Penn's last step to Ivy perfection

Saturday’s football finale at Cornell harkens back to last year. Except, last time the situation involved the men’s basketball team.

It’s hard to forget students rushing the Palestra floor after the Quakers felled then No. 22 Cornell, which was undefeated in conference at the time.

The Red and Blue relished the role of David, slaying the mighty Goliath that was the Big Red.

Now, the cleat will be on the other foot when the Quakers (8-1, 6-0 Ivy) take on Cornell (2-7, 1-5) at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, N.Y.

Penn enters Saturday’s contest having made the rest of the conference its personal patsy and is already in possession of a share of the Ivy League championship.

Cornell can only save pride and play spoiler as it attempts to withdraw the Trustees’ Cup from the Quakers’ grasp.

And — according to senior defensive back Bradford Blackmon — they are inexperienced enough to do just that.

What?

Indeed, Blackmon thinks that the Big Red’s youth will help them disregard the implications and just play their hearts out.

“When you got young guys, they really don’t know how to be fearful of anybody,” Blackmon said. “So they are gonna put forth the best effort they got.”

Aside from the fact that Cornell’s players may not indeed realize what they are getting into, Penn coach Al Bagnoli points to a myriad of other factors that make the game paramount.

“It’s the fifth-oldest rivalry in the history of college football,” Bagnoli said. “Just like so many rivalry games, you gotta throw the records right out the window.”

Being the 117th Penn-Cornell football matchup on the books isn’t the only history riding on the game though.

Bagnoli is “trying to make a case for history” as he goes for his third back-to-back Ivy titles in 17 years. And this time, just as he did twice before, the coach has piloted his team to two straight undefeated seasons.

And that case is made all the more poignant by the sorrow every player and staff member carries in his or her heart: that of Owen Thomas’ memory.

“Owen was the heart and soul of our team,” Blackmon said. “We know if we can put forth half the effort he put forth, we can do good.”

Effort shouldn’t be a problem this Saturday.

But just in case, the Red and Blue have an irreplaceable twelfth man.

“He [is] watching us, day in, day out, practice, weight-room, on the field,” Blackmon said.

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