbia defense, the outstanding performance of Penn's defense in the first half of the game should be the most encouraging sign for the Red and Blue going forward.
By winning the battle in the trenches and featuring a slew of different blitz packages, the Quakers' defense shut down Columbia's running game completely and created nightmares for senior quarterback Craig Hormann. Ultimately, Penn's incredible defensive effort made it easy for the offense to break out in the first half.
Junior linebacker Jay Colabella set the tone on the very first series of the game. On 3rd-and-4, he surged through the line on a blitz and knocked down Hormann, stripping him of the football. The Lions recovered the fumble for a 13-yard loss.
The play capped off a three-and-out, forcing Columbia to punt and give the Quakers great field position. Penn started the drive from their own 45-yard line and found the end zone seven plays later.
After the game, Columbia coach Norries Wilson expressed frustration over having to contend with Penn's blitzes.
"It was very difficult," he said. "I saw [senior nose guard Naheem] Harris make a lot of plays on us; it was tough sledding running the football."
In Penn's 28-point second quarter, the offense started its drives on average from Columbia's 47-yard line. In fact, the Quakers managed to score two of the four second-quarter touchdowns in less than two minutes, as both were set up by interceptions.
On the first interception, a blitzing Penn defender hit Hormann while he was releasing the ball, altering the trajectory of the pass. The Quakers took over at Columbia's 35 yard-line and needed only four plays to score.
Earlier in the quarter, after Columbia gained a bit of momentum with a third-down conversion, Harris broke through the middle and sacked Hormann for a seven-yard loss, from which the Lions could not recover. Penn scored on the ensuing possession.
Even after Hormann connected with sophomore wideout Austin Knowlin on a 90-yard bomb in the first quarter, Penn's defense refused to let one big play deflate its confidence - Columbia gained only 58 yards for the rest of the half.
While Hormann did throw for 417 yards, the statistic is somewhat inflated on account of the unlikely 90-yard strike. As Bagnoli discussed after the game, the Quakers did an excellent job of putting pressure on the quarterback.
"We wanted to blitz our linebackers a little bit more," Bagnoli said. "We were trying to make sure that we collapsed the pocket, and we were pretty successful in the first half."
In the process, the Lions couldn't buy a rushing yard - by halftime, Columbia had rushed 12 times for negative 17 yards. In the second half, the Lions simply gave up trying to run the ball. Therefore, Hormann wound up attempting 51 passes, largely explaining how he ended up with so many yards through the air.
"With the blitzes, we were able to stop the run pretty well too," Colabella said.
Certainly, Penn's secondary gave Columbia's receivers too much of a cushion in the second half. But with the Quakers leading 45-7, the defense played more conservatively so as not to risk giving up another deep ball.
In the post-game press conference, I asked Colabella if his defense was ready to take on Yale's Mike McLeod, who rushed for 276 yards on Saturday against Lehigh. Understandably, Bagnoli didn't want anyone thinking about McLeod quite yet; he simply preferred to enjoy the great win over Columbia and worry about Yale later.
Indeed, Bagnoli and his players deserved the moment to celebrate. Three weeks ago, the Quakers seemed destined for one of the most disappointing seasons in recent memory. Now, with increased stability on offense and greater tenacity on defense, Penn is right back in the middle of the race for an Ivy League crown.
And judging from the defense's ability to put pressure on one of the best quarterbacks in the league and tear apart Columbia's running game, the Quakers are about as ready as they possibly could be to take on McLeod and the Bulldogs next Saturday.
