Turn Back the Clock: Oct. 24, 1998

Similar to last Saturday's Harvard-Princeton matchup, the Quakers had a big fourth quarter in this high-scoring game, but unlike the Tigers, the Red and Blue were unable to finish the job.

Jim Finn, later to win the title of "Mr. Irrelevant" in the 1999 NFL Draft, only to go on to play seven years as a punishing blocking fullback, set an all-time Penn record at Brown when he rushed for six touchdowns against the Bears, but it was not enough.

In a wild fourth quarter, Brown outscored the Quakers, 30-28, and scored the winning touchdown with only four seconds remaining.

What made it so disappointing was that Finn had just run for a 5-yard touchdown run to tie it up only 40 seconds earlier.

Finn ran for 259 yards on the day, second all time for Penn (behind Terrance Stokes in 1993).  He made it look so easy that “on one touchdown run in the fourth quarter, he would have scored even if it had been a game of two-hand touch,” the DP wrote.

In front of the crowd of 4,438, Finn scored four touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone, but it was not enough.  Brown simply was unstoppable through the air.  Quarterback James Perry, who had "enough time in the pocket to survey the field, study for a midterm and throw a picnic," threw for 470 yards and a remarkable six touchdowns, four of which came in the final frame.

Despite the loss, Penn won the Ancient Eight title outright with a 6-1 Ivy record and 8-2 overall.  It was the third title for Al Bagnoli and a remarkable turnaround from the 1997 season, in which Penn forfeited five games due to the ineligibility of Mitch Marrow in a forgettable 1-9 campaign.