Penn is going after the Ivy football title. The Quakers are also playing ‘for Michael.’

On the morning of their game against Columbia last Saturday, Penn coach Ray Priore had the difficult task of telling the Quakers that one of their own, sophomore defensive lineman Michael Gavin, had died from a rare form of brain cancer.

While receiving treatment last year after being diagnosed in June 2022, Gavin remained at Penn, going to classes and earning a 4.0 grade-point average. Although Gavin, a West Chester native who attended both the Hun School in Princeton and the Haverford School and never saw the field as a Quaker, earned the Coach Lake award last season for leadership and Penn pride.

“We’re blessed to have Michael part of our program and moving on obviously we celebrate his life going [forward],” Priore said.

The Gavin family said in a statement, “Michael accepted the devastating news and decided that he wanted to fight the disease as a Penn student-athlete. The entire Penn community that came into contact with Michael demonstrated that kindness is everywhere, meeting him where he was throughout his battle and fueling his will to live.”

Last week, the Quakers earned the win at Columbia “for Michael.”

This week, he’ll again be on minds and hearts when Penn travels to face Yale on Saturday (noon, ESPN+).

The Bulldogs lost their first two games on their home field. Since then, Yale (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) has outscored its opponents, 107-30, and rattled off three straight wins.

Granted, two were against meager out-of-conference foes with just one win apiece, but Yale’s defeat of Dartmouth — which beat Penn (4-1, 1-1) — was a statement win for a Bulldogs team looking to repeat as Ivy League champion.

Leading the charge again this season for Yale is senior quarterback Nolan Grooms, who won the Ivy League’s offensive player of the year award last season. The southpaw has passed for fewer than 130 yards in three of his five games but has a team-high 279 rushing yards.

“Their quarterback can be devastating,” Priore said. “Great feet, can scramble, can throw the ball on the fade very, very well.”

Though Grooms has been the most prolific, Yale’s rushing attack is balanced. The Bulldogs have three of the top 12 rushers in the Ivy League, including Grooms and senior running backs Tre Peterson and Spencer Alston.

On defense, two more Yale seniors to keep an eye on are linebacker Joseph Vaughn and defensive lineman Clay Patterson. Vaughn is second in the Ancient Eight with 9.2 tackles a game, and Patterson ranks first in the conference in tackles for losses with eight. Patterson has also tallied 3½ sacks, good for third in the Ivy.

» READ MORE: After a loss to Dartmouth, here’s how Penn football got back into a ‘right frame of mind’

Grooms runs hot and cold, and making sure he’s as icy as a cold New Haven winter will be crucial for Penn.

Last season, the Quakers succeeded in that en route to a homecoming day win, holding Grooms to just 125 yards through the air and 41 yards on the ground. The next game, Grooms had one of the best performances of his award-worthy season, passing for 346 yards and four touchdowns at Columbia.

Shutting down the passing game will require limiting Yale’s leading receiver, senior Mason Tipton. With 100 more yards than any other Bulldogs pass-catcher, Tipton has been one of Grooms’ go-to options, especially in the end zone. Tipton leads the Ivy League with seven touchdowns.

Also vital for Penn will be the time of possession battle. The Quakers rank second in the conference with 33 minutes, 3 seconds per game, while the Bulldogs have fallen to last with 25:55. Exploiting this area of weakness for Yale will require a sound rushing scheme, which Penn has struggled with recently.

Though freshman Malachi Hosley has emerged as the lead back in recent games, the ground game has still been stagnant. The Quakers’ two worst rushing performances of the season, 11 and 72 yards apiece, each came in Penn’s two Ivy matchups.

Priore has attributed the struggle to defenses stacking the box and forcing Penn to utilize its running backs in the passing game.

The Quakers’ offensive line has mostly kept the pocket clean for junior quarterback Aidan Sayin, who has been only sacked five times, the second-lowest total in the Ivy League.

After two blowout wins against Patriot League foes to start the season, the Quakers’ last three games — in which they went 2-1 — have each been decided by exactly three points.

Each contest has also required fourth-quarter comebacks of 10, 16, and seven points by either Penn or its opponent.

“It seems to be our M.O.,” Priore said. “It takes us a little bit of time to warm up and get started.”