Turn Back the Clock: Oct. 10, 1987

Penn Football comes back to defeat Brown, 38-17 October 10, 1987

Oct. 10: Penn 38, Brown 17

It was 1987 and the Penn football team reigned as defending Ivy League champions since 1982.

But a solid Brown team was coming to the Frank with the hopes of taking the title away from the Quakers.

And for a while, it looked like Brown would.

The Quakers came into the game 1-1 in the League, while the Brown Bruins (now Bears) were 2-0.

The game began with a Brown rally starting with a touchdown on a 17-yard pass from Mark Donovan to Jamie Simone. It was followed by another touchdown on a run by Donovan, who followed by waving the ball in the faces of the Quakers on the field.

The Bruins held a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter started with a 39-yard field goal to put them up, 17-0.

It looked like Brown would finish what it came to do. But the former champs wouldn’t take it.

The first Penn points of the game came on a 28-yard field goal, which was followed by a 7-yard run for a touchdown by Chris Flynn and a 40-yard field goal.

Working on a comeback, the Quakers were down, 17-13, by the end of the first half.

The Red and Blue exploded in the third quarter, scoring 11 points to take the lead, 24-17.

And they still weren’t done.

In the fourth quarter, sophomore running back Bryan Keys ran for a 68-yard touchdown to put the Quakers up, 31-17. Keys also got the final touchdown on a 1-yard plunge into the end zone.

“Some have said that ‘the king had died,’” Keys told The DP after the game. “The king is not dead — he’s coming back and we’re ready.”

Though Harvard won the League that year, Penn came out to prove its fire had not died that day. And the Quakers would be back the following year.

* * * And check out the awesome game highlights via Letsgoquakers.com, narrated by the voice of NFL Films, Harry Kalas.