Too many turnovers on offense, poor kickoff coverage and blown coverage in the secondary amounted to what Penn coach Al Bagnoli labeled "a total team loss" on Saturday, which is a fair assessment of what happened.
But the real problem with the Quakers this season - a problem that came to a head when Kyle Olson's knee gave out on him in the second quarter on Saturday - is the lack of a steady option at quarterback.
After eking out a pair of wins despite anemic offensive performances against Yale and Columbia the previous two weeks, it was only a matter of time before the reality of the situation reared its ugly head.
All season long, Penn has been able to scrape by on defense and special teams. But Bagnoli will be the first coach to tell you that you need to be firing on all cylinders in order to be an elite team.
Back from last year's shoulder problems, Irvin was supposed to be the stable and experienced senior that could lead a relatively young offensive unit to achieve its full potential. But he's been anything but steady so far, in part because his shoulder continues to plague him, and in part because he's been given such a short leash.
And just as Olson started to get comfortable in the first-string spot against Brown yesterday, his season came crashing to a halt, forcing newcomer Keiffer Garton and the shaky, banged-up Irvin to fill the a hole that no one has consistently been able to plug all year long.
Without consistent leadership under center, it is easy for the entire offensive unit to crumble. And with signal callers constantly subbing in and out as they have this season, you are eventually bound to hit the stumbling blocks that led to Penn's demise against Brown.
Quarterbacks with such varying styles also require the rest of the offensive personnel to adapt constantly to different strategies and playcalling tendencies throughout the game. Receivers have a tougher time establishing a rhythm with different quarterbacks, leading to some of the drops that haunted Penn several times on Saturday.
This concept is nothing new for the Quakers. Frequent substitutions and inconsistency at the quarterback position presented a host of offensive problems for Dartmouth in its loss to the Quakers a month ago.
By contrast, Brown's Michael Dougherty and Lafayette's Rob Curley served as stabilizing forces and reliable leaders of their respective offenses, helping to guide their teams to victory over Penn.
While it's still premature to eliminate the Quakers from the Ivy League race - they remain only one game out of first place - the loss of Olson is a major setback. He had grown much better over the course of the season with experience and could have finished the year as the stable quarterback that Penn has missed.
If the team wants to regain first place in the league, then it needs to turn to its most reliable and experienced option at quarterback, and stick with him. Irvin's shoulder might be achy, but he only has three games left and has been with the team through thick and thin for four years.
The offense needs solid leadership now more than ever.
The senior signal caller is the Quakers' best hope.
Andrew Todres is a senior Politcal Science and History double major from New York. His e-mail address is todres@dailypennsylvanian.com.
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