In Dartmouth, Penn gets early chance to have a statement game in the Ivy League
Having lost eight of the last 11 games played against all-time, the Quakers believe they've been building all year to flip the script against the two-time defending Ivy champions.
It’s a bit of déjà vu for Penn, which will open conference play against defending champions Dartmouth for the second straight year.
The Quakers find themselves the underdog in this matchup, ranked sixth in Ivy League preseason polls, below second-place Dartmouth. This latest installment kicks off inside Franklin Field on Saturday. (1 p.m., ESPN+).
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After losing to the Big Green last year, and having lost eight of the last 11 games played against Dartmouth (2-0) all-time, Penn (1-1) head coach Ray Priore believes the team has been building all year to flip the script against the two-time defending Ivy League champions.
“I’m hopeful how hard our kids have worked from the end of the season last year to this year shows,” head coach Ray Priore said. “You don’t turn around in a week prepared to play, so this preparation goes way back.”
All about winning
Jared Richardson, a Blakeslee Pa., native who grew up only an hour away from No. 9 ranked Lehigh, used the motivation of not receiving an offer from the Mountain Hawks to fuel a two-touchdown performance last week.
“This was a homecoming for me,” Richardson, the Quakers star wide receiver said. “Had a lot of family and friends there … A little personal I mean, I went to high school 15 minutes away so I was like ‘I’m gonna give them a reason to think they missed out’.”
Now preparing to face Dartmouth, a team that has held him to four catches for 36 yards in the last two years combined, Richardson isn’t focused on individual success.
“We have a game plan, double me, triple team me, ‘OK cool’,” Richardson said. “We have other athletes that are more than capable of making great plays … I’m fine with that as long as we get that win.”
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New faces on defense
In its loss to Lehigh, Penn’s defense gave up 500 yards — in part due to injury. Penn saw the losses of senior captain and linebacker John Lista and linebacker Kadari Machen.
“Every time you lose a couple players to injury, you lose experience,” Priore said. “ … The fortunate thing is, we’ve been able to get a number of those guys back and practicing today, which is really good.”
An inexperienced secondary will be put to the test against a new starting Dartmouth quarterback in Grayson Saunier, who ranks second in the nation in passing yards per game at 325.5.
Penn starting corner Jayden Drayton believes that Dartmouth will regret trying to pick on the new guys in Penn’s defense.
“If they see me and they’re like, ‘Who is this guy?’ or if they want to pick on me a little bit … Let’s do it,” Drayton said. “Put the ball in my area and we’ll see who comes up with it, him or me. I’m choosing me every day, all day, so let’s go.”
Ready to roll
Penn has been electric in its return game to start 2025.
Running back/return specialist Julien “Juice” Stokes has been dominant, winning two Ivy League Player of the Week awards at special teams while leading the nation in all-purpose yards at 206.5 a game.
The last time Penn played Dartmouth, the matchup ended up being a three-point loss for the Quakers. With the two-time reigning champions looking to continue their streak of dominance over the Quakers, Stokes understands the impact special teams could have on flipping a one-score result.
“Some people say special teams wins games,” Stokes said. “At Penn, we really take it seriously, and it’s like another side of the ball, like offense and defense. So I feel like when we take it as seriously as we’re taking it, it can have a big impact on the games.”
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