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.

On Saturday, the Red and Blue will look to take care of business early against a seemingly overmatched Columbia squad and avoid a repeat of 2012’s near-disaster.

The Quakers are not satisfied with the status quo offensively, as the team feels it has room to improve after their 2-2 start.

It hasn’t been a good season for Columbia football. Or last couple years. Or last decade. You can easily say that the state of Columbia football program is bleak at best and it doesn’t look like 2013 is going to help that outlook at all.

If Penn’s schedule against opponents outside of the Ivy League has taught us anything before, it is that where the Quakers finish the season rarely corresponds to how they began it.

Catch up with the rest of this weekend’s Ivy football competition.

If you can “chop the wood” against William & Mary, you can “chop the wood” in Ivy season too.

For the second year in a row, Penn set itself up for a come-from-behind proposition against the Tribe, notching two fourth-quarter touchdowns to narrow what had been a 21-0 deficit for the Quakers to a 27-14 loss.

With William & Mary on the docket next, the Quakers have no time to relax.

Before Saturday, junior Kyle Wilcox had more tackles in his career than he did rushing attempts. But after Saturday, fans can get used to seeing more of Wilcox in the future.

The old saying goes that a win is a win. But that was unbelievable. It is near impossible to describe Penn’s 37-31 win over Dartmouth, but we try anyway.