To those who weren't in Hanover, N.H., on Saturday, it's hard to fathom how Penn managed to score only 13 points, much less lose to Dartmouth.
The Quakers had no turnovers, 406 yards of total offense, and on average, they started their drives from their own 44-yard line - tremendous field position, to say the least.
Dartmouth had 344 yards of total offense, but it turned the ball over three times, had a punt and a field-goal attempt blocked, and started on average from its own 18-yard line.
Penn dominated the field-position game, and it had far more opportunities to score than did Dartmouth.
But Penn's loss can ultimately be boiled down to its offense's inability to make that final push when it got close to Dartmouth's end zone.
On the first drive of the game, Penn had a 2nd-and-3 inside of Dartmouth's 30-yard line, in prime position to put pressure on Dartmouth early in the game. Joe Sandberg was stuffed on the next two plays, and on fourth down, Bryan Walker threw an incomplete pass to Braden Lepisto.
This series was very indicative of Penn's possessions throughout the game, all of which seemed to follow a pattern of getting deep into Dartmouth's territory but then failing to convert on third or fourth down.
Even when the Quakers came away with a 23-yard field goal in the red zone, they should have gotten into the end zone. With a 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line, Walker rolled out and threw a bad pass intended for fullback Nick Cisler. After a four-yard run from Sandberg on second down, Walker couldn't connect with Lepisto again.
"It ultimately falls on my shoulders to finish those drives off," Walker said.
Even so, the senior quarterback didn't get as much help in Dartmouth's territory as he would have liked.
With over 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, and Penn down 21-6, the Quakers had another good scoring opportunity. Lepisto ran a crossing pattern to break free of the Big Green's secondary but dropped an easy pass that Walker put right on his chest.
A few minutes later, with the same score as before, freshman running back Mike DiMaggio caught a screen pass and, with a good run after the catch, moved the ball up to Dartmouth's 21-yard line. On the next play, Walker's throw to Lepisto was on the money, but Penn's leading receiver slipped and couldn't hang on to the ball. A few plays later on fourth and short, Walker's pass bounced off of the hands of Kyle Derham for what would have been a first down.
Penn coach Al Bagnoli showed confidence in his offense by going for it, but what could have at least been a field goal ended up as nothing.
Both of those important fourth-quarter drives ended the same way - the Quakers failed to get a first down and came away empty-handed.
"I dropped three balls in the second half, which I can't do," Lepisto said. "I was open . just in the second half I dropped too many balls."
Ultimately, it was as though two different offenses showed up for the Quakers on Saturday - the regular offense and the red-zone offense. If Penn wants to win a game this season, it will have to ditch the latter.
