If Georgetown can scare Yale, Penn certainly can

In order to figure out a way Penn could possibly stop Mike McLeod and beat Yale, it might be a good idea to take something from the Elis' 28-14 win over Georgetown.

Yes, it was Yale's first game of the year, but the 5-0 powerhouse was in a one-score game with minutes to go against the hapless (now 0-7) Hoyas. Georgetown running back Kyle Van Fleet, whose team lost 42-13 to Penn, actually told The Hoya "this week we were the better team."

But a few missed opportunities -- including letting the first-half clock run out while at the Yale one-yard-line -- sealed the deal.

McLeod rushed for 157 yards and four touchdowns, but they really didn't do a bad job stopping him -- on the season he averages 199 yards, three touchdowns and 5.9 yards per rush.. Two of McLeod's scores were one-yarders, and the prolific back averaged 5.1 yards per carry.

Perhaps more importantly, the defense (one that is allowing 38.8 points per game) did a fantastic job containing McLeod. The Yale back had no runs longer than 14 yards against Georgetown, but none of the last four team's McLeod's faced has been able to hold him to a long of less than 35.

Also, Yale has had more than double the amount of rushing first downs as passing ones (71-35). But against Georgetown, quarterback Matt Polhemus moved the chains 11 times, while McLeod and the running game did it only 10 times.

The Quakers have a good run defense, but they'll need all the linebackers set back that they can get. I'd send a Tyson Maugle or a Pat Kimener a few times, but this is not a good game to bring the house, especially in the form of a run blitz.

Rant of the week: These college football stats that count sack yards as negative rushing yards are absurd. Anyone that boasts that Penn held Columbia to eight yards rushing is crazy - the Lions' running backs had 13 carries for 33 yards. A solid effort, but not eight yards.

A sack is a passing play, and it should be counted as negative passing yards for the quarterback.