Game 4: William & Mary — The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

After the first win of the season a week ago Saturday at Dartmouth, Penn football was unable to keep up the new trend, falling to the William & Mary Tribe, 34-28. A messy first half started and ultimately determined the game. The Quakers came within six points of the Tribe during a second-half run, but were never able to catch up. The Red and Blue are now 1-3 (1-0 Ivy) and heading back to their Ivy schedule, taking on Columbia next Saturday.

THE GOOD: The passing game (during Penn’s second-half attempted comeback). The turnaround in play showed some promise for the Ivy season. Though the fact that it took the Quakers that long to really get in the game calls for concern, Penn made some major shifts between the two halves — scoring 21 of their 28 points. There wasn’t as big of post-toast dispersal of fans after the third. The fourth quarter had something coming, and though it didn’t have the desired result, the Quakers demonstrated what they have the potential to accomplish. Penn got moving in the second half. Ragone threw for 193 yards in the second half — for a total 207 in the game — and the Quakers got 17 of their 24 first downs.

THE BAD: Non-conference play. The Quakers came within 6 points of avoiding a broken record. After Saturday’s loss, the Quakers have now lost three consecutive non-conference games. This is the first time that this has happened during Bagnoli’s career at Penn. This year especially, Penn had a tough time taking on the scholarship schools with losses to Villanova and Lafayette.

ALSO BAD: Wide receiver Joe Holder is out with a broken fibula, which occurred during the fourth quarter of the matchup.

THE UGLY: Fumbles — four to be exact. These fumbles determined the game. Yes, the Quakers had some great drives in the second half that made the game interesting once again, but with William & Mary’s continued presence on the field, Penn could never recover from the two lost fumbles in the third quarter. Both of these fumbles led to Tribe touchdowns. The Red and Blue lost my six and gave up 14 due to fumbles. These were mistakes the Quakers could not afford to make.