137 years. That’s how long it’s been since Penn and Princeton began playing each other in football. Now, with everything on the line, Princeton returns for a battle that may have more meaning than any of the 104 before it.

Through the eyes of both the old and the young, Franklin Field still holds many wonders to behold.

The toast toss may not drive loads of people to the stands, but it does create lasting memories.

Like he’s done all his life, Kyle Wilcox has persevered through tough times on and off the gridiron and now he is an important cog in the team’s offense.

Now that the dust has settled and the initial shock of Penn football’s baffling 27-0 loss to Brown on Saturday has worn off, something has become abundantly clear about the 2013 Quakers. They have a bad case of narcolepsy. Penn has earned four wins this year, each of them nearly marred by a stretch where the team has suddenly, inexplicably forgotten how to play winning football.

At no point during Brown’s 27-0 blanking of Penn Saturday did the Quakers look like an Ivy championship football team. Or even a competent one.

Playing Brown was supposed to be an afterthought for Penn, but it took the Bears exactly one play to change everything.

With a crucial homecoming weekend game looming against rival Princeton next week, the Red and Blue (4-2, 3-0 Ivy) hit the road on Saturday to take on Brown, a feisty team that pushed Penn to the brink a season ago.

The Quakers’ next three games will be important to deciding whether they can take home a second consecutive Ivy title as the Red and Blue have a long way to go before reaching the ultimate goal of four outright titles in five years.

It wasn’t pretty at first, and it certainly wasn’t pretty at the end, but for 40 minutes, Penn looked like it had the best football team in the Ivy League.

With starting quarterback Billy Ragone out, Penn turned to fellow fifth-year senior Ryan Becker at QB and didn’t miss a beat, beating Yale, 28-17, to avenge the Quakers’ only loss in Ivy play from last season.

After a fantastic performance against Columbia, Penn’s defense will need to be on its toes this week, as Yale’s up-tempo option offense will call for the front seven to stick with their respective assignments.

Coach Al Bagnoli told the DP Wednesday that Ragone’s X-rays and MRIs came back negative, meaning that Ragone did not sprain his ankle at Columbia. Still, Bagnoli said the team is “treating it like it’s a sprained ankle” and labeled Ragone as questionable for Saturday’s home game against Yale.

After a nonconference victory over Lafayette and two wins over inferior Ivy opponents, Penn’s special teams have been a cause for concern.

Against Columbia, in a game where the offense seemed unable to finish its drives, Penn’s defense showed that it has the potential to carry the team to great heights.

With Billy Ragone playing inconsistently through five games and now dealing with an injury, Ryan Becker needs to take a more prominent role at quarterback for Penn football.

With Billy Ragone struggling, Penn’s defense stepped up and held a lowly Columbia team to just seven points as the Red and Blue won an ugly 21-7 victory.