Football: By George, It's a Win!

Georgetown was winless in the Patriot League last year. It was 0-5 coming into this weekend, and had lost its last two games by a combined score of 100-7.

But a win is a win. Penn secured its first victory of the season with a 42-13 drubbing of the Hoyas that was never close.

The Quakers used an almost-perfect first quarter to make quick work of Georgetown. Penn scored on each of its first four possessions while holding the Hoyas to 13 total yards en route to a 28-0 first quarter lead.

After three painful losses - the first by one point, the second as a result of seven interceptions and the third from six failed fourth-down conversions - this victory is more than just a notch in the win column.

"It's definitely a weight off of your shoulders," quarterback Bryan Walker said. "It's something that we needed to experience again. It can get frustrating sometimes when we feel like we're moving the ball, we feel like things are going well, and yet the only thing that matters is whether you win or lose."

Walker, starting for the injured Robert Irvin, had a nice game for himself - 14 for 24 for 180 passing yards and two touchdowns - but running back Joe Sandberg carried the team on his back from the first possession.

On the nine-play opening drive, he rushed six times for 44 yards and the eventual four-yard touchdown. By halftime he had 13 carries for 117 yards and two scores.

But the Penn defense may have had the more impressive game.

The combination of option quarterback Robert Lane and pocket passer Matt Bassuener did little all afternoon, throwing for only 140 yards while gaining only 97 on the ground. Georgetown would always prefer to run over pass - it didn't drop back to throw the entire first quarter - but relying on the run soon became unfeasible.

"We were behind schedule, the thought process is to be able to run the ball, control the clock," Georgetown coach Kevin Kelly said. "We have a young defense and we didn't slow them down and didn't get any first downs, so that snowballs and you become one-dimensional."

Penn forced two fumbles, had 6.5 tackles for loss, allowed 2.4 yards per rush and only five yards per pass.

Unlike his counterpart, Quakers coach Al Bagnoli was happy with what he saw.

"Obviously it was a better performance than we've had in the first three games, and in the first half we played actually somewhat close to what I thought we'd be, which was good to see," he said. "We're making progress and we're heading in the right direction."

But he still refused to let himself get too excited about the result.

"You're never as good as you think you are, and you're never as bad as you think you are," Bagnoli said.

The latter has certainly been a comfort. It has been 10 years since the Quakers lost to Columbia, who they face next Saturday, but then again it's been 16 since they last started a season 0-3.

A win over Georgetown only has so much value, but win No. 1 was the biggest at this point for Penn.

"We still have a lot of work in front of us, we're still not close to being a finished product," Bagnoli said. "But obviously it's a good first win, it's a needed first win, and now we want to be able to take that next first step and continue to get better and put our best foot forward as we head to New York."

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