NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Man, they really had us going. Undefeated Yale was the toast of the Ivy League. As junior tailback Mike McLeod made his assault on the record books and the Bulldogs kept winning, their stock kept rising. By the eve of Saturday's Ivy title game, Yale had risen to No.

Coach Pat Knapp wants his basketball team to get back to the fundamentals. After Saturday's 66-44 debacle against Manhattan, Knapp has been stressing three aspects of the game - defensive execution, rebounding and offensive rhythm - in preparation for the Quakers' Big 5 showdown against Saint Joseph's (2-1) tonight at the Palestra.

The last time they played the Citadel, the Quakers breezed past the Bulldogs, 88-49. But that was back in the spring of 2006, when points -and wins came easily. Indeed, Penn has taken all four meetings between the schools by a combined score of 362-225.

It took a while, but the Quakers that were expected to vie for the league title finally showed up. They scored early and often, while keeping Cornell off the scoreboard for 55 minutes, en route to a dominating 45-9 victory. "We just got whipped in all three facets of the game," Cornell coach Jim Knowles said.

It's not every day you come across a one-legged wrestler. But that's exactly what Quakers sophomore Rollie Peterkin faced in the finals of the 125-pound division at the Keystone Classic yesterday at the Palestra. Peterkin took down his opponent, Arizona State's Anthony Robles, in 1:13, earning one of two Penn championships on the day.

The women's swimming team defeated Cornell 217-83, but fell to Princeton 113-184 in the home opener and the first meet of the Ivy season. Sophomore Melissa Gardel gave the Quakers (3-1, 1-1 Ivy) their first victory of the day, finishing on top in three-meter dive with 248.

Most Quakers fans arrived at the Palestra a few minutes after tipoff on Saturday. What a shame. They missed just about the only few minutes in which their team played well. After a 9-0 Penn run to start the game, Howard took complete control, outhustling and outshooting the Quakers in an 80-65 victory.

Pat Knapp was in a bind Saturday night. His women's basketball team faced a Manhattan club that forced him to play a four-guard set - a configuration that ended in a 66-44 Quakers loss. With junior guard Kelly Scott still injured, he "really [didn't] have the guards we want[ed] in the lineup.

Penn men squashed by Red, Mustangs The men's squash team opened its season this Saturday in Ithaca, N.Y. with a doubleheader against Cornell and Western Ontario. The Quakers didn't get off to the start they hoped for, losing 5-4 to the Big Red and 7-2 to Western Ontario.

As Brian Grandieri was whisked away from the post-game press conference on Saturday, one thing was clear: This team is in serious trouble right now. The Quakers' 80-65 loss to Howard- yes, the same Howard that lost its first two games by a combined 109 points - prompted Grandieri to call out the rest of the team, questioning their effort level, desire and tenacity.

He hadn't taken a kick in practice all season. So when coach Al Bagnoli called on Derek Zoch to kick the extra point after the Quakers' final touchdown on Saturday, the senior kicker was more than a little surprised to hear his name. "I was caught completely off guard," Zoch said.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. Nov. 17 - The 124th edition of "The Game" between Harvard and Yale on the gridiron - and this year's de facto Ivy championship game - was supposed to be one for the ages. Too bad someone forgot to give the Crimson the memo.

The men's swimming team had its first home meet on Friday. As expected, Princeton (214.5-85.5) and Cornell (177-123) defeated the Quakers. In a sport where parity is far from the norm, Penn coach Mike Schnur had to be happy with what he got. "Last year we were no where close to the leader at any point of the meet," he said.

MORGANTOWN, W. Va., Nov. 16 - It took just a one-minute burst from James Madison's attackers to send the Quakers' dream season to a screeching halt. The women's soccer team came into its first round game of the NCAA College Cup on a roll, having won eight of its last nine games.

The Penn women's squash team opened its season by steam-rolling Cornell 8-1 on Saturday. Eight of the Quakers' starting nine took down their Big Red counterparts 3-1 or 3-0. Penn's only loss was at the No. 3 position. "Cornell was a little bit of a younger team than ours," said co-captain Lauralynn Drury, who earned a 3-1 victory herself at the No.

After just two games, the men's basketball team realizes that wins will not come as easily as they did last season. "Our seniors bailed us out at times [last year]," guard Mike Kach said. "This season we don't have that individual talent. We need to play hard as a team every minute.

It was already a busy week for Cornell wide receiver Shane Kilcoyne. With exams and a game against Dartmouth coming up that Saturday in late October, the last thing Kilcoyne expected was the news that raging wildfires had come within five miles of engulfing his home in San Diego.