Close, but no cigar.

After Penn football’s week two victory against fourth-ranked Villanova, my colleague Colin Henderson made a bold statement: The Quakers' win was no fluke. Five games into the season, with the Red and Blue sitting at 2-3 heading into Friday’s game against Yale, I still didn’t know what to make of that statement.

Maybe Penn football should spot its opponents early points in every game.

As noted poet Rocky Balboa once said: “When you get knocked down, get back up and keep moving forward.” Responding to failure is a vital process in sports at all levels.

For Penn football, the first five games of the season have exposed stars on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

It’s do or die for women’s soccer. And do they will. With three games to go in Ivy League play, the Red and Blue (5-3-5, 0-1-3 Ivy) find themselves fifth, but in clear striking distance of third place.

In 2008 Barack  Obama was elected president for the first time, Michael Phelps won eight gold medals in Beijing, Heath Ledger died, Eliot Spitzer resigned over a prostitution scandal and No Country for Old Men won best picture at the Oscars.  And Penn sprint football beat Army.

It is commonplace for athletes to use the metaphor of brotherhood or sisterhood when describing the nature of their relationship with teammates.

If Penn football hosts a game under the lights and nobody is there to see it, does it really happen?

Two Penn freshman – football’s Christian Pearson and women’s soccer’s Sasha Stevens – were named the Ivy League’s Rookie of the Week in their respective sports Monday.

In addition to the branding overhaul of the University, Grace Calhoun is quietly upgrading – no, revolutionizing – what it means to practice for Penn Athletics.

Channeling the lyrics of rock legend Tom Petty, Penn’s cross country is certainly “running down a dream” this season.

On to the next. Now that the dust has cleared, there’s not much more to say about Penn football’s win on Saturday.

So that's what the sprint in sprint football stands for.

Still Columbia. As the 2015 season has developed and Columbia football has attempted to regain any semblance of dignity after two consecutive winless seasons, I've frequently used the above phrase to describe the product the Lions have put on the field in five games. Although not inherently connected to what we've seen from Columbia in years past, there are certain aspects of the Light Blue's play that reminds us that this team went 0-for-its last 24 until its win over Wagner on Oct.

It was a dark night at Rhodes Field on Saturday, and not just because the lights went out.  After grabbing the lead early in the second half and waiting through two game delays due to technical trouble, Penn women’s soccer came within 19 seconds of registering their first Ivy League win of the season.

Even if you were at yesterday’s game supporting the Big Green, you felt the disappointment and saw the frustration on the faces of Penn men’s soccer after 88 solid minutes of play without a score on either side ultimately gave way to a 1-0 Red and Blue defeat.