Columbia quarterback Shane Kelly sat in the post-game press conference after Penn's 15-10 win over the Lions with a blank stare on his face.
His defense had just put up a huge performance, holding Penn to 204 yards and just 10 first downs. But Kelly thanked every big stop the defense made with an interception or some other miscue.
It was on the heels of this flailing Columbia offense - and its string of botched plays that Penn converted for scores - that the Quakers nabbed the win on Saturday.
Afterwards, Kelly essentially put the loss on his own shoulders.
"I just made too many mistakes on offense and it really cost us," Kelly said. "Everybody else played great today. Our defense played great, the other guys on offense played great, special teams played great. I definitely think that from my standpoint, most of [Penn's] points came from my turnovers."
Thirteen of the Quakers' 15 points, to be exact.
On the second play from scrimmage, Penn's Britton Ertman picked off a Kelly pass and returned it 40 yards, setting up a field goal. (It wasn't more because Lou Miller took down Quakers quarterback Robert Irvin for a loss of seven yards on third down.)
"One thing we noticed when we were scouting is that he loved to stare down receivers," Ertman said of Kelly. "We have a really solid group of DBs out there, and one thing we focused on very specifically is that everybody does his job and his job only. I think that was a huge factor for us in getting our hands on the ball."
In the second quarter, Kelly took a snap under center and, as he went to step backwards, slammed into one of his teammates - and lost the ball. Penn responded with another field goal.
And it would continue. At the game's end, Kelly had coughed up the ball five times - two fumbles and three interceptions.
Columbia coach Norries Wilson even pulled Kelly over for a talking-to before he got off the field after one of his turnovers.
Kelly's shakiness translated into a big day for Ertman. He pulled in another errant Kelly throw and would pick off just one fewer pass than Columbia's touted receiver Austin Knowlin caught all game.
But Kelly wasn't convinced it was the Quakers' adjustments that threw him off.
"They did exactly what they thought they would do," Kelly said. "Everybody else on our team had a heck of a game, and their points came off of my turnovers and that's why we lost the game."
