For two seasons, the NCAA football rules committee has been tinkering with procedures regarding when the game clock starts and stops. The first changes came before the 2006-07 season, and were intended to shorten the length of games by 15 minutes. Rule 3-2-5 had the clock start on kickoffs when the ball is kicked instead of when the receiving team touches it.

The Ivy League's leading rusher and Yale's 34-carry-per game workhorse isn't going to be stopped by a toe injury. But it may be slowing him down. Against Penn, Mike McLeod hurt his right big toe before the end of the first half, playing through the pain for the rest of the game.

Sometimes it's been injuries. Sometimes it's been turnovers. Sometimes it's been the kicking game. Saturday's game at Brown was a culmination of all of those pains that have plagued the Penn football team for the last three years. This latest re-enactment of the Quakers' nightmare came in a 31-17 loss at Brown (3-4, 2-2 Ivy) on Saturday.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 27 - A showdown against the Ivy league's top dogs isn't a good time to have an off day. With the season on the line, the then-one-loss Quakers had their moments but in the end were swept away 3-0 by a dominant No. 6 Brown squad. Penn now sits at 2-2 in the league (5-7-2 overall), while Brown moves to 4-0 (11-1-1) and is now coasting toward an Ivy title.

The Penn volleyball team is keeping the pressure on Princeton. The second-place Quakers finished a perfect five-game road trip over the weekend, as they swept past Columbia 3-0 and Cornell 3-0. In improving to 14-7 and 7-2 in League play, the Quakers gave coach Kerry Carr win number 200 of her career.

After a brutal 56-7 loss, sprint football coach Bill Wagner called out Navy for what he construed to be unsportsmanlike play. "They're a good team, but I think they're a cheap-shot team, I think their cut-blocking is certainly of question and, in my opinion, a deficit to the game," Wagner said.

At the Heptagonal Championships in New York City, Penn women's cross country finished fourth while the men's squad took third place. But there was no doubt who was on top. In dominating fashion, both the men's and women's individual winners came from Princeton, as the Tigers swept Heps for the second straight season.

The Ivy League field hockey title will now be decided with a Penn vs. Princeton showdown on Friday after the Quakers' took down Brown, 4-1, on Saturday. Penn is a position to become co-champions if it beats 5-1 Princeton in the final game of each teams' season.

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Oct. 27 - From the very first minute of Saturday night's matchup, Brown was able to assert itself and impose its game on the Quakers. The Bears controlled possession, but more importantly, they controlled the run of play and pace of the game.

After a brutal 56-7 loss, sprint football coach Bill Wagner called out Navy for what he construed to be unsportsmanlike play. "They're a good team, but I think they're a cheap-shot team, I think their cut-blocking is certainly of question and, in my opinion, a deficit to the game," Wagner said.

Even after 109 minutes of disappointing play, no one on the Penn women's soccer team could have expected the 110th and final minute to turn into such a nightmare. The Quakers' perfect Ivy season and six-match winning streak came to an end with the sweep of Kerrilynn Carney's foot yesterday afternoon in Providence, R.

Hopefully no player on the Penn field hockey team is afraid of heights. When the squad takes on Brown in Providence, R.I. tomorrow, it will be playing on a roof. Warner Roof, home of Brown field hockey, sits atop the Olney Margolies Athletic Center. According to Quakers coach Val Cloud, it provides an "awkward" playing environment, both for new players to the roof, as "most of my team hasn't been up there before," and to returning ones.

After spending the majority of high school playing on the same football team as his brother, Nick Anastasio wanted a change of pace. So when both Penn and Brown recruited him heavily in his senior year, Anastasio decided against joining his older brother Joe on the Quakers, and cleared a path for himself instead.

Penn's opponents this weekend are a combined 3-11 in the Ivy League. But that doesn't mean the team is complacent. In large part that is because they are heading to New York to face two-time defending champion Cornell. Although not on their way to a third-straight championship this year, the Big Red (6-12, 3-4 Ivy) are still a formidable opponent; they have already upset a strong Dartmouth team earlier this season.

This weekend will even out the middle of the pack in the league, with two pairs of 1-2 teams playing each other. And fans won't have to wait until Saturday for some Ivy League action - the first kickoff of the weekend will be tonight in Princeton. Cornell (4-2, 1-2 Ivy) at Princeton (2-4, 1-2) Three quarterbacks couldn't get it done for Princeton last weekend against Harvard.

The Penn women's soccer team has found itself in an unprecedented position. The Quakers, who have served as the hunters in seasons past, will now have to protect their record as the hunted. Penn is 4-0 in the Ivy League for the first time in school history and alone at the top of the Ivy League standings with only three games to go.

How's this for a must-win game? A contest at No. 6 Brown, against a team that has only lost once this year and has won four straight since then. The men's soccer team faces this situation as it fights to keep its hopes for a league title alive. Tomorrow, the Quakers (5-6-2, 2-1-0 Ivy) will make the trip out to Providence, R.